ATLANTA — President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imported goods like steel and aluminum this week.
“This is a moving target for the construction industry,” Mike Dunham, the CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Georgia told Channel 2’s Audrey Washington on Thursday.
Now some construction companies and local contractors are on edge.
“We expect prices to go up,” said Luke Fletcher, Vice President of Recruitment at Construction Ready. “The steel and sheet metal used to erect a building is important.”
Steel is in virtually everything, from cars and appliances to bridges and buildings.
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Aluminum is mostly found in consumer goods, like cans of soda. It’s also found in commercial jets.
Dunham believes the tariffs will ultimately trickle down to the consumer.
“If the tariff goes on and it’s a hard 25% in pricing change, that’s going to pass down to the consumer,” Dunham said.
Last week, while discussing the imposed tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, economist Roger Tutterow said when tariffs go into place there are other adjustments that could occur.
“The country that is producing the product that is being sold in the U.S., they can lower,” Tutterow said.
“The real hard problem is if you’re already in a fixed price contract, it’s going to be hard for you to absorb that kind of a large increase,” Dunham said.
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