In April, the Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile filed petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission seeking anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of ceramic tile products from the People’s Republic of China. In response to that filing, a broad representation of North American based importers, distributors, retailers, and design professionals have formed the Ceramic Tile Alliance (CTA). The group is strongly opposed to the tariffs and believe they jeopardize the long-term health and growth of the entire ceramic tile industry against other competing floor and wall products.
The focus of the Ceramic Tile Alliance is to both inform the industry through an awareness campaign and present a united front in the legal proceedings regarding the petition. The CTA believes it is important highlight the fact that these tariffs will only benefit domestic ceramic tile manufacturers at the expense of ceramic tile distributors, retailers, installers and design professionals. This campaign is supported by counterclaims against the anti-dumping and countervailing petition, which shows that Chinese imports have not negatively affected the growth of domestic manufacturing and Chinese imports are not the lowest-cost products imported into the market.