Most of the fireworks used for celebrating holidays such as the Fourth of July are made in China and now subject to the 145 percent tariff on Chinese products levied by the Trump Administration.
Bruce Zoldan, president of Phantom Fireworks, one of the largest fireworks companies in the United States and based in Youngstown, Ohio, says that increased cost likely won't have an impact on celebrating the Fourth — this year.
"The Fourth of July will probably be very tight. I think most firework importers will have brought in 65 to 75% of their needs for this year's order for the Fourth of July," he said.
With that much of an order, Zoldan said many will carry over 25% for next year's Fourth of July or New Year's Eve celebrations.
"And so could this year's be short somewhat? Yes, it could be short, but I think it'll be somewhat adequate, but could be very tight if there's a high demand," he said.
Zoldan said with the holiday on a Friday this year demand could be higher than normal.
"That's usually a really good one ... when the Fourth falls on a Friday," he said. "So we could be short of product. But there will be fireworks for the Fourth of July."
Zoldan does have unease for the future, however.
"The biggest concern will be for 2026, the 250th birthday of America, because that typically, that production is happening right now and right now, it's at a standstill for many reasons," he said. "Companies like myself have asked for production to stop any inventory they have, to put on hold because we can't afford to bring it in at 145% duty."
Zoldan said from what he's hearing, most companies have stopped because it would be an extreme gamble for them to bring it in at 145% cost.
"If they bring it in, and let's say, a month from now, the tariffs are exempted, all this inventory in at the 150% markup, and they couldn't compete, and they probably lose money, go out of business," he said.
Most of the fireworks companies work via lines of credit from bank or other financial institutions and in advance. Predicting what's going to happen — like the 145% tariff — just isn't possible, he said.
"I didn't go to them say, 'Hey, can I double my line of credit this year? Can I triple my line of credit?' It just doesn't happen that way," Zoldan said. "So we're all caught in a no-win situation at the time, and I know that President Trump wants a major show for 2026 and when I say major, he wants celebrations to happen throughout the United States, from one coast to the other. And we want to help Americans celebrate the Fourth live. We want communities, cities and townships and others that do shows. They want to double their shows for next year. They want to have a lot more celebration for the 250th birthday. Right now, everything stops so it unless it can change quickly, where we get an exemption, and the exemption is justifiable."
And moving fireworks factories to the U.S. isn't feasible, he said.
"It's just not practical, not possible," he said. "at least in the 10-year-period."
Zoldan said fireworks have been made in China for 2,000 years. And the manner and method of their manufacture is very primitive, by design.
"Production of fireworks has been passed down generation-to-generation to Chinese people, and they're primarily made right now in one province, Hunan province, in an area called Liuyang. And fireworks are made in a very, very primitive manner, for many reasons."
Zoldan said there are hundreds and hundreds of people working and many who take some of the products home with them and finish making them in their homes, like the cardboard launching tubes.
"It's a very primitive manufacturing process that would unlikely have a home anywhere in America," he said. "then there's also issues that deal with environmental protection. It just would be an almost impossible effort to make or produce consumer and commercial fireworks in America. We have no recourse. There's no benefit to somebody here in America by putting a tariff on fireworks, right? It just doesn't work."
Zoldan said there were people working on the company's behalf to try to exact some relief from the tariffs.
"We have very significant people. United States senators, other important friends of the president who are appealing for on our behalf, and we're hoping we get some relief. And that's all we can hope for right now.," Zoldan said. "We understand the reason for the tariffs. We just know that for our particular product, it is not justifiable, and we hope that we'll be able to explain that to the administration, and we're hoping for some relief in the near future."
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