Tariffs on imports of Ceramic, Porcelain & Mosaic Tiles actually harm the US Tile Industry

Tariffs on imports of Ceramic, Porcelain & Mosaic Tiles actually harm the US Tile Industry

Started
May 14, 2019
Petition to
The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile and 1 other
Signatures: 1,448Next Goal: 1,500
Support now

Why this petition matters

Started by Ceramic Tile Alliance

URGENT PETITION REGARDING IMPORT TARIFFS ON CHINESE CERAMICS WHICH WILL DIRECTLY IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS

The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile (“Petitioners”) have filed anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) Petitions with the federal government. The Coalition consists of U.S. ceramic tile producers American Wonder Porcelain, Florida Tile, Inc., Crossville, Inc., Florim USA, Dal-Tile Corporation, Landmark Ceramics, Del Conca USA, Inc. and StonePeak Ceramics (all members of the Tile Council of North America).

These Petitions seek the imposition of penalizing duties of over 400% on all ceramic and porcelain tile imported from China — floor tiles, mosaics, and decorative wall tiles.  The Petitioners claim these imports are causing injury and damage to the domestic ceramic tile manufacturing industry. We strongly disagree with these allegations and have formed an Alliance to oppose these tariffs.

We hope you will support us by signing the Change.org Petition.

To learn more about the Petitioners claim, visit CeramicTileAlliance.com

WHO ARE WE?

The Ceramic Tile Alliance is a broad representation of North American based importers, distributors, retailers, and design professionals. We are strongly opposed to these tariffs as we believe they jeopardize the long-term health and growth of our industry against other competing floor and decorative wall options in our market.

Our united focus in this effort is an attempt to save American businesses and the thousands of American jobs which will be at risk if this Petition is allowed to move forward.

HERE ARE THE FACTS

The Petitioner's objective is to lockout the market with 400% duties, making it impossible to import ceramic floor tiles, decorative wall tiles, and mosaics from China. This would result in decreased consumer options, higher consumer prices, and could force consumers to choose other flooring products.

There are tens of thousands of tile importers, distributors, retailers and installers in the United States, many of whom are at risk of losing their livelihoods if these Petitions move forward.

Petitioners are claiming injury to domestic manufacturing, despite the fact that US production has actually grown by 79% over the past decade. Numerous companies have recently announced $70-$150 million investments in new domestic production lines and factories — investments that would not have occurred if the U.S. industry were experiencing injury. The significant and continued growth of the U.S. ceramic tile industry is unmatched in any other developed country over the same period.

In addition, Chinese imports have remained relatively stable over the past several years, with no huge surge in imports to cause injury to the domestic industry. China is also not the lowest-cost country of import, by far.

Importantly, domestic capacity can only produce approximately 30% of U.S. demand and most U.S. production consists primarily of floor tiles. Imports of ceramic tile are necessary to meet floor tile demands and provide options for decorative wall tiles and mosaics that are not produced in significant quantities in the U.S.

The vast majority of mosaics and decorative wall tiles sold in the US market are produced in China. China excels at producing a vast assortment of these specialty products. While small levels of production exist elsewhere, no other country is currently capable of meeting the growing U.S. demand in this product sector.

Current domestic capacity can only produce approximately 30% of the market demand; products must be imported to meet our domestic demand.  

At this moment, due to a lack of capacity, manufacturing technology and skilled labor, the depth and assortment of these products cannot be replaced nor produced in the United States. Nonetheless, these items are included in the petitioners' request to penalize.

The domestic manufacturers, who make up the Coalition, are also currently importing the same decorative wall tiles and mosaics from China for this very reason. 

Lower cost import options from other countries have increased their market share dramatically over the past years, whereas Chinese imports have remained fairly stable.

THE IMPACT TO OUR BUSINESS & INDUSTRY

With tariffs as high as 400%, American companies will be forced to end long-term relationships with Chinese suppliers who have provided hundreds of products not significantly produced domestically. Many specialty tile companies may be forced to closed their doors, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. 

Significant financial losses for tile distributors and importers will occur in the event these products are no longer viable to import. Investments made to sample and merchandise product collections will be lost as those items will removed from showroom and libraries. Distributors will also be faced with managing unproductive surplus inventory.

The Architectural & Design community will lose entire product segments where labor intensive, uniquely crafted designs are critical.

Our greatest number of sales transactions, which are typically the most profitable, being decorative tiles and mosaics, may suffer due to a lack of available assortment.

Dealers, retail showrooms, kitchen and bath boutiques will need to retrofit costly displays, vignettes, floor and wall installations to remove  products that will no longer be available.

This will cause a significant disruption to the majority of businesses in the tile industry with and result in significant price increases for the American consumer. 

WE URGE YOU TO SUPPORT US IN FIGHTING THESE UNFAIR AND UNNECESSARY TARIFFS. HELP SAVE OUR INDUSTRY BY SIGNING OUR PETITION

To learn more about the Petitioners claim, visit CeramicTileAlliance.com

Support now
Signatures: 1,448Next Goal: 1,500
Support now
Share this petition in person or use the QR code for your own material.Download QR Code

Decision Makers

  • The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile
  • Eric AstrachanExecutive Director of the Tile Council of North America