This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Matthew Hassett, founder and CEO of Loftie. The company makes its products, including a digital clock and lamp designed to promote sound sleep, in China. As a result of Trump’s tariffs, selling inside the US has become more expensive for Loftie. To boost its business, the company is shifting its focus to an international market. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Until mid-August, I was very stressed. It then became clear that our plan to pivot from the US to more international sales was working really well. We’re now almost 50% international sales through our website over about three months — up from about 3%.
It really is as simple as Econ 101. You can either adjust supply or demand. Supply is constrained by unpredictable government policy in the US, and it’s still not settled at the peak season, with the holidays coming up.
For now, it doesn’t make sense to move our manufacturing, especially knowing that we have the best price and quality, which is a rare combination, because we produce in China.
We did a pilot run in Thailand. But it costs 20% more because they’ve got to move a lot of the components from other parts of Asia to Thailand. The labor costs are also higher. Why would you move from China?
Rather than try to worry about irrational US policy, we just focused on selling the product that people want worldwide, worldwide. We’re really lucky to have a product that works in other places.
I’ve decided to treat the US like hot lava — something that you don’t want to touch unless you really have to.
Going abroad
I’d always put off selling abroad because I’d heard in a business school class to start with the US market, because it’s the biggest, and “Don’t waste your time trying to extend your operations.” I think that’s outdated advice with a lot of the technology and logistics available in 2025. I wish we’d done it sooner; it’s just so much more stable.
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The marketing costs are also lower, so it allows us to offer the same policies that we have in the US — free shipping and a one-year warranty.
It’s also been such a relief, and it allows me to have time for actually thinking about productive, exciting new chapters for the company and not just survival.
This international sales strategy is what has allowed me to keep our team. We only have US-based employees. We have consultants in other places, but just a handful.
I think we have a lot more room to grow, because we have mostly been doing English-language ads. The UK and Canada have been the most successful, accordingly. But we’re working on creating native ads in many languages. It’s been a really good gamble, and it’s just provided a lot of relief and stability.
Signs of success
It took about two months to see that this plan was working. We still had the US sales. But the summer was terrible just because, at one point, in the US, we had tariffs of 175% to 180% on our products. So we couldn’t move any new goods.
Luckily, we had some inventory left in the US that we had paid the duties on before the tariffs escalated. That provided some buffer time to try out this expansion.
I hope that international sales can mean a doubling of our revenue globally, and that eventually there is stability in the US, and we can sell more here again — but I have no idea. I’m just taking it day by day, because that’s how volatile it is.
All summer, I was writing about this, and how it’s existential to our company. That was really bad for my mental health.
Ultimately, there was nothing I could do to control it. The thing that’s a huge relief to me is that we haven’t had to lay anyone off, especially when you see all the layoffs with AI at companies. We have no plans to lay off anyone, whether it’s for tariffs or AI.
We’re very small, but to me, the biggest accomplishment is that I was able to keep everyone through this tremendous uncertainty. I’m very proud of myself as a CEO for getting us through the most rocky time in our seven-year history.
Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, told Business Insider via email:
President Trump has been clear: if you make your product in America, you don’t have to worry about tariffs. Industry leaders ranging from TSMC to Apple to Stellantis have already responded with trillions in historic investment commitments to make and hire in America.
