Original article written by Mary Diduch on National Real Estate Investor

Some in the sector say they have seen around a 10 percent increase in the price of steel since the tariffs were announced earlier this month.

President Donald Trump’s recently imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum have not yet gone into effect. But they are already affecting deal negotiations, bottom lines and construction pricing in commercial real estate.

Some in the sector say they have seen around a 10 percent increase in the price of steel—a material whose prices have already been rising—since the tariffs were announced earlier this month. The price increase—and the uncertainty over future increases—has caused some to rework and reconsider planned projects.

NEW STEEL & ALUMINUM TARIFFS WILL HURT CONSTRUCTION FIRMS BY RAISING MATERIALS COSTS WHILE POTENTIAL TRADE WAR WILL DAMPEN DEMAND

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, released the following statement in reaction to President Trump’s announcement that he will impose new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products:

“These new tariffs will cause significant harm to the nation’s construction industry, put tens of thousands of high-paying construction jobs at risk, undermine the President’s proposed infrastructure initiative and potentially dampen demand for new construction projects for years to come. That is because the newly-imposed tariffs will lead to increases in what construction firms are forced to pay for the many steel and aluminum products that go into a typical construction project.

Original article written by Max Diamond on The News & Observer

North Carolina's construction industry has been hit with higher costs — and is bracing for them to go higher still — as steel and aluminum suppliers react to President Donald Trump's executive order increasing tariffs on those imports.

"Steel is everywhere in construction," said David Simpson, president of Carolinas AGC, a construction trade association. It is used in concrete, in bridges, to make the structure of buildings, for beams, in staircases, interior walls, and in hardware.

On March 8, Trump signed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The president has said higher tariffs are needed to avoid further weakening America's domestic steel production, and risk a steel shortage in a national emergency.

According to data released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national construction industry lost 15,000 net jobs in March. This represents a significant reversal from February, when the industry added a post-recession high of 65,000 net new jobs (upwardly revised from +61,000)

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc (ABC)

Full release

Key Takeaways

• Nonresidential construction spending increased 0.1 percent in February, totaling $732.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis.
• Public sector nonresidential spending fell 2.2 percent
• “Nonresidential spending growth remains tepid. Reasons for this trend include capacity constraints that continue to beleaguer contractors struggling to find enough skilled construction tradespeople, estimators and project managers."
• “Concerns regarding rising materials prices are also becoming more intense, particularly in light of the recent enactment of tariffs on steel and aluminum and growing fears of a trade war and materials shortages. Softwood lumber prices, which have been impacted by an ongoing trade dispute with Canada, were up nearly 16 percent over a recent 12-month period."

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.

Key Takeaways

• Nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.1 percent in January, totaling $732.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking a decline from the previous 5 months of increases.
• Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending increasing 0.3 percent in January after a previously reported 0.7 percent advance in December. Construction spending increased 3.2 percent on a year-on-year basis.
• “Potential double-digit tariffs or import restrictions on steel and aluminum could wreck the budgets for numerous infrastructure projects and private nonresidential investments."

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.

Article written by Jotham ​Sederstrom on Inman.com, March 1, 2018

The president today announced he would subject imports of the two metals to 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs respectively.

Following pledges made during his 2016 campaign and again as president, Donald Trump on Thursday announced a long-promised initiative to impose stiff tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel to the U.S., an aggressive policy stance that instantly sent the Dow tumbling 500 points while causing construction leaders and housing analysts to brace for the worst.

Short on details and far from a done deal, the trade measure as outlined on Thursday would impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, raising the price of everything from canned beer and soda to automobiles and housing, not least of all skyscrapers and multifamily buildings deeply reliant on heavy metals, housing experts told Inman.

Article written by Tom Ichniowski on ENR.com

If President Trump adopts Commerce Dept. recommendations to impose severe trade penalties on steel and aluminum imports from China and other foreign countries, prices for construction steel and aluminum products would jump and some contractors could suffer a financial blow, industry economists predict.

The proposals—which Commerce sent to President Trump on Jan. 11 but didn’t release publicly until Feb. 16—include two that would apply to steel imports from all countries: a tariff of at least 24% and a quota that equals 63% of each country’s 2017 steel exports to the U.S. [View Commerce's steel report here.]

Two other options would apply to steel imports from China, Brazil, India, Korea, Russia and seven other countries—a minimum tariff of 53% and a quota equaling 100% of their 2017 steel exports to the U.S.

According to data released Friday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national construction industry added 36,000 net new jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in January. Nonresidential construction employment added 16,400 net new jobs in December, mostly in nonresidential specialty trade contractors.

Press Release from Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc (ABC)

Full release

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2—Today’s employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows growth in both public and private construction spending, according to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Construction added 36,000 net new jobs in January, an impressive increase of 0.5 percent on a month-over-month basis.