President Trump is hammering away at “affordability” to help Republicans win an uphill battle in November. He can’t undo the relief his trade measures have brought to domestic supply chains to date, but he can prevent a rollback. One opportunity stares him in the face.
It concerns “quartz surface products,” now in some 36% of American kitchen countertops, bathroom vanities, shower walls, and backsplashes. A handful of domestic slab producers want to weaponize Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. Not to compete. To suffocate honest competition from the American fabricators who actually employ the people. If they prevail, expect pricier new homes and thousands of gutted jobs.
Mr. Trump can stop them. But doing so means rejecting the petition pushed by the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America. They’re led by Minnesota-based Cambria and CEO Marty Davis—a major Trump donor who has every reason to expect his president to fight for his bottom line. The International Trade Commission ruled 2-1 in April, acknowledging that quartz imports are simply pressuring domestic producers to compete efficiently. The lone Republican commissioner voted against the petition. The Democrats who backed it issued their remedy recommendations on May 5.
Both favor a four-year tariff-rate quota: a 25% tax on imports below the limit, a 40% tax once it’s breached. The recommended cap? Between 140 million and 154 million square feet for year one. For context, the U.S. imported 234 million square feet in 2024. A flood, if they say so. They recommend exemptions for free-trade partners, but none of the top five supplying countries this year qualify. According to U.S. census data, they’re India, Vietnam, Thailand, Spain, and Malaysia.
The ITC doesn’t allege unfair trade practices. Not yet. And the gross profit margins of U.S. slab producers in 2024 were already a robust 38%, according to the commission’s own staff report. Proof of an industry worth defending to them. Proof of a fat cat worth feeding to the rest of us. As Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote in a March 27 letter to ITC chair Amy Karpel, “these multinational companies’ share of the surface products market has remained consistent for years… . They remain profitable and have made major recent investments in their U.S. manufacturing facilities.”
Now look at the actual workforce. Some 10,000 small U.S. fabricators use imported quartz, employing roughly 100,000 workers. That’s ten times the number employed by the donors seeking protection, according to Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Who is the commission really trying to safeguard? The domestic slab industry mainly serves the luxury market. The American companies that import and fabricate quartz serve the families who need affordable homes. Any hope that artificially jacking prices will force middle-income Americans into premium products is a donor-class fantasy. Surrender the supply chain to protectionist whims, and the fabricators who depend on it will be next. The middle market doesn’t need a middle option. It needs raw materials it can actually afford.
In testimony to the ITC, Ken Gear, CEO of the Leading Builders of America, representing 22 of the nation’s largest home builders, laid it bare. His members work hard to keep new homes within reach. Protectionism won’t create demand for overpriced options. Builders and buyers will just switch to granite and other substitutes. “New tariffs or quotas will not redirect demand for quartz. It will destroy it,” he said. The real destruction isn’t foreign competition. It’s handing a captive market to donors while pricing out the families who build, buy, and actually live in these homes. Chasing donor protectionism is the same thinking that has gutted American manufacturing coast to coast.
The ITC’s remedy recommendation reached Mr. Trump’s desk on May 18. He has 60 days to decide. Sixty days to choose between Main Street and his donors. If he’s paying attention to the working families who keep this economy running, he’ll just say no.