No More Chinese Takeout: Construction Industry Faces Indigestion Over Proposed 60% Tariff Menu The proposed 60% tariff on Chinese goods might have the most impact on the building trades and costs. Significant amounts of specific materials, as well as electrical equipment and switchgears, primarily come from China. Over half of imported bathroom ceramics and glass mirrors come from China, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, and those aren’t produced in large quantities in the United States, Basu said. For other popular materials, like building stone or cement articles, between a fifth and a quarter of all imports come from China. About 57% of glazing glass also comes from the country. And aluminum, which gets used in storefront systems and ornamental stairways, mostly comes from China. Steel might have the most widespread impact — roughly 54% of the world’s crude steel is produced in China, Jed said. “While these materials can be sourced from other countries and are, to some extent, produced domestically, doing so would come with increased costs,” Basu said. “If too much demand is displaced, we’ll likely see longer lead times for certain materials.” Furnishing and fixtures would also present a challenge. The United States produces mirrors domestically, for instance, but they typically are not the type used to outfit bathrooms in an office building. Finally, technical and electrical gear, including the gear and even vehicles used to do construction, might become increasingly hard to come by with extended tariffs. Minerals like cobalt and chemicals like arsenic used in certain tech hardware are almost exclusively found and made overseas.  One key distinction that alters the impact of the tariffs is whether they apply to raw and finished materials at the same rate. Jed said that if things like rare earth metals aren’t punished as much as finished materials, that could mean the raw materials themselves could be shipped to a third nation to be assembled, which would be less than importing something directly from China, for instance. But if not, that would raise the price of magnets, metals, glass, ceramics, batteries and electronics.  As far as Jed knows, he hasn’t seen firms stockpiling specific goods and raw materials before the tariffs would go into effect. The industry doesn’t tend to move that fast — projects being built in 2025 likely already have orders placed for goods and materials, and massive orders going one-way in the global supply chain can be more expensive. Jed said that can, in extreme cases, lead to double shipping charges since importers have to send back shipping containers without any return goods. https://lnkd.in/eQ_qSQVs