Los Angeles is bracing for a massive rebuilding effort after this year’s wildfires, in what will likely be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
Those recovery costs could rise further still, after President Donald Trump announced last week a 25% across-the-board tariff on steel and aluminum. But California Republicans are firmly behind Trump’s tariff hikes, even if it means rebuilding is more expensive.
“There might be a little discomfort for a while, but in the long term, our production goes up and we have more domestic product, more jobs, more tax base, and we’re winners in the long run,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa told NOTUS.
Trump announced on Monday that the U.S. would increase tariffs on steel and aluminum imports — two metals commonly bought from abroad for construction.
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The new measure, the White House says, goes into effect on March 12 and would remove all exemptions for countries and products that were previously excluded from the 2018 tariffs, which were initially set up by Trump to reduce metal imports from China.
Republicans argue that it’s too soon to say if the tariffs would have an impact on rebuilding efforts. They could have come and gone or the market may adjust on its own.
“Let’s see if it actually gets close to fruition, because right now, it’s a discussion,” LaMalfa said. “You’ve seen with so many of these [tariffs] so far, Trump puts it out there and then the other side comes to the table and they work it out.”
“The question is, will we have said tariffs a year from now? And if so, how will the economy have adjusted to it?” Rep. Darrell Issa told NOTUS.
“What’s affecting the two firesites in California is the history of taking two-to-three years before you can start construction,” Issa continued. “And quite frankly, even with the administration putting it in high gear, it’s likely to be a year before they’ll break ground.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have issued broad executive measures intended to make it easier for LA businesses and homeowners whose property has been damaged to rebuild. These measures would allow wildfire victims to sidestep the long environmental review homeowners typically need to go through in the area.
But easing the remaining regulatory measures are steps the state can take to drive down the cost of construction, Republicans say.
“There’s a lot of other things that are gonna get in the way of construction in LA,” Rep. Kevin Kiley told NOTUS. “We’re talking about SEQA [California Environmental Quality Act], we’re talking about the coastal commission, we’re talking about a lot of the insane regulations and fees California has. Those are all very sort of easy steps that we could take before we even get to those questions to make things more affordable.”
Democrats insist that even if tariffs don’t ever go into effect — as has been the case with the blanket tariffs Trump threatened Mexico and Canada with — the threat of them risks driving up housing prices.
“It’s gonna make the materials more expensive. It’s going to increase the cost to rebuild and it’s going to increase the cost of housing ultimately,” Sen. Alex Padilla told NOTUS.
Republicans who doubt the tariffs’ negative effects, Padilla said, should “go back to school.”
“In my district, we have a huge reconstruction effort in front of us after the fires,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove told NOTUS. The impact of these measures, Kamlager-Dove says, is not just the increase in prices that might pass down to consumers but the unintended chain effect that might result in market manipulation.
“As he keeps posturing about tariffs, and telling people that he’s going to enact them,” she said, “he’s giving certain industries and people time to make money off the market.”
Trump’s 2018 tariffs may have increased the cost of building and housing across the country, as costs for contractors went up and forced them to reorganize their supply chains, ultimately slowing down construction. His newly proposed tariffs might do so again, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Currently, most of the steel that is imported into the U.S. comes from materials made in Canada, Brazil, Mexico and South Korea — all U.S. allies.
“Tariffs are usually used in a tactical way, to get something fixed. And he just wants to apply them as a blanket policy,” Democratic Rep. Scott Peters told NOTUS. “What’s the message you’re sending to our trading partners?”
“It’s all pretty awful, particularly because he said these tariffs will deliver us lower costs. And that’s the opposite of what that’s doing,” Peters said.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and NewsWell, home of Times of San Diego, Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia.
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Samuel Larreal is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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