China Quartz Unfair-Trade Action Approved
By Emerson Schwartzkopf
WASHINGTON – After more than 13 months of pondering, the final decision on imposing unfair-trade tariffs on Chinese-made quartz surfaces took two minutes.
Click the document to view the full report as a PDFIn a short session on June 11, the U.S. International Trade Commission voted 5-0 to find in favor of a staff report that finds China’s quartz-surface producers sold products far below value in the United States, aided by various subsidies from Chinese government agencies.
With three of the five commissioners participating via a conference call, the USITC made its vote and quickly adjourned without further comment.
The decision comes as a result of the April 2018 petition by Minnesota-based quartz-surface manufacturer Cambria Company LLC claiming that U.S. producers were being harmed by unfair trade practices of Chinese producers and exporters.
The vote also moved the industry closer to antidumping and countervailing (subsidy) tariffs that range from 300.59% to 517.14%, depending on the surface producer in China, effective on imports from Nov. 20 of last year.
The tariffs will include Chinese-made slabs substituting silica-based glass powder (“quartz glass”) for quartz crystals. Cambria requested an expansion of surface content earlier this year, claiming some Chinese manufacturers were changing ingredients to evade possible tariffs.
“This vote today finalizes the case to address the serious injury that unfair trade practices by Chinese producers and the communist Chinese dictatorship have had on the United States quartz industry,” said Marty Davis, Cambria president/CEO in a June 11 statement. “The Chinese government’s subsidy programs and treasury have fueled Chinese producers’ illegal dumping of product into American markets below cost, which has undermined our entire industry, taking American jobs and hurting American businesses.
“We welcome the final decision and commend the ITC and Department of Commerce for their hard work on these cases.”
Davis also praised the support given by Minnesota federal legislators, including Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn, and Democratic Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar.
The USITC action, however, didn’t include a “critical-circumstances” declaration, which would’ve made the high tariffs retroactive to Aug. 20.
Cambria requested the action last October to offset the effects of a high volume of Chinese quartz-surface exports in anticipation of a tariff action. The federal Commerce Department, which was formulating the tariffs last year, agreed with Cambria, but the USITC set the effective tariff date back to November.
Opposition to the tariffs – and particularly to the retroactive imposition – came from a variety of sources, including U.S. surface fabricators, importers and distributors. The USITC received letters specifically against the retroactive quartz tariffs from Republican U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Republican U.S. Rep. A. Drew Ferguson of Georgia.
Both of New Jersey’s U.S. senators sent a joint letter to the USITC, asking it to account for fabricators in its decision.
“Fabricators have invested heavily in capital equipment, add substantial value to the quartz products such as countertops that are eventually installed, and, most importantly, utilize significant U.S. labor to fabricate quartz products,” wrote Democrats Cory Booker and Robert Menendez.
Perhaps the most-striking opposition to the tariffs and the possible retroactive enforcement, however, came from two other U.S. quartz-surface manufacturers. In a May 16 filing, legal counsel for Dal-Tile argued against the critical-circumstances action, noting that U.S. quartz imports and inventories last summer didn’t harm the market overall.
And Michael Morici, director of surface products for LG Hausys America, cited his company’s high sales of U.S.-made quartz and planned expansion of its Adairsville, Ga., factory in opposition to Cambria’s petition.
“Cambria’s allegations and characterizations do not apply to us,” Morici said before the USITC at a May 9 hearing. “Quartz imports from China have not harmed the success of our U.S. produced quartz.”
The USITC will publish more background on its decision by June 24, and make its final determination on tariff rates by July 8.
Quartz-surfaces tariffs will continue to be on the USITC’s agenda, however, in considering a similar unfair-trade petition filed by Cambria last month against India and Turkey. The federal agency needs to make a preliminary determination on that request by June 24.
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