Ceramic Coalition Files Complaint Over Ruling

Clemson, SC, June 26, 2025-The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile has filed a lawsuit challenging parts of a U.S. government ruling that found Indian ceramic tile was not being sold below fair market value. 

In a statement Wednesday, the group said it disagrees with how the Department of Commerce handled certain aspects of its investigation, including how it treated the business affiliates of major Indian exporters, allowed new information late in the process, and calculated tariffs related to scrap materials.

“As we previously noted, by statute, Commerce is time-limited in its investigation, at a time when more trade remedy actions were launched than at any other point in Commerce’s history,” said Eric Astrachan, executive director of the Coalition, in a news release. “We are truly sympathetic to the obstacles Commerce investigators faced, but we firmly believe Commerce didn’t have all the facts at hand to decide this case.”

“In particular, for their own financial well-being, we want the importer and distributor community to be aware that any finding resulting in an anti-dumping tariff should be retroactive to April 23, 2025,” Astrachan added. 

“That tariff may be substantial,” said Andrew Whitmire, trade data analyst for the Tile Council of North America. “Anyone tracking the world prices for ceramic tile knows that once Commerce has all the requisite information, a dumping tariff is entirely possible.”