Contractors: Trump tariffs causing rise in rebuilding costs after hurricane

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill



BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 09/22/18 09:32 AM EDT

The Trump administration’s new tariffs will add to the cost of rebuilding after natural disasters like Hurricane Florence, homebuilders and contractors say.

The officials told The New York Times that the new tariffs on Chinese goods like countertops and furniture will make construction costs about 20 to 30 percent more expensive than they would have been without the trade duties.

Wood prices are also up by 40 percent from last year, adding to rebuilding costs. The Times noted that the Trump administration slapped a 20 percent tariff on softwood lumber from Canada last year, and that prices have risen over supply issues. And the 25 percent tariff on steel imports implemented earlier this year is also driving up costs, according to the newspaper.

“We’re all going to pay the price for it in terms of higher construction costs,” Alan Banks, president of the North Carolina Home Builders Association, told The Times.

Read more: https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/407904-contractors-trump-tariffs-causing-rise-in-rebuilding-costs-after

[CHARLIE008]

1. Trump is a very stupid man

He hurts so many people in so many ways

[Yonnie3]

4. What is the worst thing he has done?

I have trouble deciding which it is.

[CHARLIE008]

8. The cutback in cooperation on climate change

Anything that speeds up the end of the world is about as bad as you can get.

[Yonnie3]

9. I have trouble deciding between immediate and long-term things

Immediate, such as penning up children, dissing women who have been sexually assaulted, etc.

Intermediate, such as killing the chances for the middle class incomes ever to increase, cementing the poor in poverty and removing what little safety net there is.

And of course the long-term environmental damage.

He is not alone in doing all these, it is the GOP's plan he is following. He is too stupid to think of this himself.

As a person he is hurtful, all by himself. It is evident in what he has done and said his whole life. He wouldn't have been able to do his hateful stuff on such a large scale without the rich donors and the Republican politicians. He is just too stupid.

[Girard442]

2. Just in stock for the hurricane season: red MAGA tarps.

Deplorables can express their support for Trump while living under them in the wreckage of the homes they can't afford to rebuild.

[Achilleaze]

3. republicans screwing over America

republicans are a plague upon the nation...

[Maxheader]

10. A few rich psychos in this country...

and 30% of the country's voters identify with them..

[SCVDem]

5. Before you can start to rebuild,

there must be tests of any water damage which may include coal ash and the heavy metals along with drug resistant bacteria including e coli.

North Carolina may be our next Superfund site. This would limit any agriculture or even living in the area until scraped clear.

Now we'll see the MAGA commitment! They will lie about the test results and people will get cancer.

It will be a while before rebuilding can be safely done.

[Girard442]

6. Unfortunately, there's already a playbook for the Trump administration to follow:

Written by Bush and Giuliani in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Claim there are no problems. Deny everything, blame any bad info on un-patriotic libruls. Let the next administration clean up the the mess.

[DBoon]

7. then they will blame the next (Democratic) administration for spending money fixing things

and actually enforcing regulations to keep matters from getting worse.

[keithbvadu2]

11. Trump's new taxes are called 'tariffs'. It is the American consumer paying Trump's new taxes.

Trump’s new taxes are called ‘tariffs’.

It is the American consumer paying Trump’s new taxes.

[riversedge]

12. +1