The safeguard duties are cumulative. They are imposed in addition to the normal rates of duty under chapters 68 and 70 of the tariff schedule, and existing antidumping and countervailing duties on quartz surface products remain in place.
The action creates two new headings in the tariff schedule, 9903.45.30 for in-quota entries and 9903.45.31 for over-quota entries. Covered merchandise falls under subheadings 6810.99.0020, 6810.99.0040 and 7020.00.6000.
Scope
The proclamation defines quartz surface products as slabs and other surfaces made from a mixture that is predominately silica along with a resin binder, where silica content is greater than any other single material by actual weight. Coverage extends beyond slabs to countertops, backsplashes, vanity tops, bar tops, work tops, tabletops, flooring, wall facing, shower surrounds, fireplace surrounds, mantels and tiles, whether fabricated or unfabricated, polished or unpolished, cut or uncut.
Material finished or fabricated in a third country is also covered, including product that has been cut, polished, cured, edged, thermoformed or packaged elsewhere. Product imported attached to sinks, vanities, cabinets or furniture is covered, though only the quartz portion counts.
Quarried stone surface products, including granite, marble, soapstone and quartzite, are excluded.
Country exclusions
Canada and Mexico are excluded after the ITC found that imports from each, considered individually, do not account for a substantial share of total imports.
Also excluded are Australia, Colombia, Israel, Panama, Peru, Singapore, South Korea and the CAFTA-DR countries, along with Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act beneficiaries and a list of developing countries that includes Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines and Jordan. The ITC had recommended excluding Jordan under the U.S.-Jordan free trade agreement. Trump instead excluded it as a developing country.
India, China, Vietnam, Turkey, Malaysia, Spain, Italy and Portugal are not on any exclusion list and remain subject to the measure.
Reaction
Save Quartz Jobs, the coalition that opposed the petition, criticized the decision.
“Thousands of small businesses across the country, including fabricators that form the backbone of today’s U.S. quartz industry, are disappointed by the President’s decision to impose tariffs on imported quartz surface products,” the group said in a statement. “These unnecessary trade restrictions will reduce the supply of quartz available to the U.S. market, leave consumers and businesses with fewer choices, and raise prices for countertops, home renovations, and new housing.”
“At a time when Americans are already struggling with housing affordability and rising living expenses, this decision will make homes and home improvement projects more expensive while placing additional strain on the small businesses that depend on access to a reliable and competitively priced supply of quartz,” the statement said.
The petition was brought by the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America, whose members include Cambria, Dal-Tile, Guidoni USA and Hyundai L&C.
What comes next
The proclamation authorizes the U.S. trade representative to negotiate agreements with trading partners that limit exports to the United States. Those agreements may include commitments to invest in U.S. quartz surface product manufacturing, including production of unfinished slabs, and can result in the measure being suspended for a given partner.
The trade representative is also authorized to act against circumvention and to extend the safeguard to any excluded country where a surge in imports occurs. Developing countries lose their exclusion if their share of total imports exceeds 3%, or if all listed developing countries together exceed 9%.
The proclamation further provides that if consultations with World Trade Organization members within 30 days of signing make it necessary to reduce, modify or terminate the measure, that change must be imposed within 40 days of the proclamation date, a deadline that falls in early September.