2025 U.S. Hard-Surface Imports

Trends and Numbers

The Trends

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

April 2 isn’t exactly a red-letter day in history, with big events including the start of the Falklands War and the RMS Titanic heading out of port for sea trials. For U.S. hard-surface imports, however, April 2 became a significant dividing point in 2025.

April 2 marked the declaration of new International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs that hiked all imports by a minimum 10%, with higher rates for selected countries. Later on, other instant tariff hikes raised some countries to 50% duties … and all of the new tariffs became an add-on to pre-April 2 rates.

Those new rates changed the flow of hard surfaces coming through U.S. ports-of-entry last year. While the U.S. Supreme Court struck down those tariffs this February, the IEEPA Effect continued through the first quarter of 2026.

The import data from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is the biggest aid in tracking the U.S. hard-surface market. More than 85% of natural stone and quartz surfaces come from outside U.S. borders

Gainers in previous years, such as quartz surfaces and marble, dropped in both import values and volumes in 2026. Other sectors, such as granite, suffered greater declines.

The first page of Stone Update Magazine’s 2025 report tracks a few import trends using interactive charts. If you’re looking for the

numbers that make up the graphs, put your cursor (or, on mobile devices, your finger) on the different-colored bars and dots to get pop-ups of data.

The next two pages are a summary of hard-surface imports for each sector, including the top 10 importing countries.

This year’s report also includes two major changes.

First, porcelain is no longer tracked by our sister publication Hard-Surface Report. Tthere was hope that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), which categorizes anything larger than a 30cm X 30cm piece as “large format” (the number previously offered by Hard-Surface Report) would be revised. That’s not happening, and there’s no clear way to separate slabs from smaller floor tiles

Second, quartzite is now reported as its own sector. The HTS changed in mid-2023 to show quartzite-specific information, but Hard-Surface Report waited until two full calendar years were on the books before starting to publish data. Quartzite data is hived off from its previous location under Other Stone, which is still its own sector minus quartzite.

You can get monthly data on all hard-surface sectors with our monthly Hard-Surface Report magazine. To learn more, go to https://www.hardsurfacereport.com.

1. Hard-Surface Imports Shuffle Back in 2026.

The $3,505,185,417 in customs value for U.S.natural-stone and quartz-surfaces imports last year fell by 4.8% from 2024 levels.

Quartz Surfaces led all sectors at $1.3 billion, but it dropped 16.4% from 2024 levels. (The sector showed a year-over-year 13.8% increase the previous year.). Some of this is likely due to higher importing costs, since quartz-surfaces, with the exception of products from China, India, and Turkey) previously came into the United States duty-free.

Marble's $676.4 million in 2025 made the surface the second-largest in value; that's a tiny drop of 0.8% from 2024. Quartzite made the biggest leap forward last year, with its $620 million recording an astounding 43.6% increase from 2024. Other sectors reported either annual single-digit gains (Travertine, Other Stone) or less than 1% declines.(Other Calcareous, Slate). And then there's Granite, which dropped 18.8% from 2024 to $484.7 million.

Customs value is roughly equivalent to the concept of free-on-board, which is the value assigned to imported goods when loaded onto whatever gets them to the U.S. port-of-entry. It essentially represents what the exporter receives as goods are shipped away; it doesn’t include the cost of shipping and other related charges, nor does it include the U.S. tariffs (if any) that need to be paid to clear customs.

2. Natural Stone Still #1 in Surfacing Imports ... in Value.

The combined total of dimensional natural stone of $2.1 billion in 2025 still leads quartz surfaces. Both are still well-under the highs of 2022.

All of the totals are NOT adjusted for inflation.

2025: Natural Stone

2025: Quartz Surface

3. Turning Down the Volume

Changes in custom value are rouighly mirrored in shipment volume, with three of the four largest sectors showing a year-over-year decline in 2025. Last year, quartzite turned out to be the star of the import class.

Why show percentage changes and not the actual data? First of all, you'll find the data in the next two pages of charts for each sector.

And, second, quartz-suirface volume is measured in surface araa (and in square meters, which are converted in all charts to square feet, since more than eight in ten readers of this are in the United States,: All other surfaces are measured in metric tons, so using actual volume numbers in comparing the materials is like trying to compare apples to pot roasts.

4. About Those Tariffs ....

The IEEPA tariffs announced last April 2 set a minimum of 10% on all foreign goods, with higher rates to some countries based on the perception of tradeimbalance with the United States. Those tariffs began showing up on shipment received in late April.

New trade agreements adjusted those rates with some countries. Other countries, such as Brazil and India, saw IEEPA tariffs shoot up to 50% on special assessments based more on political disagreements with foreign governments than actual U.S. trade issues. (Brazil won an exemption from higher rates for quarzite.)

Federal courts issued rulings in 2025 that found the Trump administration ididn't have the authority to use IEEPA to set new tariffs. A ruling this February by the U.S. Supreme Court upheld lower-court rulings, negating the tariffs; refunds are being issued.

The chart below shows the change in hard-surface import duties between 2024 and 2025. The massive adjustment for quartz surfaces is due to the majority of the materials coming into the United States duty-free until the April 2025 IEEPA tariffs.

5. How is 2026 Looking?

Two words: Not good.

The $722.1 million customs value of natural stone and quartz surfaces shipped to the United States in the first three months of 2026 is 23.7% below the same time last year. Only quartzite (7.2%) is ahead of 2025, while the downward trend grows with the other major sectors of marble (-22.4%), quartz surfaces (-26.8%) and granite (-55.1%)

Normally, the end of one year and the first two months of the next are the silly season for hard-surface imports, as buyers adjust year-end inventories and commercial/residential work eases up in the winter.

The disparities between this year and last year, however, aren't normal. At best, the data shows the effects of IEEPA tariffs that will disappear as 2026 progresses. At worst, it's a signal of a general market slowdown.

First-quarter comparisons of hard-surface volume offers much the same outlook at value. Even quartzite runs a deficit from 1Q 2024 shipments; the only gain comes from the Other Stone.sector. Since Other Stone's volume rose by neary 23%, but total value declined by -1.5%, that's a surge that's, well, dubious.

As with value, 1Q volumes with major sectors like quartz surfaces and marble show declines that go beyond the usual dip during seasonal slowing of construciton. Maybe importers held back on orders until the Supreme Court IEEPA ruling. Shipments could ramp up during April and May; if they don't, 2026 may be a rough year.