Save Quartz Jobs

We are not just a name on a ledger; our business represents over a $4,000,000 investment (over the past 2 years) into the local economy and the American small business landscape. We have spent years building an infrastructure designed to provide high-quality surface solutions to our community. Imposing a quota would not merely be a market adjustment; it would directly threaten the viability of our investment and our 100 hourly workers.

Quotas create artificial scarcity. When supply is throttled by mandate rather than market demand, small businesses like mine are the first to feel the squeeze. We lack the massive corporate buffers to absorb the volatility that follows. If we cannot reliably source the materials our customers demand (from multiple vendors including Cambria, Viatera and Dal-tile), our ability to service our debt, retain our staff, and maintain our facilities is severely jeopardized.

A primary driver for this quota request appears to be an attempt to shield domestic manufacturers like Cambria from global competition. However, the struggles of domestic manufacturers are largely self-inflicted and rooted in two major areas: pricing and consumer preference.

First, there are the unsustainable price hikes. For several years, we have navigated yearly 10% price increases from Cambria. We have also seen yearly 5–9% price hikes from Viatera. These increases are not reflective of the broader inflation rate, nor are they sustainable for the end consumer.

Second, there is a significant lack of adjustment to what the modern customer actually wants. Consumers today are looking for specific aesthetics, thicknesses, and price points that domestic manufacturers have been slow to provide or have ignored entirely. A quota essentially rewards a failure to innovate.

Instead of forcing domestic companies to compete by improving their efficiency or aligning their product lines with modern trends, a quota penalizes the consumer for wanting variety and value.

Ultimately, the consumer is the one who suffers when competition is stifled. Quartz has become the standard for American kitchens because of its durability and beauty. By imposing a quota, you make these products more difficult to obtain and significantly more expensive.

We are seeing a trend where the American Dream of home renovation is becoming a luxury reserved only for the wealthy, simply because domestic manufacturers want to maintain high margins without facing market pressures.

We are a small business that has put our money where our mouth is with a multi-million-dollar investment. We want to sell products that people want at prices they can afford. A quota does the opposite: it protects a few large corporations at the expense of thousands of small businesses and millions of American consumers.

I urge the Commission to consider the real-world implications of this decision. Do not jeopardize the investments of small business owners like myself to subsidize manufacturers who refuse to adapt to the modern marketplace.

We are a small/medium countertop fabrication company. We pride ourselves on being able to get whatever our customers want by working with all the local slab yards and quartz manufacturers in our market. While supporting U.S. based companies is ALWAYS a good idea, letting companies like Dal-tile and Cambria dictate and monopolize the market is not the way to go!

With all the questions on tariffs for imports and the cost of goods on the rise, you would think that a company encouraging the tariffs like Cambria would promote their product with slogans of “Buy our product, we are homegrown. No increase in price because we are U.S.-based!” No. Not only have they always been the more expensive line, but they were the first to raise their prices and have raised them the most of all the quartz lines over the last six months! This trade petition is a bad idea!

Pursuant to the petition for increased tariffs by two firms motivated by greed and intended market dominance in the United States at the expense of the everyday middle class taxpayer, aimed primarily at eliminating options for lower income remodel customers, whom we serve, we ask the ITC the following: Please consider the needs of those who are not elitist, nor motivated by greed, rather understand that most of our customers in our market simply cannot afford the exorbitant high prices driven by these two firms and the associated exclusion of fair market trade and competition worldwide.

We understand the need for a more level playing field across the world markets. However, the methods being used by these greedy quartz giants to squeeze out the little guy are extremely unfortunate. This attempt by these greedy giants is more than trying to level the playing field. Ultimately, they desire to eliminate less expensive options which make quartz products affordable to the average American citizen. Therefore, we urge the ITC to reject this insidious and punitive tariff proposal in support of fabricators like us who will simply lose our business when quartz prices become out of reach to our customers and who will then be faced with spending their remodeling dollars on other products.

We are a family-owned fabricator and importer of quartz surface products with over 30 years of operating history in the southeastern United States. We maintain an in-house fabrication facility and function as a turnkey subcontractor — supplying, fabricating, and installing countertops for general contractors on multifamily apartment projects. Depending on project requirements, we both self-fabricate from local suppliers (whether they are imported or domestically-produced quartz is irrelevant to us, as we do not choose the material… the customer does) and import pre-fabricated countertops, and we are active customers of domestic producers including the petitioners themselves. Domestic producers don’t compete in our market. The petitioners sell slabs. The multifamily construction market requires a turnkey subcontractor scope — not a raw material. No domestic producer participates in this segment in any form, at any price.

Cambria in particular has deliberately positioned itself as a high-end premium brand competing in upscale custom residential and commercial spaces — a market that is categorically different from builder-grade multifamily construction. Their brand investment, marketing presence, and pricing strategy are all oriented toward the premium specification segment. In today’s multifamily housing market, the affordability of materials plays a decisive role in managing construction costs. Imported quartz offers a significant price advantage over domestically produced alternatives, allowing developers and operators to maintain high aesthetic and performance standards without exceeding budgets.

Beyond pricing, global suppliers provide a broader and more consistent supply chain than what is currently available domestically. Domestic production capacity remains limited, often resulting in even higher costs, longer lead times, and reduced flexibility. As the multifamily industry continues to face challenges such as rising construction costs, imported quartz countertops remain an essential resource. Their combination of affordability, quality, and dependable supply helps ensure that properties can meet market expectations while maintaining financial performance.

The downstream fabrication and installation sector employs tens of thousands. This petition asks the Commission to protect a small number of positions at large, profitable multinationals by eliminating far more jobs at small American businesses — and by raising housing costs for the families who live in the apartments we help build.