Mark Kellner February 7, 2025
Bible buyers in the U.S. will likely be paying more for copies of Scripture.
FILE – Then former President Donald Trump endorses the “God Bless the USA” Bible in a March 2024 video. (Video screen grab)
Any Bibles printed and bound in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will face a 10% tariff imposed by President Donald Trump on exports from the Asian industrial giant.
A White House official, who spoke on background, told MinistryWatch the February 1 tariffs are designed to make the PRC blunt the flow of fentanyl and the opioid’s components to the U.S., often by way of Mexico. The official said there are no exemptions for Bibles, as was granted in 2019 when a 25% tariff was imposed on China in Trump’s first term.
Ironically, the tariff comes as Americans are buying more Bibles. The Wall Street Journal reported a 22% spike in Scripture sales for the first 10 months of 2024, versus the same period in 2023.
Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, told MinistryWatch via email that without exemption, “consumers and religious organizations will face higher prices, and churches, schools, ministries and non-profit organizations will have fewer resources to educate others and connect them to God’s word, the Bible.”
The ECPA chief said global policy officials at the Association of American Publishers “indicated that the exemptions from 2019 were still in effect, but this is a very fluid situation.”
Because many Bibles are printed on thinner paper than novels or nonfiction books, specialized printing facilities and trained personnel are required to produce the ever-expanding range of Scriptures hitting the American market. China’s Amity Publishing Company is arguably the PRC’s top Bible-maker, churning out texts in 147 languages, including controversial “Sinicized” versions for the domestic market.
Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
It appears the vast majority of specialized and study Bibles sold in the United States are printed in Chinese facilities. In 2019 Tyndale House said 56% of its Bibles were produced in the PRC. That same year, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, which owns Zondervan and Thomas Nelson publishing imprints, told Christianity Today its Chinese production accounted for “more than three-quarters of its production costs” for books, including Bibles.
MinistryWatch contacted HCCP, Tyndale, and Holman, the Bible publishing imprint of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Lifeway Resources, for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.
A controversial Bible endorsed—but not sold—by Trump is likely also subject to the new levy.
The $59.99 “God Bless the USA Bible,” which Trump endorsed last year during his successful presidential run, is manufactured in the PRC, the Associated Press reported in October 2024.
Derided by critics as a “Trump Bible,” the volume includes the King James Version text of the Scriptures, as well as the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Pledge of Allegiance and a handwritten reproduction of the chorus of “God Bless the USA,” the popular Lee Greenwood song Trump used at campaign rallies.
The Trump-boosted Scriptures are produced in Hangzhou, China, which had shipped 120,000 copies to the U.S. distributor last year, the AP reported. Marketers have since produced new editions of the Bible noting Trump’s inauguration last month.
MinistryWatch contacted the publisher of the “God Bless the USA Bible” for comment, but did not hear back.
TO OUR READERS: Do you have a story idea, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? Please email us: info@ministrywatch.com
Adventist Angels Watchman Radio 