April 9,    

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Lighting Industry Rattled as U.S.-China Tariffs Hit 104%

For many lighting companies, there are no easy answers, only more expensive ones.

The new tariffs took effect at midnight last night, but most of the lighting industry had already been bracing for impact. And still, the blow landed hard.

With the U.S. now imposing a 104% combined tariff on Chinese goods, the trade war that’s been simmering for years has entered uncharted territory. For lighting manufacturers, many of whom depend on Chinese factories for critical components and finished goods, the reality is sinking in: the cost structure has changed again, and no one knows how long the new math will last.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

After China announced a 34% retaliatory tariff to mirror the U.S.'s recent hike, President Trump raised the stakes—threatening an additional 50% tariff unless Beijing backed down. He made it official Monday on Truth Social. The White House confirmed the move late Tuesday. By 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, the new U.S. rates were in effect.

[UPDATED]  Hours later, China responded in kind — and then some — announcing it would boost its tariffs to a total of 84% starting Thursday. The message was clear: Beijing had no intention of blinking.

Can Lighting Untangle from China? Should it?

It’s tempting to imagine this moment as a breaking point — when manufacturers start pulling up stakes and relocating en masse. But the truth is murkier.

Yes, prices are rising. But for much of the lighting industry, China remains among the fastest, most efficient, and — despite tariffs — cheapest sources for LED chips, drivers, and a wide range of low- to mid-tier fixtures.

It’s not just about labor costs. It’s about tooling, engineering, scale. China has a manufacturing ecosystem that took decades to build. That doesn’t just get replaced with a new vendor in Vietnam or a facility in Juárez.

The eye-popping 104% U.S.–China tariff may dominate headlines, but lighting companies looking elsewhere aren’t necessarily finding relief. The United States is now imposing steep tariffs on several emerging manufacturing hubs: 46% on Vietnam, 49% on Cambodia, 26% on India, and 24% on Malaysia — all effective April 9, .

Still, some companies are indeed exploring alternative countries. But relocating manufacturing lines requires capital, time, and trust. And with trade policy as unpredictable as it’s been, many are reluctant to bet big on any one direction.

Lighting in Limbo

The result is a kind of strategic paralysis. Manufacturers are revising quotes, and issuing new price sheets. Some distributors are pausing large buys, while others are stockpiling goods. Developers are quietly hitting “pause” on scheduled projects. And importers, especially those reliant on high-volume finished goods from China, are trying to calculate how much cost they can pass through and still remain competitive.

One U.S. lighting brand CEO told Inside Lighting yesterday that a $100,000 container of fixtures that’s currently on the water will now cost over $200,000.

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That sentiment echoes across the industry: even companies with partial U.S. or North American assembly are discovering that exposure to Chinese components — optics, boards, chips, steel, housings — is nearly impossible to avoid.

The Myth of “Made in America”

It’s worth stating clearly: no one is bringing LED light bulb manufacturing back to the U.S. Not at scale. Not competitively. Not in .

The same goes for commodity 2-cent LEDs, $3 drivers, $9 downlights, $19 LED flat panels, and $59 UFO high bays. The infrastructure to produce these at volume — cheaply, and quickly — exists in China. Not Chattanooga.

So when tariffs spike like this, it’s less about reshoring and more about recalculating. Can the supply chain absorb a 20% hit? A 50% one? At what point does the pain outweigh the convenience, even for high-efficiency Chinese production?

And even if a company decides to diversify, where do they go? Vietnam and India are on the radar, but also increasingly in the tariff crosshairs. Mexico offers proximity and USMCA compliance — but not without complexity, cost, and long transition lead times.

Dave Chappelle joked this week about Americans, “We want to wear Nikes, not make them.”  It’s a punchline, but also a supply chain reality. And that sentiment holds true, especially when American labor wants the paycheck, not the line work.

A Wild Start to — and No Calm in Sight

The industry began this year with a degree of cautious optimism. Supply chains were stabilizing. Freight costs were falling. A sense of normalcy was beginning to return.

Then came February’s steel and aluminum tariffs. March’s saber-rattling over Mexico and Canada. And now, April’s nuclear escalation with China.

As of this morning, the new tariffs are live, the invoices are swelling, and the clock is ticking. But how long will this last — six months? Six weeks? Six days?

That’s the question paralyzing boardrooms across the lighting industry. Because moving too fast is risky. But so is waiting too long. Some are hedging. Some are hurrying. Most are watching the horizon, hoping for signs of stability that haven’t arrived.

In the meantime, deals are delayed, prices are in flux, and the only thing moving faster than air freight from Shenzhen is the industry’s rising anxiety.

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Ria is absolutely right.  The Chinese can and do make among the best products in the world.  Even lamps and lighting equipment.  It's highly likely that your smartphone and many other devices you consider to be of outstanding quality are Chinese.  The only reason that poor quality products end up in the Western countries is due to the sick situation of unscrupulous purchasing managers employed by Western companies choosing to source the cheapest products they can find - in an effort to maximise their own profits. 

Years ago when most lighting products were made in the West, there were only a small handful of manufacturers, and almost without exception their focus was on delivering the best product they could make.  The brand name displayed on the product tended to be the same as the name of the manufacturer, and the distributors, wholesalers and retailers had no choice but to buy those products.  Following the start of globalisation, an entirely new class of job emerged : the sourcing manager.  Often such people were employed by the wholesalers and retailers and their job was to send people to China to find new factories who could supply them with products at lower costs than the domestic manufacturers.  Those people tended to have a very basic understanding of product quality, and frankly not really much interest in that.  It was not something they ever really needed to consider before, because the domestic manufacturers took care of that for them.  The goal given to these sourcing people by their bosses was simply to buy products at lowest possible cost.  So when they walk into a Chinese factory and all the emphasis is on cost-cutting, and the factory realises that if they don't cut corners with quality they will simply lose the business to another factory who is prepared to reduce its quality, naturally they will deliver what their customer asks them for.  The customer is always king.  In the mean time some of these sourcing companies realised that if they sell junk, their customers will abandon them and their business will fail.  So some of them also set up their own quality departments in an effort to decrease costs and quality only just so far that most customers might not notice, and they retain their business.  But I am sorry to see that the vast majority just don't care or don't even know how to source good quality products.  If they find they can't make a profit selling a certain product, they just shift to trying something else and will earn a decent income for a few years more until the customers figure out they are selling junk once again.

So if you are fed up with poor quality lighting products, don't blame the Chinese factories.  That is really not fair.  Instead blame the owner of the brand : most likely an American or European company whose strategy is simply to rip you off by sourcing products at the lowest possible cost and selling them to you for the highest possible cost.  It is these Western sourcing companies who I believe do not deserve to be in business.  Buy instead from a different brand whose sourcing people do have an interest in quality and who ask their Chinese suppliers to deliver something better.  But then you must also realise that to buy from those kind of companies will probably cost you rather more.  You get what you pay for! Yeah, we as end users on LG need to start highlighting the decent lighting products from China instead of complaining about the bad ones!, whether that’s lamps, gear or anything LED.
But the problem is then, being able to identify who’s stuff is coming from which factory?, and that’s difficult considering the amount of lighting manufacturers in China!
But here’s my two to start with, the drivers from SJL, and they also do, (or did)?, fluorescent chokes, and the one I have mentioned numerous times on here, a lamp company called ‘Sunny World Shaoxing Green Lighting Co’ LTD, (also known as Super Trend or Luxtek).

Their LED lamps sold here are from one of our biggest DIY chains in the UK called B+Q, and carry the DIALL brand name, I will only use DIALL LED lamps at home now as I know they have proven themselves as quality made lamp, and out of all the brands I’ve tested, it’s these that have never suffered an early failure and are all still going strong with thousands of hours on them now.

I suppose my point is here, it helps if you know where your home branded lamps are coming from, so you can then know what you’re paying for!
It’s a shame the Chinese manufacturers don’t put their own name on products here, as James has said, so it would be easier to choose what you buy!