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For 20 years, Jim Sanfilippo has designed high wattage professional LED lights for stadiums, the U.S. House of Representatives and Hollywood films and television productions, including the James Bond film Quantum of Solace.
Now, owners of small business in Pasadena are enduring uncertainty as the US faces the highest average effective tariff rate in nearly a century.
President Trump’s new trade policy, including a 145% tariff on Chinese products, will affect all parts of the company’s energy-efficient lights imported. This includes light-emitting diodes, circuit boards, and durable metal housings to protect lights in news vans and film sets.
“It’s a mess created by uncertainty,” Sanfilippo said. He said the plan was impossible because he didn’t know whether the new tariffs were a permanent policy or a negotiating position, and customers at his company, Nila, are waiting for orders.
That’s an example: U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Montai Park), who toured Nila on Friday, said Trump’s tariff policies could bring to small businesses about “a mix of chaos and what economic downturns.” This included a 10% full tariff on imports from all countries, and an even higher fee for products from dozens of countries, until it was temporarily suspended in early April.
Some countries, including Canada and China, have retaliated by imposing their own tariffs on American goods and putting California businesses high alert, including farmers in Central Valley and Hollywood workers.
Trump has said tariffs are needed to reduce the trade deficit with other countries, regain domestic manufacturing and protect American industry.
He recently showed that tariffs could change again, and told reporters this week that the 145% rate for Chinese products was “not that high – it wouldn’t be that high. No, it wouldn’t be that high.
The morning after the election, Sanfilippo said he began rushing to orders from suppliers, including the final order just before the inauguration. Air freight will take 2-3 days from Asia, he said, but sea transport will take 3-7 weeks.
Now he said, “If you try to supply more power to any of these lights, for now there are another line item for the duty and that number will vary based on the date you receive the freight.”
That advance plan purchased several breathing patios at Sanfilippo. He has enough supplies to fill his roughly two-year orders for his smallest and most popular lighting. There are also around six months’ orders of larger and more expensive lights used by news vans and high speed photographers.
He said what will happen to a multi-million dollar project is in the air. Nila designed lighting for several stadiums, including the Carson home in the LA Galaxy and the Houston Stadium for professional men’s and women’s soccer teams.
He said he has received an open order to the US Senate Records Studio where lawmakers interview the film. The company also illuminates the committee rooms of both Camp David’s Media Briefing Room, Congressional Rooms and the US House of Representatives’ main chambers of commerce.
During the first decade of operation, Nira used American manufacturers for most parts and relied on Temecula’s mechanics to a North Carolina factory for metal homes and LEDs.
The company moved to overseas vendors about 10 years ago as US prices rose and factories closed. Sanfilippo said that returning to domestic production would cause Nila prices to rise. The compact lights on the size of the Kleenex box used on TV and movie sets retail for around $1,000, but if all the parts were made in the US, they would be ten times more.
One of the plants that make the lighting parts of Sanfilippo in Shenzhen, China, is investigating the possibility of opening a facility in Mexico, he said. The country’s low wages will give factories a discount on skilled labor, and will give faster shipping times and lower tariff rates for exports to the US
Usually, all Nila Lights pass through the United States for Congress and quality control, Sanfilippo said. He is currently preparing to avoid the US tariff system as much as possible, strengthening his international client roster and shipping products directly from China.
He also said he would be building a consulting business for American companies that want to reduce energy use, but in the end, orders from China will also come.
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