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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.
