When Washington talks tariffs, the debate often centers on trade wars, foreign adversaries, and long-term industrial policy. What is missing is the ground-level reality for small and family-owned businesses like ours.

Fanimation Ceiling Fans was founded by my father in our garage in 1984. Over four decades, we have grown into an 80-person company with headquarters in Zionsville, Indiana, and offices in North Carolina and Dallas. We are proud of our American story, but we are still a small business navigating a global supply chain in an increasingly unforgiving and uncertain policy environment.

Today, companies like ours are being squeezed by tariffs we had no voice in crafting. These tariffs currently apply to components and finished products that simply cannot be sourced domestically. Ceiling fans are complex products involving motors, lighting, electronics, and precise engineering. Ninety-five percent of residential ceiling fans sold in the United States are manufactured in China, with the rest coming from allied nations in Southeast Asia.

And yet, our category and U.S. lighting have been excluded from recent tariff exemptions.

These blanket tariffs are not protecting us, they are putting us at risk. For example, our products are now subject to a 30% tariff on ceiling fans and a 55% tariff on lighting components.

These are staggering rates for any small business to endure and we are not alone.

Many industries across the country are struggling as well. From electronics to home goods to specialty manufacturing, small and mid-sized businesses are facing unsustainable cost increases.

Rebuilding supply chains takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention a domestic manufacturing labor force that does not yet exist for products like ours. For small and mid-sized businesses, there is no way to absorb that kind of cost without cutting jobs, raising prices, or shrinking operations. Many may not survive at all.

Let me be clear: we fully support efforts to strengthen American manufacturing and reduce dependence on adversarial regimes. But that vision must be paired with smart, targeted trade policy.

We are asking for a fair shot to adapt. That is why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s recent letter to the administration is so important. It calls for delaying tariff increases and creating immediate, clear exclusions for small businesses that import goods not made in the United States. These are pragmatic, bipartisan solutions and they deserve immediate attention. We are encouraged by the pause and reduction of reciprocal tariffs, but that relief is scheduled to expire on July 9th.

Continuing this pause and establishing new trade deals would let businesses like ours preserve jobs, avoid price hikes for American consumers, and continue the long-term work of reshoring and diversifying our supply chains.

And they would strengthen, not weaken, President Trump’s broader goals of American economic security.

Our industry’s leading trade group, the American Lighting Association, has also warned of the damage. In a recent letter, they noted that many of their members are small, family-run companies that “operate on tight margins.” These tariffs, they cautioned, “will make it harder for them to compete, leading to potential job losses and reduced investment in domestic operations.” That is not a theoretical risk — it is already happening.

Without immediate tariff relief, the pressures we face could hollow out precisely the kind of companies policymakers say they want to protect.

We urge the administration to act now, not months from now, and not just for multinational corporations.

Without timely relief, it will not be the global giants that disappear, it will be the small businesses built in American garages, and the workers and communities that rely on them.

Nathan Frampton is CEO of Fanimation Ceiling Fans based in Zionsville, Ind. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.