President Trump’s tariffs have thrown plenty of industries into uncertain waters. The construction industry is among them. Dan Mills, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans, spoke to WWL’s Tommy Tucker about how construction costs could be impacted by the tariffs.
“It’s a huge issue for us,” Mills says. “We saw what disruptions to the supply chain can do during the pandemic, and over the last four years, we’ve seen an increase in our supply chain costs by around 37%. Now we’re looking at increased tariffs, which directly increase the cost of imported goods. Because of those increased costs, people may try to alter their supply chains. Perhaps they try to source more from the United States or countries with lower tariffs, but either way, it creates disruptions in the supply chain. That also increases costs over time,” Mills goes on to emphasize.
Mills explains that the Home Builders Association is concerned about these cost concerns and is working diligently to create carve-outs for the materials used in new residential construction in the United States.
Mills emphasizes that those carve-outs are necessary to make home-ownership more affordable, as it’s one of the fundamental needs people have (along with food). He also notes that the tariffs announced on April 2nd could represent $5-6 trillion over the next decade. That could have a huge impact on residential housing, which accounts for roughly 20% of the GDP in the United States.