First Read US Building: Trump announces tariffs on quartz products under Section 202(b)

Research evidence excerpt

First Read US Building: Trump announces tariffs on quartz products under Section 202(b)

Global Research

2 August 2026ab

First Read

EquitiesUS Building

Trump announces tariffs on quartz products Americas

under Section 202(b) Home Construction

John Lovallo, CFA

Analyst

john.lovallo@ubs.com

Trump announces quartz tariffs determined under Section 202(b) +1-212-713 9150

On July 31st, the Trump administration announced tariffs to "facilitate positive Matthew Johnson

adjustment to competition from imports of quartz surface products (QSP)"(link) Analyst

determined under Section 202(b) of the Trade Act of 1974. These tariffs include 25% matthew-h.johnson@ubs.com

levies on all non-exempt countries that import up to 13mm meters square of QSP into +1-212-713 2576

the US. If non-exempt countries import over 13mm meters square, the excess imports Nifemi Oduntan

are subject to 50% levies. Many country specific exemptions exist, perhaps most notably Associate Analyst

Canada, Korea, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia nifemi.oduntan@ubs.com

and Singapore. Quartz is commonly used in household applications such as countertops, +1-212-713 1246

flooring and backsplash. As a result of this development, we update our tariff cost per

home estimate from ~$8,100 to ~8,200 to now incorporate approximately $100/home

of quartz related impact.

Tariff impact spread across value chain; builders still appear best positioned

We continue to expect the full tariff impact to be shouldered across the housing value

chain. We believe the public homebuilders are best positioned, given significant

bargaining leverage with suppliers provided by size/scale advantages (top 16 public

homebuilders controlled ~53% share of new construction as of 1Q26 vs ~25% in

4Q13).