The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) renewed its call to exempt building materials from his renewed tariff targeting after the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to reject President Trump’s expanded use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) for enacting tariffs.
In announcing the court’s decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
In a press conference following the court’s decision, Trump criticized the court’s majority vowed to push ahead with his tariff policies, stating “other alternatives will now be used to replace” the now-rejected IEEPA tariffs.
Trump announced plans for a global 10% tariff, which he has authority to impose immediately. This tariff can only stay in place for a maximum of 150 days unless Congress approves an extension. Nonetheless, Trump declared, “We have a right to do pretty much what we want to do.”
Bill Owens, NAHB chairman and a home builder and remodeler from Worthington, Ohio, called on the president to consider the impact of tariffs on the housing market.
“While the Supreme Court’s ruling reins in presidential authority to impose tariffs under IEEPA, President Trump still has wide latitude in setting tariff policy,” said Owens in a statement. “With the nation facing a housing affordability crisis, NAHB urges the president to exempt building materials as part of his tariff strategy because they raise construction costs, impede supply chains and result in market and business uncertainty that make it difficult for builders to price their homes. NAHB will continue to work with the administration and Congress to remove regulatory obstacles that hinder the construction of new homes and apartments.”
Photo courtesy of the White House
Canadian lumber has always been the best for framing…..gone. Where’s the sheetrock coming from? Tariffs are benefitting someone, but not us.
Maybe they’re too busy working on regulating AI to worry about housing.
Don’t worry, everyone who gets a new credit card better check their accounts carefully because AI is getting most of the new credit card numbers issued and selling them. Searching online for a brand name item is dangerous because AI is generating fake websites to collect orders. AI is putting fake websites out there for banks, financial institutions and attorneys at break neck speed. Maybe AI, like crypto, is designed for crooks and corruption. Point is that people will get scammed to the rate that they will never be able to afford a home.
In Western New York is “Lumber City,” from whence once treasured white oak was shipped off even to Europe. What am I missing – the post WWII policy of building up nations’ economies and their cheap non-union work force led to off shoring our economy. Then, sell the goods to us at a premium because they can with a tariff. Why was there an early visit from Nike, their Viet , to a trade representative in D.C., to reduce the reported 90% tariff they required for distribution in the US? Fly over the US and think we have sufficient kinds of lumber, but we don’t have the infrastructure for logging, milling and selling such. Some companies are said to have initiated bringing their manufacturing back to the US and so to escape the tariff. Then there can be other unfriendly business practices. Hats off to major pharmaceutical firms bestowing on us favored nation status so that prescription drug costs may equal the lowest in the world. Mr. President, the housing market needs a serious break; please engineer a long-term solution to the cost and source of residential and even commercial building materials.