President Trump may soon have to decide between his love of tariffs and his affection for fireworks.
The Trump administration’s trade policies have set off a frenzy of lobbying for exemptions, with industries across the economy raising alarm about how tariffs would crush their companies, raise prices for consumers and lead to shortages of products.
But as the July 4 holiday approaches, the pyrotechnics sector, which is heavily reliant on imports from China, has been increasingly loud about its concerns. The higher prices are already straining the mom-and-pop fireworks shops that dot roadsides across rural America, and the budgets of cities and towns that put on splashy displays could soon be further stretched.
But the bigger fear is 2026, as industry representatives warn that many of the festivities that are in the works to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday could be diminished or even go dark.
“It’s really the next year that’s worrying us with the manufacturing and what tariffs will do,” said Stacy Schneitter-Blake, the president of the National Fireworks Association and co-owner of Schneitter Fireworks & Importing in Missouri.
Fireworks are a $2 billion industry in the United States, and about 99 percent of the fireworks that light up the skies across America come from China. The Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese imports as high as 145 percent this year, before lowering them to 30 percent in May when the two countries reached a temporary truce.
The uncertainty surrounding the levies has led some importers to try to stock up on fireworks ahead of potentially higher tariffs and others to scale back their purchases because they can no longer afford the markup. It has also led to backlogs in China and supply chain gridlock, with some cargo carrying fireworks to the United States being routed back to Chinese warehouses because orders were canceled.
Fireworks have bipartisan appeal, so those in the industry had been hopeful that their products would receive special treatment.
When the United States and China were in a trade war in 2019, during the first Trump administration, Mr. Trump exempted fireworks from the tariffs. As the Trump administration looks to negotiate trade deals with China and other countries this year it has been reluctant to give up negotiating leverage by watering down tariffs with exemptions.
Fears over the fate of the fireworks industry have spurred an aggressive lobbying campaign. The National Fireworks Association and the American Pyrotechnics Association have been pressuring the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress to give them relief from tariffs by making the case that fireworks are a symbol of American patriotism that should not be taxed.
“John Adams envisioned that America’s independence should be commemorated with ‘pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations,’” the lobbying groups wrote to Mr. Trump in April. “An exemption for fireworks will allow businesses to continue with their plans to have enough affordable inventory for Americans to participate in and enjoy this historic occasion.”
In the United States, fireworks are often associated with summer festivities and sporting events. But fireworks displays have been popular for centuries and have deep roots in Europe and China, where alchemists mixed potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal into a gunpowder and set off fireworks through hollow bamboo sticks.
In the 1800s, Italian immigrants brought their pyrotechnics prowess to the United States, using metals and explosives to create colorful aerial bursts of sound and light on America’s shores the same way they once lit up European castles.
Rudimentary fireworks are relatively simple to make, but those used in big public shows can be complicated and dangerous. Strict regulations over the handling of chemicals and explosives have made the production of fireworks in the United States difficult.
According to the National Fireworks Association, 16,000 containers of fireworks were imported to the United States in 2022 and 2023, and fewer than 100 were sourced from outside of China. Insurance for fireworks manufacturing in the United States is generally not available because of how dangerous they are to make.
In June, nine people died, and more than 20 were injured from an explosion at a fireworks factory in China.
Although fireworks are popular, they are not big money makers. Fireworks shows can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $250,000. The industry’s profit margins are small, making it difficult for importers and retailers to absorb 30 percent tariff rates.
“Fireworks are a luxury, when the cost of fireworks becomes so great the end user can no longer afford to purchase them the way they have in they past,” said AJ Burns, a sales manager at North Central Industries, an Indiana company that distributes Great Grizzly Fireworks. “If they get more expensive, fireworks will go by the way side.”
Mr. Burns said that he had been looking into importing fireworks from Cambodia and Brazil, but so far they do not have the manufacturing infrastructure in place to meet U.S. demand and safety requirements. He said that fireworks are about celebrating freedom and independence and argued that they should not be subject to tariffs.
Like many Americans, Mr. Trump has also long been a fan of big fireworks displays.
At the 2020 Republican National Convention, which was held in Washington, D.C., his name was written in fireworks in the sky. (It caused over $40,000 in damage to the national mall.) Last month, Mr. Trump admired a fireworks display at military parade that also fell on his 79th birthday.
Despite Mr. Trump’s appreciation for fireworks, the White House has little sympathy for the predicament facing the industry.
“Real prosperity and patriotism isn’t celebrating the independence of our country with cheap foreign-made firecrackers and trinkets — it’s having a country with booming Main Streets, a thriving working class,and robust manufacturing,” said Kush Desai, a White House spokesman.
Ramping up domestic production of fireworks will not be fast or easy. Regulations over hazardous chemicals and safety concerns have made it hard for domestic fireworks manufacturers to build factories in the United States.
Fireworks retailers in America said that it is difficult to find workers with the skills needed to safely handle explosives to work in an industry that is seasonal and revolves around holidays.
“It’s hard enough for me to train an 18-year-old to run a point of sale system on a register,” said John Sorgi of American Fireworks in Ohio. “You want me to train people to mix explosive powders a fireworks show?”
Mr. Sorgi added that what the industry really needs is clarity about the China tariffs so that importers can plan accordingly and ensure that next year’s shows can go on.
“Our industry has never been at a breaking point more, and it’s supposed to be the biggest Fourth of July we’ve ever had,” he said.
Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters.
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