Quartz-Surface Safeguard: Three Remedies

WASHINGTON — After declaring that a 2020-2024 surge in quartz-surface imports impaired U.S. manufacturers, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) moved to the next step on April 14 with a hearing here on ways to remedy the situation.

The result was a nine-hour-plus session with dozens of witnesses – and three very different plans on moving forward.

The USITC hearing was part of the process to develop a plan by May 18 for relief to allow U.S. manufacturers to regain economic stability and market share, with a final decision being made by President Donald Trump by mid-June.

The Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America (QMAA) restated its solution offered in the original Section 201, or Safeguard, petition to the USITC last November. The six manufacturers – Cambria, Daltile, Guidoni USA, LX Hausys, estone, Hendrix Industries, and Hyundai LLC USA – asked for a tariff on all imported quartz-surface slabs and cut-to-size products, along with an annual cap on the amount coming into the United States.

Duirng the four-year-span of a proposed Safeguard action, the QMAA asked for a 50% tariff this year, with an annual 1% reduction to 47% in 2029. The QMAA also asked for a hard quota of 155 million ft² of quartz-surface imports this year, with a 5 million ft² annual increase to 170 million ft² in 2029.

(Editor’s note:  U.S. quartz-surface imports totaled 208.4 million square feet last year, per the USITC’s Dataweb database and Hard-Surface Report analysis.)

The USITC, in its ruling on domestic-industry harm earlier this month, cited federal statutes in exempting countries with free-trade agreements with the United States, including Canada, Mexico and South Korea. If the USITC continues those exemptions, the QMAA asked for a lowering of the overall import quota to 141 million ft² this year, with the same 5 million ft² annual increase to 156 million ft² in 2029.

The QMAA also proposed that revenues from imported-quartz tariff be used for a “distribution program for downstream users” buying U.S.-made quartz surfaces. Other solutions proposed included tax incentives for sourcing domestic quartz surfaces, a mandate for all federal agencies to use U.S.-made quartz, and a call for international negotiations over global quartz-surface “overcapacity targeted at the U.S. market.”

The QMAA’s analysis of its proposal showed that, in four years, annual U.S. quartz-surface production would grow 60.9%, from a current 29,4 million ft² annually to 47.4 million ft² in 2029. The value would go from the current $726.1 million to $1.3 billion in 2029 for an 81.2% growth rate.

“Commissioners, only strong and effective relief will restore a functioning fair market and give domestic producers a legitimate opportunity to compete, invest in growth, and serve end users, workers, suppliers, and fabricators,” said Cambria CEO Marty Davis. “Anything less will leave these manipulated distortions in place and ensure that the injury you have already found, will worsen.”

The QMAA predicts that market growth and plant expansion will raise employment at U.S. manufacturing facilities by 886 workers from this year’s 1,455 to 2,341 in 2029.

Putting its proposal in place, according to the QMAA, would allow U.S. plants to ramp up to full production in a short amount of time. Estimates ranged from Davis’ “2-3 weeks” at Cambria to four months at Guidoni’s Georgia facility.

Safeguard petition opponents, meanwhile, presented a two-year remedy proposal with far less restrictions than the QMAA’s. Mike Jacobsen, a partner with the Hogan Lovells law firm representing Arizona Tile, MSI, and Elite Quartz Manufacturing (a U.S. manufacturer not affiliated with the QMAA), offered a plan with a tariff based on an annual quota.

The opponents’ plan proposes an annual quota level for quartz-surface imports of 193 million ft², with no tariffs under that level and a “moderate tariff” on shipments beyond the limit. This quota level uses an apparent gap between product consumption from 2023-2025 and the practical capacity of U.S. manufacturers.

The opponent’s proposal also opposes any hard cap on imports, and supports trade-adjustment assistance for industry workers, including fabricators. It also remains neutral on any remedy regarding cut-to-size or fabricated products.

“I think generally the industry agrees we’re in a fourth year of a building-materials recession,” said Rup Shah, MSI co-CEO. “And there’s a general belief of when the rebound occurs, it’s going to be very steep.

“I don’t know when that is, six months a year, year and a half from now, but when it comes back, it’s going to have very strong growth trajectory.”

Opponents also presented their own data analysis claiming a 41% loss in total domestic-industry jobs and a 36% decline in product use, although the analysis also uses a baseline of 257 million ft² of consumption without Safeguard actions. Annual estimated U.S. consumption has only reached or surpassed that twice – in 2022 (260.1 million ft²) and 2024 (264.9 million ft².)

Nine fabricators appeared in person before the commission to speak against the QMAA proposal, with the list including leaders of the American Countertop Manufacturers Council, Stone Fabricators Alliance, the Artisan Group, and the International Surface Fabricators Association. Other fabricators offered comments via a video presentation.

A third option came from Spanish-surfaces producer Cosentino, which supported the claim of U.S. industry harm, but asked for a tariff-rate quota aimed at nine countries with the largest growth in quartz shipments to the United States from 2020-2024.

The Cosentino proposal would split the effects on 18 countries that didn’t show a surge in exports and the nine countries with a shipment surge to the United States. Each group would have a separate quota volume, with tariffs applied to shipments in excess of the quotas.

This proposal would also put a 125% cap on imports from the 18 non-surge countries in an effort to stop any shifting of production and shipments from the top nine responsible for the import surge.

Brandon Calvo, Cosentino North America COO/Vice President Sales, told the commission that with large tariffs on quartz-surface imports, the forthcoming $270 million investment in a U.S. manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, Fla., “doesn’t pencil out.”

“You can’t build a U.S. manufacturing operation while cutting off the revenue that funds it,” he said. “That’s just a fact. A 50% tariff and hard caps on imports? That’s not a tweak – that’s a shutdown. That kind of policy doesn’t protect American jobs. It kills them before they’re even created.”

The USITC now has until May 18 to recommend remedy actions to President Donald Trump. The president can use the commission’s recommendations or formulate his own solution. His final decision is due in mid-June.

Outside the hearing, Safeguard opponents suggested that Davis, a generous contributor to Republican candidates including the president, might benefit when it comes to the final decision.

In a April 15 article in the Minnesota Star-Tribune, Davis called such speculation “nonsense,” adding that the president is too busy to weigh in on a topic like countertops.