Looking ahead

To this day, Mendoza must grapple with the uncertain environment Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff pronouncements have created.

As a backup plan, Mendoza says he has routed some orders directly to the U.K. to avoid the U.S. duties. But it’s an expensive hedge: Mendoza said it cuts into his bottom line.

He remains anxious about further escalations from Trump.

“If it goes back to 145%, I won’t be able to import my next shipment into the U.S.,” Mendoza said. He has a lead time of about five months, and has to be able to make decisions with certainty.

“Because they are selling so well, I need to start working on my next order now,” he said.

A closer look at this moment in time

Mendoza describes himself as having “strong political feelings.”

“I don’t like the way things are right now,” he said.

He called the Trump administration’s insistence on moving vast manufacturing operations from overseas to the U.S. “a slap in the face” to small-business owners.

“It sounds great if you don’t understand how logistics work. For my product, the reason it sells is because it’s the cheapest you can buy,” Mendoza said, pointing to the reality that affordable manufacturing outside of the U.S. helps him keep his prices low for customers.

As a single parent, Mendoza is working to try to put his two daughters through college. Between those expenses and funding ChronoClean, Mendoza said his financial cushion is thin.

It’s all the more wrenching given what he’s gone through, he said.

“It’s like, ‘You’ve been deployed, you started as a private, retired a major, got through a horrible divorce, you’re a great father and now you’ve started your own business and invented a product people want — they’re begging for it,’” he said of ChronoClean.

“Then here comes your own government to shatter that dream, so big businesses and Elon Musk can get richer,” Mendoza said.

“To me, that’s not the American dream. It’s small business, middle America, everyone should have a good chance at this. [The tariffs] will potentially put me out of business, it’s hard to wrap your head around it.”