Last week, five cabinet secretaries testified before the Senate Commerce Committee in support of President Trump’s long-awaited and recently-announced infrastructure plan. Under the plan, $200 billion of federal spending would encourage $1.5 trillion of total infrastructure investment, driven by private capital and increased local government cost-sharing. This emphasis on efficient infrastructure investment is long overdue and should be warmly welcomed.
Unfortunately, at the same time, protectionist trade policies have already started taking their toll on the development of the American-built environment. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that the recent duties imposed on Canadian softwood lumber are raising the cost of that material by 6.9 percent and inflating new single-family home prices by an average of $1,360. Housing builders and infrastructure investors alike are now facing the reality of dramatically-higher costs for another of their stalwart materials: steel.
