According to the American Christmas Tree Association, 83% of households who plan on displaying a Christmas tree in 2025 will choose an artificial one. But this year, not even holiday cheer is safe from economic tensions, as tariffs and supply chain pressures are pushing prices up.
Mac Harman, founder and CEO of Balsam Hill, an artificial Christmas tree company, explains the increase will be noticeable. "Whatever price point you might have been looking at last year, expect that to be about 10% to 15% more this year," he says.
Nearly all artificial Christmas trees are imported from China. While Harman says that manufacturing costs remain steady, the price vendors pay to U.S. customs has increased, as a result of President Trump's ongoing tariffs on China.
Trump often says his tariffs are intended to incentivize manufacturing on American soil. However, manufacturing domestically wouldn't be a simple switch for Harman and his team. "The interesting thing about pre-lit artificial Christmas trees is they've never been made in the U.S.," Harman explains.
Harman says it's a tedious process to attach the lights by hand like his company does – involving zip ties and painstaking attention to detail to ensure each bulb is perfectly placed – a task American workers rejected 30 years ago when prelit trees first hit the market. "It's very unlikely that something almost like basket weaving is a trade that's going to move from a lower wage, lower cost of living country to the United States for the first time," Harman says.
Other companies in the Christmas industry are facing the effects of tariffs too. Harman says many of his company's U.S. based suppliers, who purchase their component parts overseas, are also seeing higher costs too. "The prices have gone up no matter if we make something here or if we make it in other places," he says.
Harman has tried multiple strategies to keep Balsam Hill's prices competitive. Internally, he's made reductions to his workforce, paused hiring, and frozen raises. He's also diversified his supply chain, manufacturing trees in Mexico, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia.
Last year, when President Trump won the election, Harman pre-ordered his supply for Christmas 2025, almost a year in advance. "We shipped as many products as we could between November and January 20th, Inauguration Day, because there was a lot of discussion that there was going to be a day one tariff," Harman says. Each time the administration lowered tariff rates this year, Harman restocked his supply – an option he fears may not be available to him next holiday season.
For shoppers, his advice is simple: don't procrastinate. Because of the price increases, some retailers ordered less stock, raising the risk of mid-December shortages. "Look for a tree that you love, and if it's on some kind of sale, buy it," Harman says.
In past festive seasons, shoppers might have delayed in the hope of getting a bargain, but that might not be such a good idea this time around. "Seeing if you might get 10% off if you wait two weeks, I don't think that's going to work as well this year as it might in a normal year," Harman says.
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