Fireworks, hot dogs and gas: What costs more – or less – this Fourth of July weekend

New York CNN This Fourth of July millions of Americans will be hitting the road feasting on barbecue fixings while watching firework displays Here s how much it will all cost Inflation is at its lowest level since while gas prices are the cheapest they ve been in four years But this year s fireworks displays may look a little different and could be more costly That s because of fireworks sold in the US come from China which are facing tariffs of While that s much lower than President Donald Trump s initial tariff of on Chinese imports it s still too high for a multitude of businesses Fireworks going up The fireworks industry is mostly made up of small businesses like Hoffman Family Fireworks in Scott City Missouri The tariffs were added late in the fireworks season making it challenging for businesses to pass those costs on to consumers according to the American Pyrotechnics Association We have spent tens of thousands of dollars extra on tariffs already this year Mary Ann Hoffman of Hoffman Family Fireworks advised CNN affiliate KFVS We are absorbing the cost this year she disclosed The American Pyrotechnics Association is calling on the Trump administration to exempt fireworks from the tariffs which it did successfully in during Trump s first term It s not sustainable We don t know what s going to happen at the end of the -day pause on July Are the tariffs going to go back up to triple digits If that happens we re going to see businesses close down mentioned Julie Heckman the association s executive director That means companies have had to get more creative with their firework displays this year Ordering last-minute fireworks is be expensive so businesses had to work with their existing inventories If they re short on certain colors of fireworks you may see more blue than red in the sky for example Fireworks are usually ordered a year in advance Macy s worked closely with its pyrotechnic partners over the last year to source fireworks for the retailer s annual Fourth of July fireworks display in New York City months ahead of the show according to a person familiar with this year s planning But if fireworks are still taxed at the current tariff rate nearly every fireworks show next year will be more expensive The uncertainty is how are they businesses going to plan for next year when we believe America s th anniversary is going to be the largest celebrations ever where the demand for fireworks is going to be record-breaking Heckman declared Fireworks for Christmas and New Year s celebrations this year will likely be more expensive A large number of importers have held their fireworks in China to wait out the higher tariffs feeling there is no other option It would be next to impossible to try to re-shore manufacturing to the US to produce the volume of fireworks to meet the demand of the US We import million pounds of explosives fireworks every year Heckman stated Barbecues holding steady After five years of pandemic-fueled inflation the increase in the cost of a Fourth of July barbecue is back to normal this year A meal for people with all the traditional July th offerings will cost up from last year according to a analysis from Wells Fargo The bank analyzed the prices of barbecue staples like chicken beef sliders eggs hot dogs fresh fruit and vegetables as well as wine beer and soda The higher overall prices are primarily due to the beef and egg inflation Michael Swanson chief agricultural economist at Wells Fargo explained CNN That puts it close enough to the long-term average that the greater part Americans won t notice anything too unique Grocery store prices usually increased between one and two percent each year before the pandemic according to the Consumer Price Index Overall inflation rose in May Tariffs haven t yet impacted Fourth of July food prices Swanson commented That s because more than of the menu items are produced domestically Largest part of what we re seeing on the menu and for the majority of part what we eat on an ongoing basis is domestically sourced and there s seasonality around the fruits and vegetables explained Swanson However he explained that due to shifting bargain measures it s really complicated right now to know what the current situation is on a product-by-product basis and also on a country-by-country basis The menu item with the slowest price increase is chicken up just in the last year which is especially affordable because American wages have risen much faster than the price of poultry Swanson noted But beef prices shot up in the last year according to Wells Fargo Beef was already at a multi-year high for the cattle prices because of the low supply domestically Swanson declared adding that a screwworm outbreak impacted the supply restriction since it required shutting down the demarcation for importing Mexican feeder cattle The price of potatoes for your potato salad is up from last year but the eggs needed for mixing are up because a deadly avian flu killed tens of millions of egg-laying birds earlier this year Buns for burgers fell while the prices of strawberries and watermelon both of which are highly produced in the United States dropped year-over-year Gas prices down A record million people are expected to movement by car this holiday weekend according to AAA Drivers will see the lowest fourth of July gas prices since the pandemic began The average price for a gallon of gas heading into the holiday weekend was according to AAA That s cents less than last year We really didn t see much of a spring rise in prices like we tend to see with gas prices Right now we are below where we expected them to be We expected them to be seemingly in the mid a gallon area more than they are in the current era disclosed Patrick De Haan head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy Trump s pact policies have pushed prices lower as consumers became nervous and pulled back on spending which weakened demand for oil prices De Haan noted I think a lot of the outcome there was because of not only OPEC raising production but the uncertainty brought on by specific of Trump s policies on contract De Haan mentioned The conflict between Israel and Iran last month pushed oil prices close to a barrel Since then prices have settled closer to pre-conflict prices of a barrel De Haan expects the impact on gas prices from the spike in oil prices to fade in the next sparse days We should continue to drift lower for the next couple of days before you can say that there s no longer really an impact he commented And if there are no additional interruptions like Middle East conflicts or hurricanes De Haan expects gas prices could fall below a gallon by the end of the summer