For nearly a century, John Dioguardi’s family has been making custom headstones and other memorial markers at Rome Monument in western Pennsylvania. Recently, he’s wondered how much time his business has left.
Dioguardi has been trying to adapt for more than a decade as the rise in cremations has hurt demand for the traditional burial markers his business has become synonymous with. This year, they’ve been dealt another blow: President Donald Trump’s broad and steep tariffs, which have driven up costs for granite coming to American graveyards from around the world.
“I hope this all works out,” Dioguardi said. “I have no idea if it will.”
Rome Monument is part of a fabric of small, family run companies that make memorialization products facing the dual challenges of levies and cremations. Members of the blue-collar industry are in a fight to survive the social, political and economic shifts throwing their livelihoods into a state of disruption.
As Dioguardi watched the White House’s trade relationship with China fluctuate in recent months, he shifted two-thirds of his supply chain out of the Asian country. Most of it went to India, which has seen a relatively lower tariff rate for much of the year.
