Many high -rise buildings need beams in I. In fact, they need a lot.
Also known as a wide flange beam, the component in the form of I is used in multiple units buildings, including residential and commercial.
According to Keanin Loomis, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Construction Institute, a 20 -story building would take “thousands of tons of beams I”.
“It is a crucial part of the inventory of a builder. Nothing can be done without that,” said Loomis.
It turns out that Canadian builders buy most of these crucial pieces of steel companies based in the United States.
The I Beam is only an article in a long list of construction and housing materials that could face a 25 percent tariff in case Canada took reprisals against the rates proposed by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, in a Variety of Canadian products.
Industry experts say that even without the imposition of more rates, the cost of American steel, including that important beam in I, has already increased.
“The price of steel has already risen with the blow of a pen when Donald Trump announced [tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum]”Loomis said.
Canada is in the middle of a housing crisis, with calls to build millions of more housing units to help address the problem. According to data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Canada would need to build 5.8 million new homes by 2030 “Restore the affordability of the housing.”
But experts in the housing sector say that the mere threat of a tariff war is another painful blow to an industry that has been fighting for taking off projects and keeping up with demand.
The cost of many products related to construction now seen as vulnerable at higher prices include everything from windows to tiles; cement; certain types of floors; Even bath and kitchen appliances from the US.
All appear on the list of proposed rates of the Canadian government from the beginning of February.
Experts say that retaliation rates threats are complicating the national promise to build more homes.
“With the material costs that now increase, many projects can be filed. I have already heard of projects for new homes that are archived only by uncertainty,” said Michael Brooks, CEO of the Association of Real Estate of Canada (Realpac).
“We are already late to catch up with the supply. This will get worse.”
‘We see greater uncertainty due to rates’
Canadian Housing Minister Nathaniel Erskine-Smith echoed this fear last week.
The construction of more homes and reprisals with rates “disagree with each other, because as we see greater uncertainty due to tariffs, since we see costs of costs in certain materials, housing construction prices will rise. And we need exactly the opposite.
“I am alive with concern. The government is alive with concern. The list of retaliation measures is alive to that concern,” he said.
Brooks, who represents some of Canada’s largest owners and developers, says there is concern and hesitation throughout the industry.
It is not certain that this war will happen. It has stopped until March 12, with little mention of the Canadian government in recent weeks.
“It’s fear of the unknown,” Brooks said.
He says that a project cannot be planned without a budget, which is usually carried out on “the last nut and screw.” It is an impossible task at this time.
“We have no idea where [items being listed for tariffs] It would stop, anything that is in high demand in housing construction: cement, reinforcement bars, things like that. If there are rates that are reaching them, it will only continue to increase costs, “said Scott Andison, CEO of the Ontario Housing Constructors Association.
Andison says that if this threat continues for too long, builders will have to stop the projects until the costs are safer.
Tariff twice, or more
Another concern of the industry is the fear of layers in layers. Canada’s supply chains and the United States are so integrated that many supplies, including steel and aluminum products, will go from one place to another between the two countries several times before becoming a finished product.
According to a recent RBC report, Canada imported $ 7.5 billion. Aluminum imports.
Loomis compared the construction material with the cross -border workflow of the automobile industry.
“We listen to how a part will cross the border, you know, eight times before it ends in a finished product,” he said.
“That is quite similar when it comes to the structural steel industry. In Canada, and then sent it back to the United States,” Loomis said.
Brooks said that something like an HVAC unit or a device could have Canadian steel, but could be assembled in the United States and then bring back to Canada. These are only two examples of products with the potential to shoot in cost.
These problems have a broader effect in a country where investors play such a key role in development.
“That loss of confidence, that last predictability [is challenging]”Brooks said.” And possibly will boost investment capital elsewhere, elsewhere to be out of Canada. “
Why not only buy Canadian?
Loomis says that buying Canadian is not always easy.
“We have been part of a commercial regime for many years, and we all have our niche. Canada does not do everything we need and the United States is exactly in the same situation,” Loomis said.
He said he would take “several years and billions of dollars” in investment to rejigate the manufacturing plants to build everything we need.
Brooks believes that there is much that the government could do to keep Canadian developers building, including “getting rid of interprovincial commercial barriers, reducing development positions [and] Delete GST in the specially designed rent. ”
He argues that the government can get rid of some of these additional costs if you want to calm investors during this time.
Even so, uncertainty with what could happen between Canada and the United States will continue to be a deterrent element for housing builders.
“It is really difficult to have confidence with anything that comes from the south of the border at this time,” Brooks said.
