What 2025 Lighting Imports & Exports Tell Us About Tariffs

On April 1^st, I published an article about the furniture industry’s declining imports and exports in 2025 relative to 2024. This likely indicated an overall decline in the furniture market, due to new 2025 US tariffs. I raised the question of whether similar declines occurred in the US lighting industry. After a little research, here is what I found:

• 2025 US light fixture exports were $1.42 Billion.
• 2025 US light fixture imports were $8.46 Billion.
• 2024 US light fixture exports were $1.25 Billion.
• 2024 US light fixture imports were $10.2 Billion.

These figures were all taken from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) webite. They show US light fixture exports increased by $0.17 Billion or 14%, while US light fixture imports decreased by $1.72 Billion or 17%. While it is positive that US light fixture exports increased by $0.17 Billion, imports declined 10 times more in absolute dollars than exports increased, reflecting what was likely a significant contraction of the US light fixture market in 2025 versus 2024. While it is theoretically possible that domestic production and domestic sales increased dramatically to offset the reduction in imports, this is highly unlikely.

The three countries that saw the greatest increase in US imports in 2025 over 2024 were Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia, due to increased tariffs on China. The fastest growing destinations for US exports of light fixtures in 2025 were Brazil, Bahrain, and the Czech Republic.

Despite the slight increase in US exports, it was only 1/10^th the decline in US imports. Therefore, new tariffs in 2025 likely caused a significant contraction in the US light fixture market, which parallels what happened in the US furniture industry during the same period.

Image above: Pixabay.com

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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