Americans shopping for an artificial Christmas tree this holiday season may notice that prices are higher than they remember.
Since President Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, many industries have been bracing for the impact on the 2025 holiday economy — and sellers of artificial Christmas trees are among them.
A recent report by Fortune noted that about 85% of the 20 million Christmas trees purchased each year in the U.S. are artificial, which translates to roughly 17 million fake trees annually. Of those, around 90% are manufactured in China. U.S. Census Bureau data shows that American companies imported nearly $3.4 billion in holiday decorations from China last year.
Trump’s initial plan called for a 34% reciprocal tariff on China, a move that would have sharply increased prices on many consumer goods, including artificial trees. That rate has since been reduced to 10%, with the additional 24% delayed until November 2026, but even the smaller tariff has been enough to push prices up compared to past seasons.
“We have raised prices, and I think most companies have raised prices,” National Tree Co. CEO Chris Butler told Fortune in November.
Those higher prices could end up working against retailers. Artificial trees are not usually bought every year — Fortune reported that most owners replace their tree about once every five years. If shoppers feel sticker shock this season, they may decide to stretch the life of their current tree for another year or two instead of upgrading.
“We’re seeing a bit of softness early in the season for Christmas trees, and we may have to give back some of those price increases and promotions to get back to where we need to be,” Butler said.
That dynamic could push more buyers toward real trees. Fortune’s analysis found that the natural tree market has been largely insulated from the tariff effects. Most live Christmas trees are grown in the United States, and the remainder largely come from Canada, which is not subject to the same tariffs.
In Ohio, farmers recently told the Dayton Daily News that even though production has dipped due to drought — and some growers are still recovering from the surge in demand during the COVID-era “Christmas tornado,” when overseas shipping was costly and unreliable — they don’t plan to raise prices this year.
Tree farmers in Tampa, Fla., echoed that sentiment in interviews with Bay News 9, saying natural tree prices have begun to “level off” after pandemic-era spikes. “Pricing is all dependent upon the grower. If you’ve got a grower that’s very reasonable, you can pretty much depend upon steady, consistent pricing,” said Tom Daly, owner of Fancy Fir Christmas Trees.
