Trump economic policy may cause July 4 celebrations to 'go dark' — here's why

04 July

Fireworks in the New York City skyline during a July 4 celebration in 2019 (Ungvar/Shutterstock.com)

President Donald Trump's aggressive new tariffs, according to countless economists on both the left and the right, will make a wide range of products more expensive — from fruits, vegetables and coffee to construction materials to smartphones and laptops. The U.S. economy thrives on imports, whether it's developers and homeowners using construction materials imported from Canada, tech stores selling products assembled in Mainland China, or restaurants on Boston's North End using olive oil imported from Italy.

One product that isn't mentioned as often is fireworks. But the New York Times' Alan Rappeport, in an article published on July 3, explains why Trump's trade wars are likely to make 4th of July celebrations more costly.

"President Trump may soon have to decide between his love of tariffs and his affection for fireworks," Rappeport reports. "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."

Rappeport adds, "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."

According to the Times reporter, "festivities" celebrating the United States' "250th birthday" in 2026 "could be diminished or even go dark."

Stacy Schneitter-Blake, president of the National Fireworks Association, told the Times, "It's really the next year that’s worrying us with the manufacturing and what tariffs will do."

Rappeport warns that celebrations planned for 2026 may have to be canceled because of Trump's tariffs.

"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," according to the Times reporter. "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."

Rappeport continues, "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."

Read the full the New York Times article at this link (subscription required).

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