President Donald Trump's escalating trade war with China is poised to devastate the fireworks industry in America, The Washington Post reported Friday.
China supplies 95 percent of the 250 million pounds of fireworks imported each year, the American Pyrotechnics Association says.
The newspaper noted that "while Trump has repeatedly suggested that companies can sidestep the tariffs by moving manufacturing to the United States, that is not an option for domestic fireworks sellers."
“It’s virtually impossible for our product to be made anywhere else but in China,” said Bruce Zoldan of Phantom Fireworks in Youngstown, Ohio.
“If these tariffs happen, it’ll be the greatest threat to our industry," he predicted.
It's not just fireworks companies that could be hurt, many nonprofit organizations depend upon selling fireworks as an annual fundraiser.
“The fireworks stands and tents you see in grocery store parking lots and on the roadsides serve as fundraising opportunities for organizations like school boosters, churches and veterans’ organizations,” the National Fireworks Association warned. “With an unfair tax that serves to raise the cost of firework devices so significantly, we’re hurting the very organizations that make up the fabric of America.”
It could also harm municipalities that sponsor professional fireworks displays as an alternative to citizens igniting the devices themselves.
“The proposed 25 percent tariff would cause severe economic harm to the industry and municipalities nationwide would no longer be able to afford an Independence Day fireworks display,” the American Pyrotechnics Association warned.
Read the full report.
