US Anti-Dumping Duties on China: Cabinets, Quartz & Flooring Explained

Four China-origin product groups commonly bought for US construction projects carry US anti-dumping duties: China-made wooden cabinets and vanities (orders issued 2020), quartz surface products (2019), hardwood plywood (2018) and multilayered wood flooring (2011), each paired with a countervailing duty order. These AD/CVD duties are separate from — and stack on top of — Section 301 tariffs, and whether your specific product is covered depends on the written scope of each order, not on what the product is called on an invoice. Hotel casegoods, freestanding furniture, porcelain and sintered stone slabs, and solid or laminate flooring generally fall outside these orders, which is why scope checks belong in every US-bound procurement budget. This is the kind of scope a sourcing partner such as FBM Sourcing takes on.

This guide is written for US developers, general contractors and FF&E contractors budgeting a China procurement package. It covers what the orders are, the published duty rates, what sits inside and outside scope, and how the cash-deposit system works at entry. Everything here is compliance-side guidance: the correct response to an AD/CVD order is a scope check, correct classification, or a genuinely different product — never re-routing or relabeling cargo.

The orders that matter most for construction procurement, at a glance:

• Wooden cabinets and vanities — AD/CVD orders April 2020; published AD margins 4.37%–262.18%, CVD rates 13.33%–293.45%.
• Quartz surface products — orders July 2019; published AD margins 265.81%–336.69%, CVD rates 45.32%–190.99%.
• Hardwood plywood — orders January 2018; published AD rate 183.36%, CVD rates 22.98%–194.90%.
• Multilayered wood flooring — orders December 2011; exporter-specific rates have moved between roughly 0% and 42% across administrative reviews, with a far higher China-wide rate for non-participating exporters.
• Section 301 tariffs — a separate layer of 7.5%–25% on most Chinese building materials and furniture, applied on top of any AD/CVD duty.

All of these are published rates from past determinations and reviews; rates change over time, so always check current determinations before you finalize a budget.

What Are AD/CVD Orders and Who Sets Them?

Anti-dumping (AD) duties offset pricing below fair value; countervailing duties (CVD) offset foreign government subsidies. Two US agencies run the process: the Department of Commerce calculates the duty margins, and the International Trade Commission (ITC) determines whether the US industry is injured. When both findings are affirmative, Commerce issues an order that stays in force until it is revoked, with a sunset review at least every five years.

The United States currently maintains several hundred AD/CVD orders, and China is the single most-cited country across them. For a construction buyer the practical point is simple: these duties are product-specific and exporter-specific, they are collected in addition to regular customs duty and Section 301 tariffs, and they can be several multiples of the goods’ value. The Commerce Department’s AD/CVD resources at trade.gov list every active order and current rates.

The Four Orders That Matter for Construction Procurement

Wooden cabinets and vanities (2020)

The cabinet orders cover wooden kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and their components from China — including ready-to-assemble (RTA) and semi-finished cabinets, frames, doors and drawer boxes. Published final margins were 4.37%–262.18% AD and 13.33%–293.45% CVD, with the highest combined rates applying to exporters that did not obtain their own rate. For a 200-unit apartment project specifying China-made kitchen cabinetry, this order — not Section 301 — is usually the largest single line in the duty budget. Construction and specification choices such as framed vs frameless cabinet formats do not change coverage; both are in scope if wooden and China-origin.

Quartz surface products (2019)

The quartz orders cover engineered quartz slabs and cut-to-size pieces — crushed quartz bonded with resin — used for countertops, vanity tops and wall cladding. Published rates are the steepest of the four groups: 265.81%–336.69% AD and 45.32%–190.99% CVD in the final determinations. At those levels, China-origin engineered quartz is effectively priced out of most US projects, which is why specifications have shifted to materials genuinely outside the scope, covered below.

Hardwood plywood (2018)

The hardwood plywood orders cover plywood with at least one hardwood or bamboo face veneer, whether shipped as sheets or as certain kits. The published AD rate is 183.36%, with CVD rates of 22.98%–194.90%. Note the boundary that matters for FF&E buyers: plywood entering as raw panels is covered, but finished furniture that merely contains plywood enters under furniture classifications and is not covered by the plywood order. Panel choice for casegoods — plywood vs MDF vs particleboard — is therefore a quality and durability decision, not an AD/CVD decision, once the goods ship as assembled furniture.

Multilayered wood flooring (2011)

The oldest of the four, the multilayered (engineered) wood flooring orders have been through more than a decade of administrative reviews, and rates move with each one. Reviewed exporters have received rates ranging from roughly 0% to over 40% in different review periods, while exporters without their own rate face a much higher China-wide rate. This order is the clearest example of why the exporter’s individual rate — not a generic “duty on Chinese flooring” — determines your real cost, and why the rate in force at the time of entry is only a deposit, not the final bill.

Where Does Section 301 Fit In?

Section 301 tariffs are a separate trade action covering most Chinese goods, applied at 7.5% or 25% depending on the tariff list, and they stack on top of regular duty and any AD/CVD duty on the same entry. Most furniture and building materials fall on the 25% list. Unlike AD/CVD orders, Section 301 applies broadly by tariff heading rather than by a product-specific scope, so a hotel casegoods package that escapes the cabinet order entirely still pays Section 301. For a related decision, see how US general contractors buy building materials from China.

US tariff policy has moved repeatedly in recent years, with additional tariff actions layered on top of Section 301, so the total stack on any given entry date needs verifying against current rates. We track how these shifts play out in practice in our note on tariff and lead-time changes when sourcing from China.

How Do Scope Rulings Decide What Is Actually Covered?

Every AD/CVD order includes a written scope — a legal product definition — and Commerce issues scope rulings when coverage is unclear. Coverage follows that text, not the HS code alone and not the product name on a quotation. Two products that look similar on a spec sheet can sit on opposite sides of an order, which is why a scope check on the actual construction, material and configuration of each item should happen at RFQ stage, before deposits are paid.

The boundaries that matter most on commercial projects:

• Hotel casegoods and freestanding furniture — wardrobes, credenzas, nightstands, desks and other loose furniture are generally not within the wooden cabinet order, which targets cabinets and vanities designed for permanent installation. A 150-room hotel FF&E package is typically outside the cabinet order even though it is full of wooden casework.
• Metal and glass alternatives — the cabinet order covers wooden cabinets; stainless-steel lab and back-of-house casework and aluminum-framed glass-front units are different products outside its scope.
• Porcelain and sintered stone slabs — the quartz order covers resin-bonded crushed-quartz products. Ceramic-bodied porcelain and sintered stone slabs, and natural granite or marble, are outside that scope, which is a large part of why they now dominate China-sourced countertop packages for US projects.
• Flooring formats — the 2011 order covers multilayered wood flooring. Solid hardwood flooring, HDF-core laminate, and LVT/SPC are outside it (though they still carry Section 301).

One compliance warning belongs here. Using a genuinely different product that sits outside an order’s written scope is legitimate specification. Routing covered goods through a third country, splitting shipments to disguise origin, or misdescribing covered products to fit an out-of-scope definition is duty evasion, and US Customs actively pursues it under the Enforce and Protect Act — with the importer of record liable for the unpaid duties. A china sourcing agent handling building materials and FF&E should flag scope exposure on your product list at quotation stage, not after goods land.

How Do US Anti-Dumping Duties on China Stack Into Landed Cost?

AD and CVD duties are each calculated as a percentage of the entered customs value and are charged in addition to regular duty and Section 301 — so a covered product can owe regular duty + 25% Section 301 + AD + CVD on the same entry. For an in-scope cabinet shipment from an exporter without its own rate, the combined stack can exceed the FOB value of the goods several times over; for a reviewed exporter with a low individual rate, the same cabinets might carry a combined duty burden below 50% of value. The exporter’s rate, verified against the current Federal Register notice, is therefore a make-or-break line in the budget.

Freight, insurance and inland delivery then sit on top of the duty stack. On a typical uncovered China FF&E package, product ex-works cost commonly represents about 60–70% of landed cost; on an AD/CVD-covered product the duty line can dwarf every other component. Our breakdown of landed cost on a China project order walks through each component so you can model both scenarios before committing a specification.

Cash Deposits, Administrative Reviews and Why Rates Change

The US runs a retrospective duty system. At entry, the importer of record posts a cash deposit at the rate currently in force for that exporter; the final duty is settled later, after Commerce completes an administrative review of the relevant period — reviews run on an annual cycle, and final liquidated duties can come in higher or lower than the deposit paid, sometimes years after the goods arrived. That open-ended liability is why AD/CVD-covered goods deserve extra caution even when the deposit rate looks manageable.

Three practical checks before any US-bound order:

1. Confirm whether each product on the BOQ falls within an order’s written scope, in writing, at RFQ stage.
2. If covered, confirm the specific exporter’s current cash deposit rate — not the petition rate or a rate quoted from memory.
3. Confirm who acts as importer of record, because that party carries the deposit and any retrospective assessment. Our guide to who clears customs on a project import from China explains how that role is usually structured on commercial projects.

Summary Table: Orders, Rates and What Falls Outside Scope

Published rates below come from final determinations and reviews; they change over time, so treat them as orientation figures and check current determinations before budgeting.

Section 301 (7.5%–25% by list) applies to nearly all of the above — covered or not — as a separate layer.

Get a China Procurement Quote for Your Project

FBM Sourcing manages the entire China procurement package for overseas construction projects. For US-bound work that starts with a duty-aware review of your product list: we flag which BOQ lines touch AD/CVD scope, price genuinely out-of-scope alternatives such as sintered stone or metal casework where the numbers demand it, and quote factory, freight and documentation as one package — with our own QC team carrying out a full pre-shipment inspection and delivering photo and video records before shipment. For products you have selected yourself, we charge a 5–8% commission (8% below USD 50,000, 5% above); for products we source for you, we quote a direct price.

Send us your drawings, BOQ or product list with quantities, destination port and project timeline, and our team will review it and come back with a structured quotation. Use the Get a Project Quote button above or message us on WhatsApp to start.