Stone-Ideas.com 
One of the highlights of the Coverings trade fair every year on the first day is the panel discussion with important company representatives from the stone sector. While in some editions, the situation was so relaxed that only new products were discussed, on April 29, 2025, moderator Jim Hieb (CEO Natural Stone Institute) had two wide-ranging topics: US government tariffs and protecting industry workers from silica (primarily an issue in California to date).
Hieb was joined on the podium by
* Katie Jensen, Triton Stone Group;
* Evan Cohen, Quality Marble & Granite;
* Jeff Erickson, Cutting Edge Countertops;
* Rick Stimic, BB Industries.
Generally, the panel discussion is characterized by the fact that the audience is also included with its experiences. This actually results in the “State of the Stone Industry Update” as promised in the title of the event.
Jim Hieb‘s first question naturally revolved around the Trump administration‘s tariffs. Evan Cohen humorously comented on the situation today and presumably also in the near future: “If you have informed yourself at a convention about the latest regulations, everything is completely different by the time you are checking in for your flight home.”
He believes this may have an impact on the reliability of deliveries.
Katie Jensen noted that you can only get through the day with a lot of communication, both with suppliers and customers. She assumes that this will be the case for a while yet.
Jeff Erickson referred to the uncertainty that exists everywhere in the economy. But he wanted to see things in a positive light: In Covid times, experience had been gained with uncertain situations.
Other questions were:
* Are shortages to be expected?
* Can US producers get in here?
* Are there already price increases?
* Have projects already been stopped and how to secure the use natural stone in a project?
Jim Hieb himself touched on another aspect and informed how the NSI helps in such situations.
Early on in the debate, which lasted an hour in total, Evan Cohen introduced a sarcastic insight:“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Towards the end of the event, the topic of silica was also addressed in detail. It can be expected to come up in other countries in the near future. Many publicly available videos from Asia, for example, show that the protection of workers is not in good shape in many places.
The disease is caused by inhaling very fine mineral dust; after some decades in the stone workshop, people die miserably from suffocation.
Coverings 2026, March 30 – April 02