CHANDLER, AZ — Hours before the latest round of President Donald Trump's tariffs were set to go into effect on February 1, a crew in a south Chandler warehouse was hard at work drilling, lasering, assembling, boxing, wrapping, and putting the final touches on antenna technology company Channel Master's Pro-Model system.
It wasn't what their operations looked like even a few years ago.
While Channel Master has been U.S.-based since it was started in the 1940s, for a long time, to get from design to finished product, it relied solely on third-party suppliers in other countries, like China; a nation Trump started focusing tariffs on in his first term.
"Once he started saying what was gonna happen, we were like, 'Makes sense, we always knew it was going to come,'" said Coty Youtsey, the CEO of Channel Master.
Youtsey and other Channel Master leaders saw the writing on the wall, starting the process of building a new product exclusively in the U.S. That product would become the Pro-Model, a $149 UHF/VHF TV Antenna meant to be installed outdoors to access local TV channels, particularly in rural areas where broadcast channels can be harder to access.
It was not an easy decision or process, Youtsey said, requiring years of planning, research, and development.
"It took a lot of the company's effort, all of us, to get involved, to make this happen," Youtsey said.
The risk did pay off in Channel Master's case.
Since its launch three years ago, the Pro-Model has exceeded expectations, becoming the company's number one product, according to Youtsey.
Channel Master has not entirely moved its operations to the United States. Some of its products continue to be manufactured in China, although Trump's enthusiastic promise of tariffs could mean more big decisions in the near future.
"We're looking to do it more in Taiwan, Vietnam," Youtsey said. "We do a lot of stuff in Vietnam. And then we also do stuff in Eastern Europe."
Trump had promised 25% blanket tariffs for Mexico and Canada, set to go into effect over the weekend. Those tariffs never began, however, as negotiations with both countries led to Trump pushing the implementation of the tariffs back a month. The tariffs were expected to pass significant costs on to consumers, and both Mexico and Canada had announced they planned to create retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
A 10% blanket tariff on China, which builds upon existing tariffs targeting the East Asian nation, did go into effect this week. China has since announced its own economic measures against the United States.
As the trade wars, and threats of trade wars, between the United States and other countries continue, Youtsey encourages other businesses to see where they can adjust.
"They need to jump on it now," he said. "It's going to be scary at first. But I know they can do it... I think it'd be good for them. Because when we did it, we actually learned a lot about what we're good at, what our product line can and can't do in some areas."
