Summary
Marty Davis, the CEO of Minnesota quartz maker Cambria and a prominent Trump donor, has pushed for wider U.S. tariffs on imported quartz slabs, arguing the country needs “free and fair trade” to protect American manufacturing jobs. The dispute has moved from industry channels into politics and public messaging after the U.S. International Trade Commission backed Cambria’s request, setting up a final call for President Trump. Davis’s rivals say the move will raise costs for small fabricators and homeowners—and argue Davis’s political connections give his company an advantage in the fight over who benefits from trade policy.
Davis owns and runs Cambria, a private Minnesota company that manufactures quartz for kitchen and bathroom countertops. NPR described Cambria as a $500 million business employing about 1,800 people, with the Davis family also involved in other industries. In an NPR interview, Davis portrayed himself as a small-business owner focused on American manufacturing, repeatedly emphasizing “free and fair trade” as the standard he says the U.S. should enforce.
In Davis’s account, tariffs are necessary to stop imported competitors from undercutting domestic production in a way that threatens jobs and the middle class. He told NPR that “Free and fair trade has to prevail, or the American manufacturer will be gone, and these jobs will leave,” adding that “they are jobs that really promote a healthy middle class.” Davis also compared the situation to competing against a foreign government rather than another company.
Competitors contend the tariff push would work against smaller businesses that rely on imported quartz slabs and other stone materials. Kyle Keck, general manager of Marble Uniques, described how a homegrown tariff request could force hard choices at a family-owned shop that cuts imported slabs and customizes countertops, warning, “I don’t believe that our customers will absorb the full cost … so I could potentially see loss of jobs overall.” Keck said his business and others joined an industry coalition opposing Cambria’s latest tariff request.
The tariff campaign traces to earlier actions by Cambria using the same safeguard pathway available to U.S. manufacturers. NPR reported that Cambria succeeded in 2018, during Trump’s first term, in petitioning the U.S. International Trade Commission to impose tariffs and other penalties on quartz imported from China, and later won similar treatment for quartz from India and Turkey. The newer request, NPR said, sought what is known as a “global safeguard” covering quartz imports from almost all countries, not only specific nations.
According to NPR, Cambria and other domestic manufacturers submitted their “global safeguard” petition in September, and the International Trade Commission ruled last month in Cambria’s favor. The Commission recommended tariffs of up to 40% on imported quartz slabs for a four-year period, along with import quotas. The Commission’s recommendations are now set to be delivered to the president by Monday, and President Trump will decide whether to accept or reject the new tariffs.
Cambria’s opponents argue the fight is not only about trade rules but also about perceived favoritism. NPR described critics framing the tariff dispute as a case of “crony capitalism” in a Trump administration that picks winners and losers tied to wealthy CEOs with close ties to the White House. Reilly Steel, a law professor at Columbia, said it is “pretty obvious that your connections to Trump and … the people surrounding him have become pretty central to whether or not you receive favorable government treatment.”
Davis, NPR reported, rejected those accusations and pointed to what he described as bipartisan support for Cambria’s tariff efforts. NPR said Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor of Minnesota, testified for Cambria at a February International Trade Commission hearing and that a spokesperson cited her remarks about domestic industry needing fair competition. NPR also reported that Cambria has sought trade protections not only from the Trump administrations but also from the Biden Commerce Department.
Trade experts and industry criticism also place Cambria’s tariff strategy within a broader pattern of U.S. import protection. Scott Lincicome, a trade expert at the libertarian Cato Institute, told NPR that safeguard requests are “a dirty little secret of U.S. trade policy for decades,” describing them as “a machine designed to churn out import protection.” NPR also said Lincicome expected the president to apply the protection recommended by the trade commission.
Beyond tariffs, NPR noted that quartz has faced other pressures affecting the industry, including worker health risks tied to cutting the manufactured stone. The NPR report said that in California at least 31 workers have died from serious lung disease caused by cutting the artificial stone, and it described how Cambria executives have argued affected workers are those cutting without necessary protections, while the company and other manufacturers seek immunity from worker lawsuits. The tariff fight, NPR reported, is also being discussed as part of the wider debate over how Trump’s tariffs increase costs across consumer goods and inputs used by builders.