Lighting players grapple with reciprocal tariffs, sourcing challenges

The issue of reciprocal tariffs favored by President Donald Trump has left at least one lighting manufacturer questioning how that potential policy would play out for ceiling fan and lighting makers who manufacture in Asia.

Nathan Frampton, the president and CEO of Fanimation, last month on LinkedIn encouraged fellow lighting industry members to contact their congressional representatives and push back against the tariff on Chinese imports. This week, he posted on the topic of reciprocal tariffs on lighting and ceiling fans.

Many manufacturers have moved or are moving a portion of their lighting and ceiling fan production from China to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and India to reduce tariff risks, Frampton noted. But these countries may now face reciprocal tariffs.

“Right now, the U.S. has a 20% tariff on Chinese goods,” Frampton wrote. “If China’s import tariff on fans and lighting is 10%, the questions remains: would the U.S. tariff rise to 30% or drop to 10% to match?”

Frampton noted it is unclear how the administration will apply the reciprocal tariff policy Trump advocated in his speech to Congress earlier this week.

If reciprocal tariffs are levied against Vietnam, which currently imposes a 25% tariff on U.S.-manufactured lighting, manufacturers who moved some or all their production to Vietnam would be further impacted, Frampton said.

The decision of where to manufacture, which has long been a key business decision for the home industry, has become more fraught and complicated.

Varaluz, whose primary business is lighting but whose assortment includes mirrors, some furniture and other décor items, manufactures in the Philippines and has items coming in from China, said President Ron Henderson.

“Our recently introduced upholstered and wood furniture is sourced from amazing vendor partners in Vietnam and not subject to these more extreme tariff increases,” he told Home Accents Today earlier this week.  “We are taking a pause and reconsidering our recent introduction of gorgeous stone and metal furniture from a partner in Mexico that has been years in the making,” he said in response to the 25% tariffs on Mexico that were imposed, then paused, this week.

“As a smaller player in the industry, it is a struggle for us to be in too many places or working with too many vendors,” Henderson added. “It is challenging to be able to order and fill whole containers to keep freight costs down if you don’t do enough business in a certain area.  It is also tough to keep pricing in line if you don’t have enough business (leverage) with a vendor partner. So, we are trying to consolidate in as few places and with as few vendors as possible.

“It would be awesome if we could truly change licensing and regulations here in the U.S. to actually allow production, regardless of costs.  I have spoken in past interviews about how hard it is to even get licensing or permission to weld or paint, even in one of the most business-friendly states in the country.” Varaluz is based in Las Vegas.

Henderson said increased tariffs are only part of overall economic pressures his company faces.

“For us, basic inflationary increases in everything from warehousing, travel — increases have been nuts in recent months — and freight are driving us to a small increase this spring,” he said. “Tariffs so far are only a tiny part of that, thankfully.”

See also:

Canadian case good manufacturer on tariffs: ‘We cannot absorb all of it’

One home furnishings stock emerged unscathed in Trump’s tariff move 

Consumer worries about tariff impacts jump in February survey