---
title: Quartz Countertop Prices Face a Decision Due by August 1
description: The ITC recommended a tariff-rate quota on quartz imports, not the flat 50 percent tariff manufacturers want, as a rival coalition fights the same case from the other side.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-07-25T17:37:44.784Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/quartz-countertop-tariff-decision-august-1
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/quartz-countertop-kitchen-island-31535.webp
categories: Business
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

A four year system of quotas and step-down tariffs, not the flat 50 percent duty an industry coalition is publicly demanding, is what a federal trade panel recommended for imported quartz surfaces.

On April 1, 2026, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled, by a 2-1 vote, that a surge in imported quartz surface products, the material used in most kitchen and bathroom countertops sold in the United States, has been “a substantial cause of serious injury” to domestic manufacturers. The finding followed a petition filed in September 2025 by the Quartz Manufacturers Alliance for America (QMAA), a coalition whose members include Cambria, Dal-Tile, Guidoni USA and Hyundai L&C, and an investigation the commission opened that November.

The President must decide by August 1, 2026 whether to act on the commission's recommendation, modify it, or reject relief altogether. What the president chooses will help set the price of a countertop material found in a large share of American kitchens, and it will decide the outcome of a dispute that now runs in two directions at once: manufacturers who say imports are gutting their factories, and the fabricators and retailers who install and sell the material, who say restricting imports will cost them business instead.

## How Much Would Quartz Countertop Tariffs Raise Prices

The remedy the ITC recommended, formally issued in mid-May, is a tariff-rate quota, not the across-the-board tariff QMAA's public campaign asks for. In its first year, the plan allows 140 million square feet of imported quartz surface product to enter at a 25 percent tariff, with anything above that quota taxed at 40 percent. The quota would be released in roughly 35 million square foot instalments each quarter to stop importers from stockpiling ahead of the deadline, and both tariff rates are set to fall by one percentage point annually over the plan's four years. Canada and Mexico would be exempted.

QMAA's video campaign and public messaging ask for something larger: a flat 50 percent tariff on all quartz imports, or alternatively quantitative import restrictions, paired with what the coalition calls a reshoring import cap of 141 million square feet. Luke Meisner, counsel for QMAA, has put the scale of the shift at stake in blunt terms, saying foreign quartz imports now represent nearly 90 percent of the U.S. market. Whichever version the administration adopts, [tariffs of that size](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/manufacturing-equipment-orders-surge-despite-tariff-pressures-and-cost-inflation) on imports that dominate the market would be expected to feed into retail prices, though neither the commission nor the coalition has published a specific estimate of how much a countertop would cost as a result.

## Why Fabricators Are Fighting the Same Recommendation

QMAA is not the only organized voice in the case. A rival coalition called Save Quartz Jobs, representing American fabricators, retailers, distributors and suppliers, the businesses that buy quartz slabs and cut, finish and install them, opposes the ITC's recommended remedy on the grounds that it protects one part of the supply chain at the expense of another. The group argues that trade restrictions “fail to reflect the realities that drive today's thriving U.S. domestic quartz industry” and warns that more than 100,000 U.S. jobs are at risk, the same figure QMAA cites when arguing the opposite case.

That overlap captures the dispute in miniature. Marty Davis, chief executive of Cambria, put it directly:

> "These quartz imports don't just put slab manufacturers at risk, they also steal business from downstream American fabricators."
> — Marty Davis, CEO, Cambria

Save Quartz Jobs disputes that framing directly, arguing that the recommended restrictions fail to reflect the realities that drive today's thriving U.S. domestic quartz industry and that they put more than 100,000 jobs on their side of the business at risk instead. QMAA says the underlying trend justifying protection is stark: imports up 78.3 percent over five years and domestic production down almost 20 percent, alongside factory closures and job cuts elsewhere in the industry. At a Guidoni USA plant that operated for years as a Husqvarna facility before that operation closed due to cheap foreign imports, Production Operator Raymond Mack said he fears the same fate could repeat at the site under its current ownership.

## Quartz Vs Granite: Will the Price Gap Narrow

Quartz is an engineered material, ground stone bound with resin, and it has taken share from natural granite over the past two decades partly on consistency of color and lower maintenance. If tariffs raise the cost of imported quartz, the price gap between quartz and granite, which is quarried rather than manufactured and is not subject to this case, could narrow, making granite comparatively more attractive to buyers renovating a kitchen in the next year. Neither material's supply chain is simple enough for that shift to be automatic, and no party in the case has published a projection of how buyers might respond.

The ITC's [recommended tariff-rate quota](https://stonetrades.com/insights/us-international-trade-commission-recommends-tariff-rate-quota-for-quartz-surface-products) is only a recommendation. The final decision rests with the President, due by August 1, and [the administration](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/a-spice-company-and-a-watch-retailer-are-suing-the-president-over-tariffs-again) is free to adopt QMAA's flatter, larger tariff, keep the commission's stepped-down quota system, or decline to act.

## FAQ

**Q: Are quartz countertops subject to tariffs?**
Not yet, but they are close to it. The ITC's April 2026 injury ruling and its recommended tariff-rate quota apply specifically to imported quartz surface products, and a final decision on whether to impose tariffs is due from the President by August 1, 2026.

**Q: Is quartz going up in price?**
No tariff has been imposed yet, so no price increase has taken effect. If the administration adopts either the ITC's recommended tariff-rate quota or QMAA's proposed 50 percent tariff, buyers of imported quartz surfaces would likely see higher prices, though neither the commission nor either industry coalition has published a specific figure.

**Q: Is it better to get quartz or granite?**
That depends on maintenance preference and budget rather than the trade case, but the case could affect the comparison: granite is quarried domestically and abroad and falls outside this dispute, so if quartz tariffs raise import costs, the price gap between the two materials may narrow.