Cortez Masto, Rosen Urge U.S. International Trade Commission to Not Excessively Tax Nevada Quartz Businesses, Homebuyers

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) wrote a letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) urging them against recommending overly burdensome tariffs on quartz imports. Quartz fabricators, many of which are based in Nevada, rely on imported and domestic quartz to provide American households with quartz products like countertops. The 50 percent tariff considered by the ITC could raise the cost of a quartz countertop an extra $504-$1,036 per kitchen, pricing out more than 150,000 American households from buying a home.

"The domestic quartz fabricator industry includes more than 10,000 mostly small, hometown American businesses who employ about 100,000 workers fabricating quartz. These businesses take both domestic and imported quartz slabs and use complex machinery, laser measurements, software, and highly skilled craftsmanship to make high-quality products in their communities. More than 1,000 of them submitted declarations to the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") in its investigation opposing the imposition of a safeguard because trade restrictions risk hurting, rather than protecting, the profitability and employment of the industry," wrote the Senators.

Economic modeling has shown that a 50 percent tariff on quartz imports would kill approximately 6,400 jobs in the domestic quartz industry, while a 25 percent tariff would result in 4,400 lost jobs. Even an 8 percent tariff would eliminate the jobs of nearly 1,800 Americans and cause the profits of domestic fabricators to decline by $161.4 million.

"An overly aggressive remedy is likely to cause more harm to our domestic industries than it is to help, not to mention its impact on consumers and housing supply. We urge the Commission to take a light touch approach and recommend a remedy with the last restrictive measures possible," concluded the Senators.

Read the full letter here.

Senator Cortez Masto has continued to push the Trump Administration to address the impacts of Trump's tariffs on working families and Nevada businesses, including Nevada coffee shops. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Cortez Masto pressed USTR Greer about the impacts of President Trump's blanket tariffs on Nevadans, particularly those employed in the tourism and hospitality industry. The Senator introduced the Tariff Transparency Act to require the U.S. International Trade Commission to publicly investigate how Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada would impact the American people.

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