U.S. Coalition to Fight Quartz Tariffs

WASHINGTON — A coalition of U.S. fabricators, distributors, installers and importers of quartz countertops, announced today, will oppose unfair-trade tariffs on Chinese imports of quartz surfaces.

The American Quartz Worker Coalition will fight the tariffs resulting from a petition last spring by Cambria Company LLC with the U.S. International Trade Commission that will result in duties as high as 341% with China-made quartz surfaces.

In a press statement today, the AQWC noted that its actions are in the interests of more than 200 fabricators employing more than 5,000 Americans across the country and others who have expressed their opposition to Cambria’s petition in filings submitted to the ITC.

The AQWC states that the duties, which could be finalized this spring, would create huge cost increases for imported quartz and remove approximately 50% of available quartz supply from the market, as well as threaten tens of thousands of quartz-related U.S. fabricating jobs.

“The U.S. quartz industry is an American success story,” said Matt Huarte, owner/Vice President of Arizona Tile. “The industry has generated significant job growth, healthy profits and exploding sales over the past decade. Unfortunately, this success story is threatened by Cambria’s trade petition, which is simply an attempt to fatten its already high profits to the detriment of other manufacturers in the U.S. quartz industry, as well as U.S. quartz consumers.

If the costs of quartz increase, consumers will choose alternative countertops, reducing U.S. fabricating-related jobs.”

“There are two very distinct market segments for quartz countertops and ‘looks’ in the U.S.—the luxury market and the mass market—with little competition between them,” said Rupesh Shah, co-president of Orange, Calif.-based MSI. “Cambria already dominates the premium luxury market with high-priced specialty products and is highly profitable as a result.

“U.S. fabricators, who serve the mass market and account for over 50,000 manufacturing jobs throughout all 50 states, rely on these imports to provide consumers with affordable quartz countertop products. If these duties are imposed, U.S. fabricators across the country will suffer.”

“Cambria is petitioning the U.S. government to diminish the vital role of fabricators in our industry, claiming that they play such a small and insignificant role in the industry that they should be ignored,” said Marisa Bedrosian, co-owner of Bedrosians Tile and Stone in Fresno, Calif. “Nothing could be further from the truth. U.S. quartz fabricators are major employers and investors in this industry, and most importantly, are responsible for more U.S. labor to create quartz countertops than Cambria.

“It is easy to recognize the immeasurable value of our fabricators given that quartz countertops must be fabricated and installed to amount any worth to a consumer,” continued Bedrosian. “We will tell the real story and ensure that the facts about the entire U.S. quartz industry are heard and considered by the ITC. We are confident that once the ITC reviews this case based on the facts, it will not impose these unnecessary duties on our industry.

“Hard working U.S. fabricators and other workers in our industry should be allowed to continue providing consumers with unlimited choices in quartz countertops.”

For additional information on the Coalition, visit www.savequartzjobs.com.