The Impact of Tariffs on Material Shortages

By Meta Team. 

Learn how the new tariffs on essential materials have impacted the roofing industry at large. 

Both presidential administrations have made an impact on the way the United States trades with other countries. During his presidency, Donald Trump put a few tariffs in place on a variety of imported materials, including steel and aluminum. President Joe Biden established a quota system for tariffs on steel and aluminum from Europe. Both of their actions imposing tariffs have greatly impacted material shortages in the roofing industry due to increased pricing. 

The tariffs, in turn, caused consumers to look within North America for solutions to steel. SVP Josh Kelly of OMG Roofing Products, one of the largest suppliers of fasteners, drains and adhesives, commented in a roofing town hall: 

“It really shut down the supply of steel coming into the United States – especially from China, which is producing over 50% of all the world’s supply of steel. What happened, as a result, is people who were getting steel from China started to source their steel in North America. There wasn’t enough capacity. Those supply chains got pushed out, and availability became difficult, everything kind of went wrong, that happens when supply goes down and demand goes up.” 

The Wall Street Journal, citing the St. Louis Federal Reserve, offered the chart below that illustrates the increase of costs: 

Current domestic and global politics do not suggest relief of these costs coming any time soon. 

To learn more about material shortages in the roofing industry, visit Meta Team’s website. 

Original article source: Meta Team 

About Meta Team 

Meta Team, LLC is a collaboration of premier, certified women-owned commercial roofing companies that provide over 250 years of combined experience in the roofing industry. Our purpose is to provide streamlined commercial roofing solutions for national clients in order to transform the construction experience. Meta is built on our CARE values - Community, Action, Respect and Ethics.