Material Costs

Trade Policy Affects Housing Costs

The rising cost of building materials is harming housing affordability as the trade war on softwood lumber, steel, aluminum and other imported materials and equipment exacerbates price volatility and drives up housing costs.

The administration has imposed tariffs on these key building materials and on a wide variety of other goods used by the home building industry in an effort to resolve trade conflicts. However, tariffs are essentially taxes paid by American businesses and families, not foreign countries.

With America facing a housing affordability crisis, it is counterproductive to enact policies that drive up the cost of housing and push homeownership out of reach of hard-working American families. Congress must urge the administration to end tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum and numerous other goods used to build American homes.