Quartz-Surface Import Action Gets Another Washington Airing

WASHINGTON – The proposal to temporarily limit quartz-surface imports will get yet another hearing here next month.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced today that it will hold a June 16 session to review the upcoming recommendation of the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) to aid domestic quartz-surface manufacturers.

As part of its review, the USTR will also accept written comments through June 1.

Following a submission of a Section 201, or Safeguard, petition by the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America (QMAA), the USITC found last month that 2020-2024 quartz-surface imports in 2020-202 impaired U.S. manufacturers.

Commissioners submitted initial recommendations, including a tariff-rate quota and no hard cap on imports, earlier this month. Both the original decision and ensuing remedy consideration involved nine-hour hearings.

The USITC’s final recommendations to President Donald Trump are scheduled to be issued by next Monday (May 18). The president will have 60 days to use the recommendations or construct a different remedy, which will be in effect for four years.

The USTR – a different federal agency than the USITC – is authorized to review Safeguard actions through the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), an advisory group of officials from all cabinet departments and selected government agencies.

The June 16 hearing, on behalf of the TPSC, is for “domestic producers, importers, exporters, and other interested parties” to comment on the USITC recommendations, according to a notice posted in the Federal Register by Mark DiPlacido, TPSC chair.

After the hearing, the TPSC will make a recommendation to the President.

“This recommendation will take into account the USITC recommendation and report, the extent to which workers and firms in the domestic industry will benefit from adjustment assistance, the efforts of the domestic industry to make positive adjustments, and other relevant considerations,” according to DiPlacido’s notice.

The potential presidential actions noted by the USTR notice include:

• imposition, or increase, of a duty on the imported articles in question;
• use of a tariff-rate quota;
• modification or imposition of any quantitative restriction on the importation of the articles into the United States;
• a proposal to negotiate and carry out an agreement with foreign countries to limit the exportation from foreign countries and importation into the United States;
• procedures for the granting of import licenses;
• other negotiations to identify the underlying cause of the increased imports to alleviate the injury or threat thereof;
• legislative proposals that would facilitate a positive adjustment;
• other action consistent with the President’s authority; or
• any combination of the actions.

The USTR requested that comments address the “appropriateness of any other proposed action and how it would be in the public interest,” along with short- and long-term effects on manufacturing and other industries.

Written comments can be submitted online through June 1 through the federal website https://www.regulations.gov/, and typing USTR–2026–0232 in the Search box. (Comments weren’t being accepted late on May 14, although this will likely change in the next day or so.)

To read the entire notice, go here.