New Avenue for Chinese Quartz Surfaces?

WASHINGTON – Allegations of illegally tagging Chinese-made quartz surfaces are now being made against an exporter in yet another country: Taiwan.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will now monitor shipments of quartz-surface products (QSP) from Taiwan to LTT International Trading Co. of Chino, Calif., as part of an Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) investigation.

CBP informed both LTT and Cambria Company LLC of the actions in a Feb. 13 letter from Kristina Horgan, acting director of the Enforcement Operations Division of the Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate of the department’s office of trade.

Cambria filed allegations against LTT last October 17, noting “numerous shipments” from Taiwan through Cheng Jug Enterprises Ltd. Cambria asserted that, instead of a manufacturing facility, Cheng Jug’s address in Yuanlin, Taiwan, appeared to be an apartment building.

The LeSueur, Minn.-based quartz-surface manufacturer also alleged that Cheng Jug also exported Chinese-made mattresses and diamond sawblades from the same address. Both products, along with quartz surfaces, are under unfair-trade tariffs.

“Because of these vastly different product categories, the Alleger argues, it is highly unlikely that any one facility is capable of manufacturing QSP, mattresses, and diamond sawblades together,” according to the Feb. 13 CBP letter.

Cambria alleged that LTT imported Chinese-made quartz through Cheng Jug from September 2021 to June 2022. The materials were tagged as made in Taiwan by several companies in a procedure known as transshipping.

CBP noted that documents supplied by LTT concerning the manufacturing of the surfaces contained “multiple discrepancies,” and the certificates of origin couldn’t be validated on Taiwan’s foreign-trade website.

CBP will hold final processing (or suspend liquidation) of LTT quartz-surface imports after last Nov. 7, when the department began its investigation, and with any other shipments not fully processed. LTT will also need to pay a deposit on duties of future quartz-surface shipments prior to the goods being released from a U.S. port-of-entry.