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Add steel and aluminum to the list of building materials that could soon be subject to tariffs, President Trump told reporters flying with him to the Super Bowl on Air Force One.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff,” Trump said Sunday, adding that imports of aluminum would also be hit with duties, the Associated Press reported.
Trump signed a proclamation on Monday implementing a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and raising aluminum tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent.
“President Trump is taking action to protect America’s critical steel and aluminum industries, which have been harmed by unfair trade practices and global excess capacity,” with the tariffs set to take effect March 12, the White House said in a “fact sheet” published Tuesday.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has been sounding the alarm on the potential impact on housing costs of Trump’s Feb. 1 order to bump up tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico by 25 percent.
Factoring in the 14.5 percent duties already in place on Canadian lumber, homebuilders could soon be paying the U.S. government 40 percent extra if they use Canadian wood to build homes, the NAHB has warned.
Nearly three quarters (70 percent) of the $8.5 billion in wood imported into the U.S. in 2023 came from Canada, the NAHB says, and 71 percent of the $456 million in lime and gypsum products imported in 2023 came from Mexico.
“For most goods, the cost is passed on the end-users, meaning consumers,” the NAHB maintains. “So tariffs on building materials raise the cost of housing, and consumers end up paying for the tariffs in the form of higher home prices.”
The NAHB has also lauded the Jan. 16 nomination of homebuilder scion Bill Pulte to lead Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s federal regulator, and Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order to address housing costs — although the order was short on specifics.
While the increased tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods were put on hold for 30 days on Feb. 3, a 10 percent hike on duties imposed on Chinese goods went into effect last week. China is retaliating with tariffs on U.S.-produced crude oil, liquefied natural gas, farm machinery and other products that take effect Feb. 10, the AP reported.
Some investors and economists are concerned that the Trump administration’s plans to impose tariffs, cut taxes, and deport millions of immigrants could reignite inflation — a concern now shared by many consumers, surveys show.
In a Feb. 5 interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration’s strategy for fighting inflation hinges on bringing down energy costs by boosting U.S. oil production.
Tariffs are “a means to an end” to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., Bessent said, that “in theory, would be a shrinking ice cube” as production comes back to the U.S.
An extension of the 2017 tax cuts signed into law by Trump should be accompanied by spending cuts, the Treasury Secretary said.
“You know, we cut the spending, we cut the size of government, we get more efficiency in government, and we’re going to go into a good interest rate cycle,” Bessent said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that President Trump signed a proclamation Monday implemeting tariffs on steel and alumimum that the White House said Tuesday will take effect on March 12.
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