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The sky surrounding the Statue of Liberty in New York is lit by a fireworks display in 2005. Almost all the fireworks that consumers will buy this year – and 70% of those used by the professionals – are made in China.
Mel Evans / AP
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Mel Evans / AP
The sky surrounding the Statue of Liberty in New York is lit red by a fireworks display in 2005. Almost all firework consumers will buy this year – and 70% of those used by the professionals – are made in China.
Evans / AP
Americans will spend more than $ 900 million this year on rockets, Roman candles and other fireworks. But those of us who want to celebrate the Independence Day are almost totally dependent on China for supply. "1965: 99% of the fireworks come directly from China," said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. . "And about 70% of the professional fireworks are made in China."
It was not always like that. Many fireworks were made in the Midwest by companies like American Fireworks. Vincenzo Sorgi started the Ohio-based company in 1902 after immigrating from Italy.
He "passed by Ellis Island, which they then called the" Fireworks Beltway, "said Roberto Sorgi, his great-great-grandson." Like many other families who came, [he] brought a lot of recipes that their families had used in Italy, so we also had two or three generations [of fireworks makers] in Italy. "
For much of the last century, Italian transplants dominated the fireworks sector, producing mainly pyrotechnics for their own shows.
"We made just about everything," says Roberto Sorgi. "
Towards the time of the American bicentennial in 1976, the demand for fireworks began to exceed the American offer, and companies like Sorgi began to import from Italy, Mexico and especially China. is not a case where China stole American know-how. hinois invented fireworks under the Tang dynasty more than a thousand years ago.
"Making fireworks is a lot of work," said Heckman. "As regulations have tightened and people are not interested in doing things by hand, it made sense to rely more on China to manage this production."
Imports of fireworks have exceeded 40 But, so far, the explosion of the trade deficit has not triggered the protectionist crackdown that President Trump has directed against other industries. "Fortunately, the fireworks industry has not been affected by the rates," said Heckman. A worker assembles pieces of fireworks at the factory of the manufacturer Southern Fireworks in 2008 in Liuyang, China, in Hunan province, Thursday, June 19, 2008. Most of the fires Artifice are imported from China. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)
Eugene Hoshiko / AP
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