The construction industry may be hit hardest by the Trump administration's newly-proposed lumber and steel tariffs. In March 2018, the White House indicated it would raise steel tariffs to 25 percent and aluminum tariffs to 10 percent.
Earlier this month, the Trade Partnership released a study concluding that the proposed steel tariffs could lead to 28,000 lost jobs in the construction industry, tightening the margins of profitability for builders, and ultimately for homebuyers and renters who could be affected by higher prices, CityLab reports. In April 2017, the Trump administration put a 20.83 percent tariff on Canadian lumber.
Nearly half of all U.S. steel imports go into construction, with a large share of that steel going into multifamily housing. While wood frame construction is increasingly common for apartment buildings up to five stories, the taller structures that are needed in white-hot housing markets such as San Francisco, New York, and Austin depend entirely on access to steel.
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