Companies in the construction industry are bracing for impact after President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada. The tariffs are planned to take effect on Feb. 4 for Canada, but the import tax on Mexican goods has been paused for a month after President Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum this morning.
National Association of Home Builders Chairman Carl Harris released a statement on the 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, saying they will “increase the cost of construction and discourage new development.”
“On President Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order directing departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief by pursuing actions to lower the cost of housing and increase housing supply,” Harris said in a statement. “This move to raise tariffs by 25% on Canadian and Mexican goods will have the opposite effect. More than 70% of the imports of two essential materials that home builders rely on—softwood lumber and gypsum (used for drywall)—come from Canada and Mexico, respectively.”
Harris says consumers will end up paying for the tariffs in the form of higher home prices and urgeds the Trump administration to reconsider this action on tariffs.
The Hardwood Federation says it created a “relief funding formula” should retaliatory tariffs be imposed on U.S. hardwood exports.
“We are taking immediate steps to share our proposal with our allies on Capitol Hill [to] assess the potential and challenges of implementation,” the Federation said in a statement.
