A fireworks advocacy group is warning of a shortage ahead of next year’s July Fourth festivities, blaming tariffs.

While the shortage isn’t expected to affect this July Fourth, Christmas and New Year’s Eve could have darker skies than usual, and the Fourth of July in 2026, which will mark America’s 250th birthday, could face problems due to President Donald Trump’s recent tariffs on China. 

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The National Fireworks Association, a nonprofit advocacy group for the safety of consumer fireworks, raised the matter in May.

“It’s been three weeks and counting since production of fireworks for the USA has stopped,” the group wrote on X. “With production schedules full for other countries, the window is closing on making enough goods to satisfy demand for 2026.”

Steve Houser, former president of the NFA, said they have always been sensitive to tariffs and unable to work around them.

“When the initial rates started to climb in February, we became nervous,” he told the Washington Examiner. “It became very apparent in April when the rates went so high they became unaffordable.”

In February, Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports started at 10%. After some back-and-forth between the United States and China, that rate skyrocketed to 145% by April 10, making it nearly impossible for the U.S. to receive a range of goods, including fireworks. On May 12, the U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day truce in their “trade war,” and the Trump administration announced it would lower the tariffs on China to 30%. 

However, many companies were forced to halt or cancel firework shipments from China during this period because the cost to import was too high.

“Smaller businesses are more quickly affected due to working capital limitations,” Houser said. “They will starve out quicker. In our industry, there are very few businesses that aren’t small.”

Firework distributors collect fireworks all year long, but they typically see a spike in shipments between March and May, following Chinese manufacturing cycles. Many orders are placed a year or more in advance, but smaller companies don’t begin placing orders until April of that year, making any interruptions to the process serious, Houser said.

The U.S. relies heavily on China for fireworks because it is the largest supplier in the world. In 2024, the U.S. imported $489 million of fireworks, with $465 million of fireworks coming from China. Other countries that supplied the U.S. with fireworks included Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Thailand, but in smaller numbers than China, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Though the Trump administration is pushing for more goods to be manufactured and produced within the U.S., Houser said that simply isn’t an option for fireworks. 

“Fireworks have never been made in America on a large scale, and with the plethora of [Environmental Protection Agency], [Occupational Safety and Health Administration], [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], and other governmental agency rules, it is simply not a logical or even reasonable option or discussion point,” he said. “We have no experience in this area. Fireworks are mostly handmade, and there is no labor force here for that work, especially given the inherent dangers involved in fireworks production.”

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Despite efforts to negotiate tariff exemptions for fireworks, the administration hasn’t offered anything, Houser said. While the NFA understands Trump’s mission to make trade more balanced, it believes the president needs to recognize that not all businesses are the same.

“I understand the administration’s drive to create American jobs, but for our industry, this only eliminates American jobs,” Houser said. “If we have no inventory, we are out of business, and our employees lose their jobs. If we are gone, we will be missed, and it will be the end of a tradition that President John Adams said should live on forevermore in the USA.”