President Trump on July 31, 2026, signed a proclamation imposing a four-year safeguard tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on imports of engineered quartz surface products — including countertops, slabs, backsplashes, and tiles — effective August 15, 2026. Under the measure, imports within an annual quota of roughly 140 million square feet face a 25 percent duty; volumes above that threshold face 50 percent. Quota amounts rise and duty rates fall each year through August 2030. The action follows a formal U.S. International Trade Commission investigation, initiated in November 2025 after a petition by the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America, whose members alleged that imports had surged roughly 73 percent between 2020 and 2024. The ITC determined 2-1 in April 2026 that those imports were a substantial cause of serious injury to domestic producers. Imports from Canada, Mexico, and most U.S. free-trade-agreement partners are excluded. A significant implementation question involves circumvention: prior antidumping duties on Chinese quartz had repeatedly been evaded through transshipment via Malaysia, Vietnam, and other third countries, and the proclamation authorizes the U.S. Trade Representative to extend the safeguard to any country found to be circumventing it.