By ALEX VEIGA and MAE ANDERSON, Associated Press Business Writers

Shopping for a new home? Ready to renovate your kitchen or install a new deck? You’ll be paying more to do so.

The Trump administration’s tariffs on imported goods from Canada, Mexico and China — some already in place, others set to take effect in a few weeks — are already driving up the cost of building materials used in new residential construction and home remodeling projects.

The tariffs are projected to raise the costs that go into building a single-family home in the U.S. by $7,500 to $10,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Such costs are typically passed along to the homebuyer in the form of higher prices, which could hurt demand at a time when the U.S. housing market remains in a slump and many builders are having to offer buyers costly incentives to drum up sales.

We Buy Houses in San Francisco, which purchases foreclosed homes and then typically renovates and sells them, is increasing prices on its refurbished properties between 7% and 12%. That’s even after saving $52,000 in costs by stockpiling 62% more Canadian lumber than usual.

“The uncertainty of how long these tariffs will continue has been the most challenging aspect of our planning,” said CEO Mamta Saini.

Bad timing for builders

The timing of the tariffs couldn’t be worse for homebuilders and the home remodeling industry, as this is typically the busiest time of year for home sales. The prospect of a trade war has roiled the stock market and stoked worries about the economy, which could lead many would-be homebuyers to remain on the sidelines.

“Rising costs due to tariffs on imports will leave builders with few options,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “They can choose to pass higher costs along to consumers, which will mean higher home prices, or try to use less of these materials, which will mean smaller homes.”

FILE – A carpenter aligns a beam for a wall frame at a new house site in Madison County, Miss., Tuesday, March 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

Prices for building materials, including lumber, have been rising, even though the White House has delayed its tariffs rollout on some products. Lumber futures jumped to $658.71 per thousand board feet on March 4, reaching their highest level in more than two years.

The increase is already inflating costs for construction projects.

Dana Schnipper, a partner at building materials supplier JC Ryan in Farmingdale, New York, sourced wooden doors and frames for an apartment complex in Nassau County from a company in Canada that cost less than the American equivalent.

Half the job has already been supplied. But once the tariff goes into effect it will be applied to the remaining $75,000, adding $19,000 to the at-cost total. Once JC Ryan applies its mark up, that means the customer will owe $30,000 more than originally planned, Schnipper said.

FILE – A construction worker examines part of a building under construction in Brick, N.J. on July 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)

He also expects the tariffs will give American manufacturers cover to raise prices on steel components.

“These prices will never come down,” Schnipper said. “Whatever is going to happen, these things will be sticky and hopefully we’re good enough as a small business, that we can absorb some of that. We can’t certainly absorb all of it, so I don’t know. It’s going to be an interesting couple of months.”

Sidestepping the tariffs by using an alternative to imported building materials isn’t always an option.

Bar Zakheim, owner of Better Place Design & Build, a contracting business in San Diego that specializes in building accessible dwelling units, or ADUs, said Canada remains the best source for lumber.

By sticking with imported lumber, Zakheim had to raise his prices about 15% compared with a year ago. He also has 8% fewer jobs lined up compared with last year.

“I’m not about to go out of business, but it’s looking to be a slow, expensive year for us,” he said.

Tariffs rollercoaster

On March 6, the Trump administration announced a one-month delay on its 25% tariffs on certain imports from Mexico and Canada, including softwood lumber. Tariffs of 20% on imports from China are already in effect. A 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports — 50% on those from Canada — kicked in on March 12.

Tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods slated to go into effect next month will raise the cost of imported construction materials by more than $3 billion, according to the NAHB. Those price hikes would be in addition to a 14.5% tariff on Canadian lumber previously imposed by the U.S., ratcheting up tariffs on Canadian lumber to 39.5%.

On Air Force One, President Donald Trump said he was pushing forward with his plans for tariffs on April 2 despite recent disruption in the stock market and nervousness about the economic impact.

“April 2 is a liberating day for our country,” he said. “We’re getting back some of the wealth that very, very foolish presidents gave away because they had no clue what they were doing.”

Building materials costs overall are already up 34% since December 2020, according to the NAHB.

Builders depend on raw materials, appliances and many other components produced abroad. About 7.3% of all products used in single-family home and apartment building construction are imported. Of those, nearly a quarter come from Canada and Mexico, according to the NAHB.

Both nations also account for 70% of the imports of two key home construction materials: lumber and gypsum. Canadian lumber is used in everything from framing to cabinetry and furniture. Mexican gypsum is used to make drywall.

Beyond raw materials, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and an array of other home components are manufactured in Mexico and China, which is also a key source of steel and aluminum.

The tariffs will mean higher prices for home improvement shoppers, said Dent Johnson, president of True Value Hardware, which operates more than 4,000 independently owned hardware stores.

“The reality is that many products on the shelves of your local hardware store will eventually be affected,” he said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.

Chilling effect

Confusion over the timing and scope of the tariffs, and their impact on the economy, could have a bigger chilling effect on the new-home market than higher prices.

“If consumers can’t plan, if builders can’t plan, it gets very difficult to know how to price product because you don’t know what price you need to move it,” said Carl Reichardt, a homebuilding analyst at BTIG. “If people are worried about their jobs, worried about the future, it’s very difficult to make the decision to buy a new home, whatever the price.”

The uncertainty created by the Trump administration’s tariffs policy will probably result in increased volatility for home sales and new home construction this year, said Robert Dietz, the NAHB’s chief economist.

Still, because it can take several months for a home to be built, the larger impact of from building materials costs are going to happen “down the road,” Dietz said.

The impact tariffs are having on consumers is already evident at Slutsky Lumber in Ellenville, N.Y.

“There are not as many people getting ready for spring like they usually are,” said co-owner Jonathan Falcon. “It seems like people are just cutting back on spending.”

Falcon also worries that smaller businesses like his will have a tough time absorbing the impact of the tariffs.

“This is just like another thing that’s going to be harder for small lumber yards to handle than the big guys and just sort of keep driving businesses like us to not make it,” he said.

-__

Reporter Anne D’Innocenzio contributed.

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States under President Donald Trump has launched a new campaign of intense airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

This weekend’s strikes killed at least 53 people, including children, and wounded others. The campaign is likely to continue, part of a wider pressure campaign by Trump now targeting the Houthis’ main benefactor, Iran, as well.

Here’s what to know about the U.S. strikes and what could happen next:

Why did the U.S. launch the new airstrikes?

The Houthi rebels attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January this year. Their leadership described the attacks as aiming to end the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The campaign also greatly raised the Houthis’ profile in the wider Arab world and tamped down on public criticism against their human rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent and aid workers.

Smoke rises from a location reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Trump, writing on his social media platform Truth Social, said his administration targeted the Houthis over their “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence and terrorism.” He noted the disruption Houthi attacks have caused through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, key waterways for energy and cargo shipments between Asia and Europe through Egypt’s Suez Canal.

“We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” Trump said.

Didn’t the U.S. already target the Houthis with airstrikes?

Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. and the United Kingdom began a series of airstrikes against the Houthis starting in January 2024. A December report by The International Institute for Strategic Studies said the U.S. and its partners struck the Houthis over 260 times up to that point.

U.S. military officials during that period acknowledged having a far-wider target list for possible strikes. While the Biden administration didn’t go too far into explaining its targeting, analysts believe officials largely were trying to avoid civilian casualties and not rekindle Yemen’s stalemated war, which pits the Houthis and their allies against the country’s exiled government and their local and international allies, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Trump administration, however, appears willing to go after more targets, based on the weekend’s strikes and public remarks made by officials.

“We’re doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “That’s the mission here, and it will continue until that’s carried out.”

Rubio added: “Some of the key people involved in those missile launches are no longer with us, and I can tell you that some of the facilities that they used are no longer existing, and that will continue.”

Israel also launched its own airstrikes on Houthi-held sites, including the port city of Hodeida, over the rebels’ missile and drone attacks targeting Israel.

What could the new U.S. strikes mean for the wider Mideast?

In two words: More attacks.

The Houthis said last week they’ll again target “Israeli” ships traveling through Mideast waterways like the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, because of Israel’s blocking of aid to the Gaza Strip. No rebel attack targeting commercial shipping has been reported as of Monday morning.

However, the new U.S. campaign likely could inspire Houthi attacks at sea or on land beyond American warships. The rebels previously targeted oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two countries deeply involved in Yemen’s war since 2015.

“Although the U.S. has been striking at Houthi targets for over a year, the scope and scale of this new campaign, including the targeting of senior Houthi figures, marks a significant escalation in the conflict,” analysts at the Eurasia Group said Monday.

Gulf Arab countries “will distance themselves from ongoing hostilities but now face threats to their major oil infrastructure. The Houthis will want to hit President Donald Trump where it hurts, oil prices.”

Meanwhile, the Houthis likely will expand their possible targets for ship attacks, meaning shippers will continue to stay out of the region, said Jakob P. Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, the largest international association representing shipowners.

Where are the Iranians in all of this?

Iran long has armed the Houthis, who are members of Islam’s minority Shiite Zaydi sect, which ruled Yemen for 1,000 years until 1962. Tehran routinely denies arming the rebels, despite physical evidence, numerous seizures and experts tying the weapons back to Iran. That’s likely because Tehran wants to avoid sanctions for violating a United Nations arms embargo on the Houthis.

The Houthis now form the strongest group within Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance.” Others like Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have been decimated by Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that sparked Israel’s war of attrition in the Gaza Strip. Allied Shiite militias in Iraq largely have kept their heads down since the U.S. launched retaliatory attacks last year over a drone attack that killed three American troops and injured at least 34 others at a military base in Jordan.

While Iranian state television aired footage of civilian casualties from the weekend strikes in Yemen, top political leaders stayed away from suggestion Tehran itself would get involved in the fight. Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Hossein Salami notably underscored the Houthis made their own decisions — while not offering any warning over what would happen if the strikes killed any members of the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, who are believed to actively support the rebels on the ground.

“We have always declared — and we declare again today — that the Yemenis are an independent and free nation in their own land, with an independent national policy,” Salami said.

Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz, speaking to ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, warned Guard officials training the Houthis “will be on the table too” as possible targets for attack.

Meanwhile, Iran is still trying to determine how to respond to a letter from Trump aiming to restart negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday officials continue to review the letter and will respond “after investigations are completed.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately traveled Sunday to Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West. The Houthis also operate a political office in the sultanate.

The attacks on the Houthis are “a not-so-subtle signal to Iran, as President Trump has been unequivocal in his insistence that Iran return to the negotiating table to deal with its nuclear program,” the New York-based Soufan Center said in an analysis Monday.

NEW YORK (AP) — St. Patrick’s Day, the annual celebration of all things Irish, is being marked in cities across the country on Monday with boisterous parades and celebrations.

New York City hosts one of the largest and oldest parades in the United States.

The rolling celebration, now in its 264th year, takes place along Manhattan’s famed Fifth Avenue. Some 150,000 take part in the march, according to organizers.

Major celebrations are also planned on Monday in Savannah, Georgia, and other American communities, though some of the cities most transformed by Irish immigration held festivities over the weekend.

Chicago ‘s St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which is punctuated by turning its namesake river bright green with dye, happened Saturday. Boston and Philadelphia marked the occasion Sunday.

Across the pond, the Irish capital of Dublin culminates its three-day festival with a parade Monday. Cities such as Liverpool, England, another city transformed by Irish immigration, also host celebrations on the St. Patrick’s feast day.

The parades are meant to commemorate Ireland’s patron saint but have become a celebration of Irish heritage globally.

Festivities on March 17 were popularized by Irish immigrant communities, who in the 19th century faced discrimination and opposition in the U.S.

The New York parade dates to 1762 — 14 years before the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

It steps off at 11 a.m., heading north along Fifth Avenue and running from East 44th Street to East 79th Street in Manhattan.

A bevy of local politicians, from the mayor to the governor, are expected to walk the route along with school marching bands and traditional Irish pipe and drum ensembles and delegations from the New York Police Department and other organizations.

The grand marshal of this year’s parade in New York City is Michael Benn, the longtime chairman of the Queens County St. Patrick’s Parade held in Rockaway Beach.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Federal Reserve officials last met in late January, things looked pretty good: Hiring was solid. The economy had just grown at a solid pace in last year’s final quarter. And inflation, while stubborn, had fallen sharply from its peak more than two years ago.

What a difference seven weeks makes.

As the Fed prepares to meet Tuesday and Wednesday, the central bank and its chair, Jerome Powell, are potentially headed to a much tougher spot. Inflation improved last month but is still high and tariffs could push it higher. At the same time, ongoing tariff threats as well as sharp cuts to government spending and jobs have tanked consumer and business confidence, which could weigh on the economy and even push up unemployment.

The toxic combination of still-high inflation and a weak or stagnant economy is often referred to as “stagflation,” a term that haunts central bankers. It is what bedeviled the United States in the 1970s, when even deep recessions didn’t kill inflation.

Stagflation, should it emerge, is hard for the Fed because typically policymakers would lift rates — or keep them high — to combat inflation. Yet if unemployment also rises, the Fed would usually cut rates to reduce borrowing costs and lift growth.

It’s not yet clear the economy will sink into stagflation. For now, like businesses and consumers, the Fed is grappling with a huge amount of uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook. But even a mild version — with the unemployment rising from its current low level of 4.1%, while inflation stayed stuck above the Fed’s 2% target — would pose a challenge for the central bank.

“That’s the tangled web they’re in,” said Esther George, former president of the Federal Reserve’s Kansas City branch. “You have inflation stickiness on the one hand. At the same time, you’re trying to look at what impact could this have on the job market, if growth begins to pull back. So it is a tough scenario for them for sure.”

Fed officials will almost certainly keep their key rate unchanged at their meeting this week. Once the meeting concludes Wednesday, they will release their latest quarterly economic projections, which will likely show they expect to cut their rate twice this year — the same as they projected in December.

The Fed implemented three cuts last year and then signaled at the January meeting that they were largely on pause until the economic outlook becomes clearer.

Wall Street investors expect three rate reductions this year, in June, September, and December, according to futures prices tracked by CME Fedwatch, in part because they worry an economic slowdown will force more reductions.

One development likely to unnerve Fed officials is the sharp jump in inflation expectations this month in the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey. It showed the biggest increase in long-term inflation expectations since 1993.

Such expectations — which basically measure whether Americans are worried inflation will get worse — are important because they can become self-fulfilling. If businesses and consumers expect higher costs, they may take steps that push up inflation, like demanding higher wages, which in turn can force companies to raise prices to offset higher labor costs.

Some economists caution that the University of Michigan’s survey is preliminary and for now based on only about 400 responses. (The final version to be released later this month typically includes about 800.) And financial market measures of inflation expectations, based on bond prices, have actually declined in recent weeks.

The most recent inflation readings have been mixed. The consumer price index dropped last week for the first time in five months to 2.8% from 3%, an encouraging change. But the Fed’s preferred price gauge, to be released later this month, is likely to be unchanged.

The jump in inflation expectations is also a problem for the Fed because officials, including Powell, have said they are willing to let inflation gradually return to their 2% target in 2027, because expectations have generally been low. If other measures show inflation worries rising, the Fed could come under more pressure to get inflation down more quickly.

“I do worry when I see consumer expectations moving in the opposite direction,” George said. “I think you just have to keep an eye on that.”

The last time President Donald Trump imposed tariffs — in 2018 and 2019 — overall inflation didn’t rise by much, in part because they weren’t nearly as broad as what he is currently proposing and some duties, such as those on steel and aluminum, were watered down with loopholes. Now that Americans have lived through a painful inflationary episode, they are likely to be more skittish about rising prices.

Powell referred such concerns in remarks earlier this month. He said tariffs could just have a one-time impact on prices without causing ongoing inflation. But that could change “if it turns into a series” of tariff hikes, he said March 7, or “if the increases are larger, that would matter.”

“What really does matter is what is happening with long-term inflation expectations,” Powell added.

A week after his comments, those expectations shot higher in the University of Michigan survey.