51黑料

St. Charles-based Powder Monkey Fireworks ordered five shipping containers, each filled with 11,000 cases of fireworks, from Chinese manufacturers last September.

Then, this spring, owner Chris Sander got a call from China.

鈥淥ne of the containers was put on the vessel at the port in Shanghai, and they called my cellphone to confirm, 鈥楧o you want to pay $80,000 tariffs?鈥欌�� Sander said.

He called his suppliers.

鈥溾�業 can鈥檛 afford that,鈥欌�� he told them.

Firework retailers across Missouri are scrambling to get inventory on shelves as July 4 approaches. But many report they鈥檝e been hampered by the sky-high 鈥� and quite changeable 鈥� tariffs on foreign goods.

Since stepping into office, President Donald Trump has imposed, pulled back and then threatened more tariffs on foreign trading partners. Tariffs on imported goods from China climbed to 145% in April, then dropped to 30% in mid-May after the U.S. and China agreed to roll back the taxes for 90 days.

Now, the back-and-forth has left the region鈥檚 seasonal firework businesses in a tight spot. Most of the world鈥檚 pyrotechnics are made in China, so either retailers paid astronomical tariffs to get their products into Missouri on time, or more commonly, they waited to ship from China and risked receiving their fireworks after the holiday.

鈥淚t鈥檚 literally our survival,鈥� said Steve Houser, owner of Joplin-based Red Rhino Fireworks. 鈥淲e have no other option in the world.鈥�

Sander, of Powder Monkey, operates seasonal tents in St. Charles, Weldon Spring and at the Lake of the Ozarks.

He said his containers were scheduled to leave China in late March and early April, but when the tariffs rose, he canceled one container completely and suspended shipment of the others.

In late May, after the levies dropped, Sander was finally able to ship his containers. But the journey across the ocean will take at least 28 days, and then the fireworks will travel by rail for five to 10 days before arriving in Missouri, cutting it close to Independence Day celebrations. Sander said he already knows he鈥檒l get his last container around July 9.

He said he thinks he鈥檒l be OK. He has leftover inventory from last summer he can sell; he鈥檒l store the new products in semitrailers until 2026.

But the whole ordeal has cost him money and stress: He lost a $15,000 deposit on the shipping container he canceled. He had to pay for each day the paused containers sat in storage in China. To boost stock in his tents, he ordered more from Missouri wholesalers, and that cost him double what he鈥檇 pay in China. And he鈥檚 been facing shipping surcharges and new peak season fees, which can climb to $10,000 per container.

He said he sold his house in Kansas City in April to help with costs.

鈥淚 had a nice chunk of equity,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檝e already spent all that on fireworks. You can鈥檛 go to a bank and get credit for fireworks.鈥�

鈥業f this stuff gets here ...鈥�

Shipping companies canceled weeks of sailing schedules to the U.S. after Trump announced the tariffs, said Peter Goger, an account executive at logistics company OEC Group in St Louis. The Los Angeles port saw a 30% drop in volume.

And because fewer ships are making it from China to America, costs are going up 30%-40%, Goger said.

To add to the struggle, fireworks are high-risk products, so if pressed for space, ship captains might jettison firework containers first.

鈥淭here are not enough boats, so those kinds of products are susceptible (to getting cut first),鈥� Goger said.

In an April letter to Trump, the American Pyrotechnics Association and the National Fireworks Association urged the president to exempt fireworks from tariffs like he did in 2019. As a result of the United States鈥� lack of raw materials, high labor costs and strict regulations, firework production would be impossible to onshore in America, the two groups stated.

Trump has not exempted the products from tariffs.

Between 2022 and 2023, the U.S. received about 16,000 shipping containers of fireworks, with fewer than 100 sourced from outside of China.

鈥淔ireworks businesses rely on a single, very short selling season, and any disruption could be devastating,鈥� the letter reads.

Houser, the Red Rhino Fireworks owner, calls Missouri 鈥渇ireworks central.鈥� He sells to about 2,500 customers and said there鈥檚 been a rush from buyers as they realized their own shipments wouldn鈥檛 arrive in time.

Houser, like many, canceled shipments when tariffs climbed over 50% in April.

But on May 22, after Trump trimmed the tariffs, Houser shipped six containers out of Asia. He considers himself lucky.

Still, the containers have a long journey before they make it to Missouri, and he wonders if they鈥檒l make it in time.

鈥淭here was a lot of clamoring from people like me to get to the only boat,鈥� Houser said. 鈥淚f this stuff gets here, it鈥檒l be the 11th hour.鈥�

Community events disrupted?

Some of Houser鈥檚 fireworks are still sitting in warehouses in China, costing him money right now.

鈥淚t鈥檚 millions and millions of dollars,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have an extra $10 million in a drawer. Smaller guys simply can鈥檛 afford it.鈥�

He isn鈥檛 too worried about having enough fireworks to sell for Independence Day. Sure, there will be less of a selection, but he has enough products and prices won鈥檛 be unreachable for buyers.

It鈥檚 Christmas and New Year鈥檚 he鈥檚 worried about. And next year鈥檚 Fourth of July.

Worse, Houser said, because American importers have cut orders with the tariffs, Chinese manufacturers have started prioritizing orders from Europe and other countries.

Moreover, by the time the Chinese factories reopen from summer breaks and winter holidays, they will be in high gear for Lunar New Year. So American customers will have a shorter window to get all their fireworks made, and orders will probably be larger, Houser said.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 really scary,鈥� Houser said.

Community fireworks events, like Grafton鈥檚 big show on the Mississippi River, or Webster Groves鈥� Fourth of July display, could be disrupted.

Houser worries the fireworks industry will be the 鈥渦nintended casualty of a larger plan.鈥�

鈥淔ireworks are not political things,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen people are celebrating the same thing, the punctuation is the fireworks. To lose that would be so sad.鈥�