Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slammed President Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policies for significantly exacerbating the nation’s housing affordability crisis.
Tariffs Make Housing ‘Even More Expensive’
On Wednesday, in a post on X, Warren said, “Housing is too expensive to build and too expensive to afford,” and instead of helping remedy the situation, she said that the Trump administration’s trade policies have been making it worse. “Donald Trump’s solution? Make it even MORE expensive with his chaotic tariffs,” Warren said.
“Americans can’t afford Donald Trump’s housing market,” she concluded, quoting a post by economist Peter Harrell, who highlighted the impact of the tariffs on various essential products and commodities for home construction and renovations.
This comes amid Trump’s latest barrage of tariffs, aimed at kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and related products, alongside a 25% tariff on imported heavy-duty trucks, which are expected to make housing more expensive.
US Housing Market Set To Get More Expensive
The U.S. housing market is set to get even less affordable, as data reveals a sharp decline in construction activity, leading to a tight supply, while the recent interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve stimulates demand. Building permits, a key indicator of future supply, have decreased by 3.7% since July, to 1.3 million, their lowest level since 2020.
This marks the fifth consecutive monthly decline, the longest streak since the 2008 financial crisis, as analysts call for deeper cuts to interest rates to “jump start the market.”
Tariffs Fuel Inflationary Pressures
Late last month, it was reported that 72% of the Consumer Price Index components were seeing prices surge faster than the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target, which economists attribute to Trump’s tariffs.
Warren has repeatedly slammed Trump for “chaotic tariff” policies, criticizing him for rising coffee prices last week, whose prices, she said, have surged by “over 20%.”
However, economist Stephen Miran, a Trump-appointed Federal Reserve Governor, challenged this view that inflation was driven by the tariffs. “I would expect if tariffs were a material driver of inflation to see… a higher rate of inflation than imported core goods. And I do not see that in the data,” Miran said early this week.
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