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Chad Bray

“American Glory”, “The Spirit of Freedom” and “Big Booom!” may cost consumers in the United States a lot more in the near future.
In an escalating trade war with Beijing, the Trump administration is preparing to place tariffs on about US$300 billion worth of Chinese-made goods, including fireworks sporting cheeky names such as “Devils Rejects” and “The Big Kahuna”.
The 25 per cent tariffs could go into effect as soon as July, but after this year’s Independence Day celebrations in the US.
According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, 99 per cent of consumer fireworks and 75 per cent of professional fireworks, such as those used in displays at the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular and on the Mall in Washington, are imported from China.




Americans imported US$314.7 million of fireworks from China last year, or about 95 per cent of all pyrotechnics imported from outside the US, according to the US International Trade Commission.
“More than 50 per cent of our business is in the USA and the potential tariff is worrying, as 25 per cent is a very high tariff rate,” said Cindy Cheung of Shogun and Vulcan Pyrotechnics, formerly known as Inter-Oriental Fireworks, in Hong Kong.
“That can be anywhere from around US$9,000 to US$25,000 on each shipping container of fireworks. If a tariff on fireworks is introduced, this will affect our business, as importers are likely to buy less.”
The Trump administration has placed tariffs on about half of all goods imported from China and is threatening to add additional levies later this summer on thousands of items that will more directly affect US consumers, such as fireworks.
US President Donald Trump has taken a hard line on tariffs as he tries to force Beijing to change years of trade, technology and industrial policies by taking a hardline on tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies.
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Trump himself plans to deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial during this year’s fireworks celebration in Washington on July 4, a move that has drawn criticism because the event has traditionally remained non-partisan.


China has dominated the fireworks industry for decades, but producing pyrotechnics there has become increasingly difficult as rising labour costs and increased safety and environmental regulations have cut into the production window and bottom line of manufacturers.
Since 2010, local governments in the Hunan and Jiangxi provinces have required fireworks producers to shutdown production for one to two months each year because of high temperatures. Licences are expensive and only for last three years.
The average wage per month for a worker in Hunan also doubled from 1,500 yuan (US$216.59) to 3,000 yuan between 2008 and 2016, according to Cheung.
She said her family’s company, which has been exporting fireworks to the US and Europe since 1974, only owns one factory in Hunan and one in Guangxi now because of “the high costs of retaining and renewing a licence”.
The company, which sells 90 per cent of its products to the consumer market, had as many as a dozen factories that it owned and worked with another 40 factories in the past, according to its website.
“We have considered moving manufacturing outside of China, to other southeast Asian countries, but there are obstacles, in particular the sourcing of raw materials and shipping,” Cheung said.
“Fireworks are considered explosives and some countries require military authorisation in order to obtain permits to manufacture fireworks, so it is not as easy to open a fireworks factory as opposed to a textile factory.”


The amount of fireworks bought by American consumers have more than doubled since the turn of the century, increasing from 102 million pounds in 2000 to 258.4 million pounds last year, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association. The industry only imported about 29 million pounds in 1976 – the year of the US’s bicentennial.
As that demand has increased, American fireworks importers, however, have struggled in recent years with guaranteeing that they can get enough products from China, said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association.
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The issues they face range from whether factories will be open in China, as Beijing has heightened scrutiny of the industry, to whether sea carriers will be willing to bring fireworks across the oceans in their cargo holds, Heckman said.
“The industry is challenged year after year just with how to get their products out of China,” she said. “If we could transition somewhere else, we would have started quite a long time ago. The industry has looked at Vietnam, Cambodia, India and Mexico to see if any meaningful production could occur. It can't in the foreseeable future.”
Another issue has been finding suppliers from other countries that can meet strict US rules on fireworks, Heckman said.
The American Pyrotechnics Association and other industry representatives are expected to testify at a hearing later on Thursday in Washington to request that fireworks be excluded from the proposed tariffs.
Fourth of July celebrations are not in danger this year, as most fireworks for sale have already been imported to the US, and some larger American suppliers increased their imports in the first quarter to guarantee supply and lower their potential costs if tariffs were implemented, Heckman said.


Imports from China rose 27 per cent in the first four months of the year to US$139.3 million, according to US trade data.
SuperFireworks, whose pyrotechnics include “Trumptastic”, “Zombie Bomb” and “Neighbourhood Distruptor”, said companies attempted to stockpile products this year in anticipation of the tariffs, but “this year was a very hard year to get product because a lot of companies ran out”. The company manufactures its fireworks in Hunan province and has sales offices in the US, Greece and Russia.
At the same time, rising costs from tariffs could cause companies to hire fewer part-time workers during the peak season next year, and could hurt non-profit organisations that run temporary stands as their main fundraisers, Heckman said. “The 25 per cent tariff is basically a tax and that tax will be paid by the consumer,” she said. “So the cost of consumer fireworks at retail will go up.”
It is not just the American consumer who will be facing higher prices, according to Patrick W. Spielbauer, president of Spielbauer Fireworks in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Spielbauer Fireworks produces fireworks displays for small towns and cities in Wisconsin and imports 90 per cent of its fireworks for professional displays from China. The family-run company, which went into business in 1954, only has four full-time employees, but brings in 208 seasonal workers during the Fourth of July peak season.
“These small municipalities are already budget strapped and struggle year after year for funding to put on their community Fourth of July displays,” Spielbauer said in a letter to the US Trade Representative’s office. “Increased costs associated with the manufacture and transport of display fireworks has already created hardship on our customers. In most cases, a 25 per cent hike in price will force may communities to consider not celebrating with fireworks at all.”


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US-China trade war

Will Fourth of July cost more next year, if Trump’s 25 per cent tariff takes effect on Chinese fireworks?

A SuperFireworks manufacturing facility in Liuyang city in China’s central Hunan province. The company has sales offices in the US, Greece and Russia. Photo: Handout

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The Port of Long Beach in California. US and Chinese tariffs will drive up ‘the price to the end consumer’, Nanosys president and chief executive Jason Hartlove said. Photo: AFP

US consumers set to bear burden of Trump’s tariffs as American retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy weigh price hikes

A Walmart Supercenter in Rosemead, California. The higher costs come as the retail industry struggles with tighter margins and business conditions that have led to several collapses over the past two years. Photo: AFP

FILE - In this April 10, 2019 file photo, people browse at the opening day of Story at Macy's in New York. On Wednesday, May 15, the Commerce Department releases U.S. retail sales data for April. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 23, 2018, file photo shoppers browse the aisles during a Black Friday sale at a Target store in Newport, Ky. An aggressive campaign at Target to let customers do more online is paying off. The retailer exceeded first quarter expectations on just about every level, saying the same day services it's rolled out, including picking up online orders at the store, drove more than 25% of comparable sales growth. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Shoppers make their way towards the best deals at the Best Buy at the Northgate Mall during the evening of Thanksgiving, in Seattle, on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. (Marcus Yam/Seattle Times/TNS

The question for US retailers is how much of an increase are consumers willing to consider before they stop spending. Photo: AP

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China is responsible for 99 per cent of consumer fireworks imported by US
Heightened regulation, rising costs have eaten into margins of the Chinese fireworks industry



The Trump administration is preparing to place tariffs on about US$300 billion worth of Chinese-made goods. The 25 per cent tariffs could go into effect as soon as July, but after this year’s Independence Day celebrations in the US.


US-China trade war: All stories

Will Fourth of July cost more next year, if Trump’s 25 per cent tariff takes effect on Chinese fireworks?

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} China is responsible for 99 per cent of consumer fireworks imported by US Heightened regulation, rising costs have eaten into margins of the Chinese fireworks industry

China is responsible for 99 per cent of consumer fireworks imported by US

Heightened regulation, rising costs have eaten into margins of the Chinese fireworks industry