Integrators, manufacturers among those impacted by U.S.-imposed tariffs, SIA says

SILVER SPRING, Md.—The Security Industry Association (SIA) continues to monitor the impact that the Trump administration’s tariffs are having on security and life safety products.

On April 22, SIA sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick requesting relief from tariffs for security industry products. In addition, the letter asked that the Trump administration formulate a process that allows companies to apply for product-specific exemptions.

“We're really making the point here that while our industry works hard to make sure that we can get innovative critical technologies at an affordable cost to consumers, local law enforcement, and critical infrastructure operators, it's really difficult to do so,” said Lauren Bresette, senior manager of government relations for SIA, during a webcast that took place the day the letter was sent. “These security and life safety devices are being put in jeopardy in a volatile and uncertain international trading environment.”

The letter pointed out that the U.S. is the largest market worldwide for security products, with the security industry contributing over $430 billion to the economy and providing more than 2.1 million jobs in the country.

In addition, it stated that critical life safety and security products – including alarm systems, access control, camera systems, communications equipment and systems, identity management solutions, security-related unmanned systems, robotics, and other cutting-edge security solutions - are provided to consumers by SIA members at an “affordable price.”

However, companies are put under “enormous strain” as they struggle to ensure that they can continue to operate while facing increased costs along the supply chain, the letter said.

‘We know that from an industrywide standpoint, our members are very concerned about the snowball effects of raised prices caused by tariff increases,” Bresette noted. “This can snowball down the supply chain, raise prices, make things more costly to manufacture, result in a scarcity of security products and equipment, and then also potentially make these more unaffordable to end users.”

Additionally, integrators that have customers with purchase agreements or contracts with pricing locked in can “really be squeezed and hurt” by the tariffs, especially when there is no other supply source for critical components and technologies, she said.

As a result, SIA maintains that U.S. trade policy should accelerate further growth and contribute to a competitive and innovative business climate that thrives as a result of sound, clear and predictable trade policy, as stated in the letter.

Bresette noted that the exemption request for imported security components is “something that SIA is taking a pretty strong stance on. We want to continue to follow up with the administration on our exemption request. We're going to continue to advocate for this important relief for security products, and we're hoping that this will preserve some sort of stability in the current international trading environment for this vitally important business sector in the United States and globally as well.”

In the meantime, Bresette said that SIA will continue providing resources to members as the tariff process plays out, such as blog posts on its website and offering opportunities for members to submit feedback or impact statements to SIA’s government relations team on how these tariffs are affecting their respective businesses.