President Trump’s tariffs are doing what Indiana lawmakers won’t: curtailing fireworks.
Trump’s 145% tax on goods imported from China is making fireworks prohibitively expensive, just as retailers are stocking up for the July 4 holiday. Virtually all consumer fireworks come from China, and Indiana is a major recipient thanks to free-for-all laws enabling amateur pyrotechnicians to purchase miniature explosive devices and detonate them every day until midnight from June 29 to July 9.
Indiana’s permissive posture toward fireworks costs limbs and lives while traumatizing veterans, children and animals. We tolerate this nuisance because it’s a $100 million-plus business in Indiana, which slaps a 5% fireworks sales tax on top of the regular sales tax.
That business is in serious jeopardy this year. Independence Day is the first holiday likely to be affected by goods shortages due to Trump’s tariffs. When the president celebrated Liberation Day on April 2, he was liberating us from our money, material goods and traditional holiday celebrations.
It’s also worth noting here that an already-dire state revenue forecast in April assumed China tariffs would be 60%, or less than half the current rate, which so far looks extremely optimistic. The fireworks story — halted shipments, lower sales — indicates Indiana has major budget problems ahead unless Trump works out a new trade deal with China.
I fear Trump’s senseless tariffs are pushing us to the edge not only of recession, but also a long-term decline in our standard of living. But you take the good with the bad, I suppose. While the end of trade with China means fewer toys for children at Christmas (bad), it also means fewer fireworks blasting off in Indiana this summer (good).
The Times of Northwest Indiana counts 10 small fireworks stores that have already closed because they can’t afford Trump’s 145% tax on fireworks.
“The tariffs are going to drive smaller stores out of business. We have a lot of stock to offset the pricing, but the smaller mom-and-pop shops don’t,” Aaron Rasala of Big Bang Fireworks in Crown Point and Lowell told The Times. “The towns are going to call off some of their shows because they won’t be able to justify the expense to the taxpayers.”
Large retailers had some supplies on hand before the tariffs took effect, so there will be fireworks for sale this summer — just not as many and likely at higher prices.
Fireworks industry groups are pleading for an exemption, per NBC News, and might get one since the president won’t want to be blamed for subdued displays of patriotism. For now, though, fireworks retailers are facing a bleak summer.
I don’t want anyone to lose their business or livelihood. No one should be cheering for a recession — and certainly not for needless economic pain borne of a president’s misguided belief in tariffs to transform an already-good economy.
But the tariffs are here and the world’s two largest economies are no longer doing business. Indiana’s backyard fireworks are stuck in China.
I enjoy watching fireworks — when professionals are shooting them off. But I’ve also been writing for years about the consequences of loose consumer fireworks rules and lawmakers’ unwillingness to even let individual cities and towns decide for themselves when people can set off backyard explosives. Perhaps a calmer, more peaceful backyard fireworks season will show us what we could have every year with a few more limits.
Fewer fireworks in Indiana will likely save limbs and lives this year. It shouldn’t take a global trade war to make it happen.
Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X and Bluesky at @JamesEBriggs.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana’s backyard fireworks are stuck in China, thanks to Trump’s tariffs | Opinion
Reporting by James Briggs, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
