The night before the Trump administration began enforcing a 25% tariff on Canadian imports, Chicago-based GI Stone had 13 trucks at the U.S. border, each loaded down with specialized granite set for installation in the Obama Presidential Center under construction in Jackson Park.

Only eight trucks made it through before the tariffs took effect on March 4.

“We rushed all the trucks we could get,” said Sandya Dandamudi, GI Stone’s president and owner. “But there was a lot of congestion and long lines, so everything took a long time to process. For us, the tariffs have been a bit of a nightmare, and the biggest problem is the chaos.”

Sandya Dandamudi, president of GI Stone, in the GI Stone facility in West Town, Aug. 28, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Adjusting to the tariffs imposed on Canada and other countries has not gotten easier over the past six months. The White House has imposed or canceled tariffs on nations with little or no notice, sending up and down the costs of key imported building materials such as steel, aluminum, copper and lumber. Construction industry leaders say the tariffs have made it more difficult to predict prices, secure financing and kick off new development. And even though short-term fixes, including stockpiling inventory, have so far helped developers and contractors avoid passing along cost increases to consumers, tariffs will ultimately mean higher rents and housing costs.

“The uncertainty is worrying builders,” said Molly McShane, CEO of The McShane Cos., a national real estate and development firm. “People understand deals won’t move forward if prices change four times a week.”

Administration officials say tariffs encourage domestic sourcing and manufacturing. The administration also says tariffs boost job creation and tax collections, while encouraging more consumers to buy American-made products.

“Large and persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficits have led to the hollowing out of our manufacturing base; resulted in a lack of incentive to increase advanced domestic manufacturing capacity; undermined critical supply chains; and rendered our defense-industrial base dependent on foreign adversaries,” a White House statement read.

Dandamudi said she understands the desire to buy American, but sometimes it’s not possible. GI Stone’s highly skilled workforce transforms quarried and engineered stone into finished countertops, flooring, walls and staircases for high-end residences and other projects at its North Side manufacturing facility. American quarries produce high-quality stone, but not in the full range of colors demanded by U.S. apartment and condo dwellers, so the company relies on products from Canada, Italy, India and many other countries.

“I provide American jobs,” Dandamudi said. “But for us, a 25% tariff could be lethal. I’m not a politician, but that doesn’t make sense.”

President Donald Trump’s administration temporarily canceled the Canadian tariff soon after GI Stone’s remaining trucks crossed the border, but the company got stuck with a huge bill, Dandamudi said. Although the Obama Presidential Center eventually covered GI Stone’s loss, even temporary hits can be tough to absorb, especially with high interest rates squelching the market for new construction.

“My guys are already feeling a bit of a pinch,” she said of the firm’s dozens of employees, including stone fabricators, setters and finishers. “(The Obama Presidential Center) eventually made us whole, but it was stressful and too much of a burden for a small business to bear.”

A big concern for builders

Many of the materials that are essential in residential and commercial construction — steel, aluminum, lumber, copper and stone — are now subject to tariffs.

Steel and aluminum are used for high-rise apartments, and are often imported from Brazil, Mexico, Canada and other countries. Contractors use heavy steel columns to assemble building frames, reinforce concrete with steel rebar and form exterior curtain walls with both steel and aluminum. Lumber, which is frequently imported from Canada, is widely used in single-family home construction.

Those building materials are now typically subject to tariffs of anywhere from 10% to 50%.

“Consumers face an overall average effective tariff rate of 17.4%, the highest since 1935,” and up from 2.4% in February, according to The Budget Lab at Yale, a nonpartisan policy research center, which analyzed data on all U.S. imports through Sept. 3.

“That’s a massive jump; that’s a Smoot-Hawley jump,” said Reagan Pratt, director of The Real Estate Center at DePaul University, referring to the Depression-era law that drastically raised tariffs. “The real estate industry has ways of adapting to things that are permanent, but has a hard time adjusting to things that are constantly changing.”

On Aug. 29, a federal appellate court ruled that Trump’s use of federal emergency powers to impose many tariffs was illegal, increasing the uncertainty even though it temporarily left the tariffs in place. The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.

The tariff squeeze doesn’t mean total development costs will soar out of control, said Omar Rihani, executive vice president and national residential sector leader for Chicago-based Project Management Advisors. Labor is also a huge expense, and many materials come from domestic sources, so tariffs typically push up total development costs by a couple of percentage points.

But the tariffs are still a big concern for apartment builders.

“Assuming no rent increases, that can take away 20% of your profit margin,” Rihani said.

And that could be enough to tip the balance between launching a project and setting it aside, especially because tariffs are not the only obstacles developers face. High interest rates, elevated costs of borrowing and high construction costs already make it difficult to start new developments, even though Chicago has a shortage of rental housing and city officials have approved the construction of thousands of new units.

“We have seen many projects that remain in the planning stages for a long time,” McShane said. “Interest rates have been a far bigger problem for developers than tariffs, but it’s such a jumble of different factors that go into this that it’s hard to attribute to one factor or the other.”

One Chicago developer said tariffs were making it more difficult to build a significant West Loop residential project.

“For our project at 1000 W. Jackson, we were in advanced conversations with a large equity investor and tariffs killed the negotiations,” said Anthony Hrusovsky, principal at Mavrek Development, according to the 2025 Chicago Mid-Year Sentiment Report by DePaul University and the Urban Land Institute, Chicago District Council. “It introduced a level of uncertainty around cost, which had previously been riskless in our eyes. The last thing Chicago needs right now is another reason for an equity group to not do a deal.”

Mavrek secured city approval for 1000-16 W. Jackson Blvd. in 2024. The company plans to build a 25-story tower with nearly 400 apartments and a ground-floor grocery. The company declined to comment further.

The number of construction cranes dotting Chicago’s skyline did tick up slightly this year. Construction crews in January had six cranes up, and 10 by August, including at the Shedd Aquarium and the Obama Presidential Center and another for Related Midwest’s 400 Lake Shore apartment project on the lakefront, according to the online newsletter Chicago YIMBY. There were 62 Chicago cranes in the air during 2017.

Impact on the economy

The evidence that tariffs hurt the economy is clear, said Steven Durlauf, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

More than half of Chicago commercial real estate experts surveyed by DePaul and the Urban Institute say tariffs will have a moderate impact on their business, while another 30% say the impact will be very high.

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Job growth was slow over the summer, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The economy created 79,000 jobs in July, fewer than anticipated by labor economists, and lost 13,000 in June, the first monthly decline since 2020, the bureau reported.

“Those are not numbers where there’s any ambiguity,” Durlauf said.

Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the bureau’s commissioner, in August, hours after the disappointing report, claiming it was rigged. The numbers for the following month were worse. The bureau’s Sept. 5 report said the economy created 22,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%.

If current tariff levels and other economic conditions remain steady, Trump’s efforts will produce a trade-off, according to The Budget Lab at Yale. U.S. manufacturing output would expand in the long-run by 2.7%, but those gains would be “more than crowded out by other sectors,” with construction output contracting by 3.8%.

The Federal Reserve has begun to provide a bit of relief. The softening labor market led Fed officials to cut interest rates by a quarter-point at its Sept. 17 meeting, making it cheaper to secure financing for new homes or development. Industry leaders say it’s a good start, but hope to see more cuts in 2026.

“While a 25-basis-point reduction may not materially transform the landscape overnight, it meaningfully improves investor psychology, underwriting conditions, and the cost of capital—key ingredients for renewed momentum,” said Avison Young CEO Mark Rose.

Other commercial real estate experts say tariffs haven’t busted construction budgets yet. Many piled up huge inventories of key products like steel and lumber before tariffs hit, or forged agreements with contractors to split cost increases.

“For the last four to six months, we’ve been guessing as everything changed day-to-day, but most companies took steps to mitigate any cost increases,” said Julie Workman, a Chicago-based real estate attorney and partner at Saul Ewing LLP. “They did the best they could for as long as they could.”

Chicago-based developer and general contractor Focus and its partners were able to arrange financing for their 1221 Washington project — a 19-story, 287-unit mixed-use development in Fulton Market — and break ground this September, but CEO Tim Anderson said cost increases could be tougher to swallow in 2026. A key factor will be how much domestic producers boost their prices to match the higher costs of overseas material.

“Once they get protection from foreign steel, what is their incentive to keep prices low?” he said.

The prices for hot-rolled steel bars, plates and structural shapes from U.S. producers, important components in construction, have gone up more than 14% since April, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The price for domestic lumber has remained relatively steady.

“It’s still such a yo-yo environment,” Anderson said. “The problem is going to be what happens eight months from now, but there are going to be price increases as we head down the path with tariffs.”

And the quick fixes like relying on built-up inventories won’t work much longer, Workman said.

“It’s really a shame because of the severity of the country’s housing shortage,” she said. “I feel like things are about to go over a cliff.”

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and MICHAEL R. SISAK, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Justice Department officials could face court-imposed sanctions for public comments about the prosecution of Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson if they don’t limit what they say, a New York judge said Wednesday.

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Judge Margaret M. Garnett in Manhattan said in an order that statements by government officials about Mangione possibly facing the death penalty may have violated a local rule meant to limit public comments to ensure a fair trial.

Defense lawyers for Mangione had asked that his federal charges be dismissed and the death penalty be taken off the table as a result of the comments.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the fatal shooting of Thompson on Dec. 4 as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.

In the federal case, Mangione is charged with murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, as well as stalking and gun offenses.

Defense lawyers argued in a written submission to Garnett that Justice Department officials poisoned the case when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi declared prior to his April indictment that capital punishment is warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione.

His lawyers argued that Bondi’s statements and other official actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and President Donald Trump’s administration’s flouting of established death penalty procedures — “have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case.”

In her order Wednesday, Garnett said it appeared that multiple Justice Department employees may have violated the rule limiting what can be said publicly about a case prior to trial. She said the statements apparently were made by two high-ranking staff members in the department.

The judge asked the department to explain how the violations occurred and what steps are being taken to ensure no future violations happen.

“Future violations may result in sanctions, which could include personal financial penalties, contempt of court findings, or relief specific to the prosecution of this matter,” the judge wrote.

A message for comment sent to the Justice Department was not immediately returned.

The order from Garnett was not the first time a Manhattan federal judge has scolded Justice Department officials for public statements in a criminal case.

In April 2015, Judge Valerie Caproni accused then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of straying “so close to the edge of the rules governing his own conduct” when he announced a corruption case against former Democratic New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver that Silver had a legitimate complaint that the “media blitz” that accompanied his arrest was prejudicial.

Silver was eventually convicted on corruption charges and was sentenced to over six years in prison. In January 2022, the federal Bureau of Prisons announced that he had died in federal custody at age 77.

By SIMINA MISTREANU

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Known as the strongest storm of the year in the world, Typhoon Ragasa churned through parts of the Western Pacific and slammed into southern China, whipping massive waves, triggering floods and leaving at least 27 dead in its wake in Taiwan and the Philippines.

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The typhoon was moving west across southern China toward Vietnam after touching down on Hailing Island in southern Guangdong province on Wednesday afternoon. It earlier registered maximum gusts of 150 mph in the city of Jiangmen.

Here are some key facts about the typhoon, dubbed the “King of Storms” by China’s meteorological agency:

A super typhoon began over the Western Pacific

As it formed over Micronesia in the Western Pacific earlier this month, Ragasa rolled over unusually warm ocean waters, gathering strength. By Monday, it had been labeled a super typhoon, packing maximum sustained winds of 165 mph.

Meteorologists classify tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific based on their maximum sustained wind speeds. Once they reach at least 74 mph, the storms are labeled typhoons. Super typhoons pack one-minute sustained winds of at least 150 mph, according to the U.S. Navy meteorologists’ system. The criteria vary slightly based on the country.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hong Kong weather authorities downgraded Ragasa from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon. By then, the storm was registering maximum sustained winds of 109 mph near its center. It was expected to continue to weaken as it advanced into southern China.

The typhoon led to a deadly lake burst in Taiwan

Before reaching Hong Kong, Ragasa had brought devastation to parts of Taiwan and the Philippines.

In Taiwan’s eastern Hualien County, the typhoon caused a barrier lake to burst its banks, sending water gushing into nearby Guangfu township. Muddy torrents destroyed a bridge, turning the roads in Guangfu into churning rivers that carried vehicles and furniture away.

At least 17 people died in the floods, with authorities searching for another 17.

More than half the township’s roughly 8,450 people sought safety on higher floors of their homes or on higher ground on Wednesday morning, according to local media.

In the northern Philippines, seven fishermen drowned after their boat was battered by huge waves and fierce wind and flipped over on Monday off Santa Ana town in northern Cagayan province. At least three other people died in the region, and five other fishermen remained missing, provincial officials said.

The ‘King of Storms’ displaced nearly 2 million in China

In China, the typhoon led to nearly 1.9 million people being evacuated in southern Guangdong province. Schools, factories and transportation services were shut down in about a dozen cities.

In the financial hub of Hong Kong, at least 80 people were injured as the typhoon’s massive winds knocked down hundreds of trees. At least 700 flights were canceled.

A video showed water bursting through the doors of an oceanside hotel, sweeping patrons off their feet.

Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

By ELENA BECATOROS

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Activists taking part in a flotilla seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza said Wednesday that some of their boats were attacked by drones overnight while sailing south of Greece.

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The Global Sumud Flotilla said it was attacked during the night by “unidentified drones and communications jamming.” It said that “at least 13 explosions” were heard on and around several flotilla boats, while drones or aircraft dropped “unidentified objects” on at least 10 boats.

No casualties were reported but there was damage to the vessels and “widespread obstruction in communications,” it added. Activists posted a brief video showing what appeared to be an explosion on or near one of the vessels. Greece’s coast guard did not report any distress calls.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions regarding the attack.

The flotilla, which organizers say includes about 50 vessels and participants from dozens of countries, is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, for Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has accused organizers of being linked to Hamas, an accusation organizers reject. Israel has proposed that the activists unload their aid in the Israeli port of Ashkelon for it to be transported into Gaza, saying it will not accept any breach of its blockade.

Italy sending a frigate

Italy condemned the attack and activated a navy frigate to be on hand for possible rescue operations, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.

Crosetto said the Italian Navy’s frigate Fasan, which was sailing north of Crete, was “already heading towards the area for possible rescue operations.” Italy has informed Israel about the decision.

“In a democracy, demonstrations and forms of protest must also be protected when they are carried out in accordance with international law and without resorting to violence,” Crosetto said.

Italy’s Foreign Ministry meanwhile said its computer systems had been overwhelmed by a “mail bombing” campaign in which thousands of what it said were fake emails flooded its servers after the attack on the flotilla.

Earlier Wednesday, the Global Sumud Flotilla had sent out an urgent appeal to its supporters asking them to email the ministry demanding it take a firm position to condemn the attack on the flotilla, protect the participants and put diplomatic pressure on those responsible.

The emails “had the effect of hindering the work” of the ministry’s crisis unit, which has been the main point of contact for Italian citizens aboard the flotilla, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told lawmakers earlier this month he had personally called Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to urge Israel to respect the rights of Italian activists participating in the flotilla.

Tajani said at the time that 58 Italians were in the flotilla, including some lawmakers.

The European Union also warned against the use of any force.

“The freedom of navigation under international law must be upheld,” said Eva Hrncirova, a European Commission spokesperson.

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan called for an investigation, saying “attacks and threats against those trying to deliver aid to and support the hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza who are suffering famine and starvation defy belief.”

Defiant activists

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who is on board one of the boats, called the strikes a “scare tactic” and implored the flotilla’s supporters to stay focused on Gaza rather than on the activists.

“We were aware of the risks of these kind of attacks and that’s not something that’s going to stop us,” Thunberg said on a livestream. “The most important thing isn’t that we were hit by drones. Drones are something that Palestinians experience 24-7.”

Italian activist Simone Zambrin said drones “have been flying over our heads for days now” and on Wednesday “dropped devices at our boats, damaging both the sails and the hearing of some of our crew members.”

She said Israel was trying “to instill fear because it is afraid of our arrival.”

Supporters watch as a boat that is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla departs to Gaza to deliver aid amidst Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian territory, in the Tunisian port of Bizerte, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anis Mili)

Greg Stoker, an American activist on board one of the boats, said in a social media post that the vessel’s radio communications also suffered interference, with the jammers playing an ABBA song over the radio channel the flotilla was using.

Attacks on the flotilla

The flotilla has reported several attacks since it set sail from Spain on Sept. 1, including two while some of its boats were in Tunisian waters.

Activists say it’s the largest attempt to date to break the Israeli maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has now lasted 18 years, long predating the current war in Gaza. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep Hamas from importing arms, while critics consider it collective punishment.

The Italian fleet of the Global Sumud Flotilla departs from the port of Siracusa, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Sebastiano Diamante/LaPresse via AP)

The almost two-year war has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not say how many were civilians or combatants, but says around half were women and children.

The world’s leading authority on hunger crises said last month that Israel’s blockade and ongoing offensive had already pushed Gaza City into famine. More than 300,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks as Israel has ordered the population to move south, but an estimated 700,000 remain, according to U.N. agencies and aid groups.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas stormed into Israel and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Israel says its operation in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to surrender and return the remaining 48 hostages, about 20 of whom Israel believes are still alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.

Activists have launched several flotillas aimed at breaking the blockade over the years, nearly all of them intercepted by Israel. Another vessel said it was attacked by drones in May in international waters off Malta. An overland convoy traveling across North Africa also attempted to reach the border but was blocked by security forces aligned with Egypt in eastern Libya.

In 2010, Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara, a boat participating in an aid flotilla attempting to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza, killing 10 Turkish activists in clashes on board.

Associated Press journalists Samuel Metz in Rabat, Morocco; Nicole Winfield and Patricia Thomas in Rome; Samuel McNeil in Brussels and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.