Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs are threatening Independence Day fireworks

NBC News

01-05-2025

President Donald Trump's massive China tariffs are jeopardizing American fireworks shows, threatening to drive up prices and limit supplies.
U.S. fireworks wholesalers and distributors say they've been canceling shipments from China for this year's July Fourth holiday. Some are also halting manufacturing in China of fireworks for next year's celebrations of the 250th anniversary of America's independence. Trump's April 2 tariff rollout, which he dubbed 'Liberation Day,' raised the effective import tax rate on nearly all Chinese goods to 145%, even after he walked back much of the other sweeping duties days later.
Last month's chaotic trade policy swings occurred just as U.S. fireworks companies were preparing to receive their last July Fourth shipments from China, which makes around 75% of fireworks used in professional shows and 99% of consumer fireworks used in the United States, according to the National Fireworks Association. The companies say that the tariffs are too steep to absorb and that hiking prices on customers to offset them would make their products unaffordable.
'There's definitely a lot of urgency here for our industry, and it's a very, very serious situation,' said Michael Ingram, CEO of Fireworks Over America, a Missouri-based distributor. 'It would be a shame to have the skies go dark on the Fourth of July.'
Trump's China tariffs have been having a ripple affect all across the U.S. economy, with retailers halting shipments of goods from China because of the high cost of the tariffs. Seasonal products, like toys for Christmas or costumes for Halloween, are at particular risk because of the limited window of time companies have to produce and import them.
Trump dismissed the impact of the drop-off in shipments from China on Wednesday, saying ships "are loaded up with stuff, much of which, not all of it, but much of which we don't need.'
'Somebody said, 'Oh, the shelves are going to be bare.' Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30, you know?' he said at a meeting with his Cabinet. 'And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.'
Ingram said his company managed to get most of its July Fourth fireworks into the United States before the tariffs. But he halted shipment of 120,000 cases still in China that wouldn't have arrived in time. Some of those supplies were meant for a veterans group planning to use proceeds from the sale of the fireworks to fund its suicide prevention programs, he said.
National Fireworks Association President Stacy Schneitter Blake said: 'Shipping has essentially stopped. While there's still a good amount of fireworks in the U.S. from wholesalers who stocked up earlier, we're still expecting shortages because many of us typically rely on shipments that would have arrived over the past month.'
While most larger fireworks companies were able to get the bulk of their shipments in before the tariffs took hold, some smaller ones plan to scale back their displays.
'There are certainly companies that are smaller that might only order one or two containers for the season, and that product is coming in right now at 145% tariff, and they are in real trouble,' Ingram said.
That most likely means higher prices and less selection for people buying fireworks from retailers and roadside stands this July Fourth, Schneitter Blake said. Her 130-year-old family business had to halt several shipments that wouldn't have arrived before the tariffs went into effect.
'With tariffs this high, bringing fireworks in just isn't feasible, so we've had to leave shipments overseas,' she said, adding that many others have paid to return shipments to warehouses rather than accept much pricier deliveries.
The tariffs are also jeopardizing fireworks supplies for the nation's semiquincentennial in July 2026. Ongoing trade war uncertainty has led many companies to cancel orders for next year's shows, and Chinese plants have shut down production at a time when they should be ramping up, wholesalers and distributors said.
'You just can't stay in business like that — no one can,' said Greg Hebert, owner of Houston-based Adventure Fireworks.
He said two bulk orders placed with his Chinese supplier arrived last month, narrowly escaping thousands of dollars in tariff charges. That cleared the way for the fireworks displays his corporate clients placed for this summer's celebration. But the tariffs have stifled growth plans for his company, which Hebert founded after the pandemic.
'Now we're having to wait, because we can't afford a container ship of consumer fireworks right now,' he said.
Even if tariffs on fireworks were lifted soon, it could be too late to ramp up production in time to meet U.S. demand. By the summer, fireworks manufacturing in China shuts down because temperatures get too hot, after which production shifts to making products for the European and Chinese markets before it pauses again for the Chinese New Year.
'We're going to get very nervous if things don't shift in the next 30 to 45 days,' said Stephen Vitale, whose company, Live Events, has been in the fireworks business for five generations and does 3,600 fireworks shows a year. 'We've placed orders for 2026, but based on the tariffs, we've paused any production until we have some certainty.'
Industry groups say they're asking the White House for tariff exemptions similar to ones they secured in 2019, during Trump's first trade war with China. The groups have met with administration officials and lawmakers but say they haven't received any commitments.
'The Administration maintains regular contact with business leaders, industry groups, and everyday Americans about our trade and economic policies,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. 'President Trump, however, has been clear: if you're worried about tariffs, the solution is simple. Make your product in America.'
That isn't a good option, said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association.
'It makes no sense to try to manufacture in the U.S. at this point,' she said. 'We don't have the raw materials, and nobody wants to do this kind of work. It's very dangerous to make an explosive, and it's very labor intensive.' Heckman added that production facilities require lots of land and safety regulation.
Vitale's family used to make fireworks in the United States but stopped in the 1990s, partly because it couldn't compete with lower-cost Chinese rivals.
'If we got started tomorrow trying to bring back manufacturing, it would take two to three years to ramp up, and maybe we'd be able to plug 10% of the product demand,' he said. 'There's no one that could produce fireworks on the professional level and/or on the consumer level, at scale, like the Chinese.'
Even if the tariffs were lifted in the coming days or weeks, there most likely wouldn't be enough time to get the rest of his product to the United States before July 4, given the lag time in shipping from China.
Iowa Fireworks Co., which runs around 50 roadside stands across the state, recently canceled two container shipments from China, partner Zach Terhark said. But he wasn't able to halt a third. It's en route to the United States now, and Terhark is trying to figure out how to pay for the tariffs while holding out hope for some sort of exemption. Otherwise, he'll have to charge customers more.
'I support President Trump, I support what he's trying to accomplish, but for our industry it's just really bad timing, and we're just kind of stuck in the middle of this,' he said. 'There are a lot of industries like ours that are just kind of overlooked with all that is happening. A lot of seasonal businesses, you can't just pause. You've got to have your stuff or you're not going to have any sales.'
Terhark added that his company's fireworks stands 'are run by Boy Scout troops, churches, families, schoolteachers — they're depending on this money in the summer to pay their bills, to go on vacation with their families. There are real people that are counting on this income.'