We’re a small company with customers around the world—122 countries and counting. Over the last few years, we’ve been walking a tightrope between rising costs and fair pricing, doing our best to shield our customers from the worst of it while continuing to improve our products.

But now we’re staring down a steep 45% combined tariff on most of what we sell—thanks to a mix of “reciprocal” global tariffs and “stacking” penalties tied to countries that purchase Venezuelan oil (like China). And overnight, even more tariffs were proposed on Chinese imports because of their continued purchase of Russian oil.

We use precision components that are made in China—not because they’re cheap, but because they’re the best available. Even if we moved production to the U.S., we’d still be hit with tariffs on those same parts unless they were also made in the U.S.—and if we tried to make them here, we’d soon find ourselves in the middle of a trade war with the entire world.

That means our products could soon face up to 95% in tariffs—which is, frankly, madness. No matter how we try to tackle it, it’s insurmountable.

But we can separate our international business from our American business and bypass the tariff madness. This means that it doesn’t have to hurt as much for customers outside of the USA.

It also means that some products, like our popular LX1 range, will no longer make economic sense in the U.S. market and will be available exclusively to our international customers.

We’ve already started to adjust our pricing slowly over the past few months to soften the blow, but as this situation unfolds, the gap between U.S. prices and international pricing is going to widen. Our prices will be significantly lower for international customers both through our website and through our dealers. That’s because we’re preparing to ship all international orders from Hong Kong. This allows us to bypass the tariffs entirely for customers outside the United States—but it’s not free. Logistics, warehousing, and international fulfillment bring their own costs. Still, it's far less punitive than a 45%-95% tariff.

This isn’t a decision we made lightly. It’s a direct response to this dramatic change in US trade policy. And while we’re not turning this into a political screed, we want to be absolutely clear: we believe these tariffs are disastrous—bad for pricing, bad for innovation, and bad for small and medium-sized American companies like ours. The policy seems to assume that production can shift back to the U.S. overnight. Even if that were possible, due to the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the USA, we’d still be caught in a trade war with the rest of the world. For most companies—including ours—offshore manufacturing and shipping still make sense, both economically and logistically. Especially since we can avoid the domestic tariff mess entirely on international orders, which account for half of our business.

For the U.S. market, the picture is murkier and trade policy seems to change a few times a week. We’re still working through how we want to present this. We may separate the “tariff offset” as a line item so you can see exactly how much is going to the government. Or we might just incorporate it into our overall pricing in the USA. Either way, you’ll see much higher prices in the USA—because that’s what’s required to stay afloat.

This isn’t about choosing between raising prices or tightening our belts—it’s about survival. No company, regardless of size, can absorb a 45%-70% cost increase on core products without making serious adjustments. We’re not alone in this, and we’re not exaggerating. These tariffs aren’t surgical—they’re scattergun. While the stated goal is to stop fentanyl imports from China or curb the purchase of Venezuelan oil, it’s more likely these issues are being used to justify an “emergency” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). But whatever the rationale, the reality is the same: these tariffs don’t target bad actors. They just raise costs across the board.

And as a Rutgers Business School MBA — where we learned to do things the scrappy New Jersey way (yes, sometimes you can drive a screw with a hammer if you have to) — let me put it in Jersey terms: it’s a lot of bullshit. This whole tariff mess is just an avoidable disaster that will cause economic calamity and pain. 

We don’t support these policies at all and we think they’re dumb. They undermine American businesses and consumers more than they protect them. And they make it harder—not easier—for companies to innovate, compete, and grow.

We’ll keep delivering accurate, professional lighting, backed by support you can count on. But we also want you to understand what’s happening behind the scenes, and why prices and international shipping options might look a little different the next time you check our site.

We’ll figure out a way to get through this. But we’re not the only company facing this challenge. As the impact of this idiotic policy ripples through the economy, we believe that voters will hold accountable those who supported and defended it. Until then, we’re adjusting our course to weather the storm and protect what we’ve built.