U.S. Court of Appeals Affirms Modification of Antidumping/Countervailing Orders on Quartz Surface Products from China
The leading U.S. producer of quartz surface products, Cambria Company LLC, announces the decision by the Department of Commerce to modify the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on quartz surface products from China to address potential evasion and circumvention through the shipment of “crushed glass” surfaces.
In April of 2018, Cambria filed petitions before the Department of Commerce and the United States International Trade Commission alleging unfair trading of quartz surface products from China. The petitions excluded from their coverage certain “crushed glass” products that are notable for having large pieces of crushed glass visible across their surface. By November of 2018, after the Department of Commerce had imposed preliminary antidumping/countervailing duties on imports from China, Chinese producers and exporters had begun marketing a new “quartz glass” product that was made using micronized or powdered glass instead of quartz sand. This new product was virtually identical in appearance to regular quartz surface products. The Chinese producers and exporters claimed they could ship this new product to the United States without the payment of any antidumping/countervailing duties. Cambria brought evidence of this problem to the Department of Commerce’s attention, and the agency modified the scope of the antidumping/countervailing investigations to cover these new “quartz glass” products and prevent any further evasion and circumvention.
The U.S. importer Bruskin International LLC brought an appeal at the Federal Circuit challenging the Department of Commerce’s authority to modify the scope of the investigations on quartz surface products from China. Cambria participated in this appeal to assist the Department of Commerce in defending its decision to modify the scope. On April 25, 2022, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion rejecting each and every basis for Bruskin’s legal challenge. The court’s opinion represents a resounding victory for Cambria and ensures that Chinese producers and exporters will not be able to evade the payment of antidumping/countervailing duties by shifting their production to “crushed glass” products.
“We know that Chinese producers and exporters are constantly on the lookout for loopholes in the antidumping/countervailing orders on quartz surface products from China that would allow them to resume shipping massive volumes of dumped and subsidized merchandise to the United States,” said Arik Tendler, Cambria’s chief sales officer. “The Federal Circuit’s decision to uphold the scope modification on crushed glass ensures that strong relief continues to be afforded to U.S. producers here in the United States so that they can continue competing on a level playing field. This is a tremendous victory for the principles of free and fair trade. Our company will continue to fight against the market-distorting forces that ripple out from the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on China.”
About Cambria
Cambria Company LLC, headquartered in Le Sueur, Minn., is the leading domestic producer of quartz surface products. It is a family-owned, American company that employs more than 2,000 people in the United States.
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