US: Republican Lawmaker Pushes For Tariffs On Imports Of Indian Ceramic Tiles Amid Rising Tennessee Job Concerns—All About It

Ahead of Donald Trump assuming office next year, a Republican legislator has called for "robust tariffs" on ceramic tile imports from India, arguing that India's "unfair and uncompetitive" trade tactics have negatively affected the Tennessee tile manufacturing industry.

Congressman John Rose voiced these concerns on Tuesday (3 December), after sending a letter to outgoing Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

He warned that Tennessee jobs are at risk due to India's trade practices in the ceramic tile market are disrupting the US domestic market and stifling American manufacturers. 

Rose urged the Department of Commerce to utilise its resources to actively combat these harmful trade practices to safeguard Tennessee jobs and domestic manufacturing.

He also noted that the department had initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on ceramic tile from India in May. 

Furthermore, he and Representative Tim Burchet co-signed a letter urging the Department of Commerce to reevaluate its initial determination in the countervailing duty investigation and impose strong duties on Indian ceramic tile imports. 

The letter, dated 27 November and made public on 3 December, highlighted that India's tile sales in the US had surged from 344,000 square feet in 2013 to approximately 405 million square feet by the end of 2023. 

It also pointed out that the volume of tile imported from India had grown by 42.6 per cent to over 404 million square feet from 2022-2023, and that India accounted for 20.3 per cent of the total tile imports to the US by the end of 2023. 

The letter further revealed that the value of Indian tile imports had increased significantly by more than $70 million between 2021-2023 and that India had successfully reduced imports from Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico, thereby dominating the US tile import market. 

The letter concluded by urging the Department of Commerce to pay adequate attention to Indian dumping before making its final determination.

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