“Safeguard” Action Filed on Quartz-Surface Imports
By Emerson Schwartzkopf
WASHINGTON – A request before the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) could drastically change the supply of engineered stone in the United States with a possible 50% duty on imported materials from all countries and a quota system for availability.
The Sept. 15 filing by three U.S.-based quartz-surface producers alleges “serious injury that has been caused to the entire U.S. domestic industry by imports of quartz surfaces.”
Unlike previous complaints filed with the USITC with quartz-surface imports, the new petition seeks “safeguard relief” that offers different solutions and a direct path to approval by President Donald Trump.
The petition is on behalf of the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America (QMAA): Cambria Company LLC, Dal-Tile LLC and Guidoni USA. Materials distributor Architectural Surfaces Inc. is also included as a non-manufacturing member.
In the filing, the QMAA cites “the massive surge” of imported material from 2020 to 2024 as a “serious injury” to U.S. based manufacturers with an inability to produce at a “reasonable level” of profit, the idling of U.S. production, and “significant unemployment or underemployment within the domestic industry.”
View the QMAA petition here.
The QMAA also regards previous actions by the USITC with unfair-trade tariffs on engineered stone from China, India, and Turkey as insufficient to stop the decline of U.S. based production.
“Unfortunately, the orders have not prevented serious injury to the domestic industry from an onslaught of imports from countries across the globe, including a substantial volume of imports that have been transshipped through third countries or misclassified in a way to evade payment of the AD/CVD (anti-dumping and countervailing) duties,” the petition noted.
The peitiion didn’t offer an estimate of the amount of materials transshipped or misidentified, but it summarized nine successful Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) cases brought by Cambria involving transshipping.
The petition also cites economic evidence of harm caused by the imports on U.S. based producers. However, U.S. figures are considered confidential business information and are redacted from public versions of the filing.
The petition also asks for action under the “safeguard” provisions of the federal Trade Act of 1974, including:
— A quota system limiting import volume on “a country-specific basis;” and
— Either a 50% tariff on all imports of quartz surfaces, or a specific tariff based on the weight on the products.
Safeguard petitions require an investigation by the USITC, with a finding within 120 days (with a possible 30 day extension). If the USITC finds justification for safeguard action, it must present a course of action within 60 days to the president, who then makes the final decision.
While the action centers on quartz-surface products, it could encompass a large amount of products represented as “silica-free” or mineral or fusion products.
The petition notes the original action on Chinese products in 2019 included a provision to include materials made with glass mixtures. The safeguard protection being sought would include engineered stone made with largely silica content, even if it uses glass or similar elements to eliminate crystalline silica. (There is an exemption for recycled glass, but pieces must be visible in measurable sizes.)
“So long as the silica content is greater than any other single material, it does not matter where the source of the silica is derived,” according to a petition footnote. “A non-exhaustive list of silica sources would include, quartz, quartz powder, cristobalite, glass powder, mica, nepheline syenite, basalt, andesite, rhyolite, dacite and other generic minerals.”
In the petition, the QMAA noted that its members run 8 of the 17 quartz-surface production lines listed in the petition. The group notes that the Trade Act didn’t specify that a majority of producers was needed to file a safeguard action, and actual production capacity is an estimate.
“Because the QMAA believes its production lines, which are supplied by Bretonstone, have larger capacity than the production lines that are employed by other domestic producers,” the petiion noted, “the QMAA believes it accounts for a majority of domestic production of quartz-surface products in the United States.”