China has retaliated against President Donald Trump‘s “liberation day” tariffs by imposing its own 34% tariff on all goods imported into the U.S. from April 10—a move that has prompted global stock markets to plunge even lower.
By 2:45 p.m. EST on April 4, approximately eight hours after the Beijing’s retaliatory tariff announcement, the Dow had dropped 2,100 points, according to the Associated Press, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both fell by 5.7%.
In response, on April 7, Trump then threatened to add an additional 50% tariff on China, beginning on April 9.
Per the Wall Street Journal, the president gave China a deadline of April 8 to withdraw its retaliatory tariffs, writing in a post shared on his social media website, Truth Social: “If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China.”
Still, the full effects of China’s tariffs cannot yet be predicted; however, Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale warns that homeowners and homebuilders will likely see a surge in the cost of basic home appliances and home decor as a result of the budding trade war.
“What this signals for U.S. consumers is that China may be unwilling to negotiate over the tariffs, thus the proposed duties have a higher likelihood of sticking around,” she says. “Homebuilders and consumers will experience this in the form of higher costs for home appliances as well as lighting and other home decor that could stick around.”
Homebuilders are already feeling the sharp sting of the tariffs’ impact, warns Jeff Staples, president and CEO of BoxHouse, a Utah-based company building eco-conscious, compact homes.
“With the majority of our components at BoxHouse currently coming from China, the tariffs have most definitely caught our attention and have accelerated our pursuit for domestic manufacturing,” Staples tells Realtor.com.
“It has been our plan for some time to manufacture both foreign and domestic for several beneficial reasons.”
Staples notes that the impact of China’s tariffs will likely have major impacts for all homebuilders—but said that a young company like BoxHouse that is still in its infancy will struggle even more.
Consumers should therefore expect to be hit with higher prices as companies are forced to share the burden of increased costs.
“For the same exact product we were manufacturing and bringing in only weeks ago we have seen a jump in cost as of now at about 54%,” says Staples. “This is a big hit to the consumer that most definitely will price some out of the market.
“To put that into perspective, if you were to have been sitting on the fence to purchase one of our most popular models called ‘The Bungalow by Boxhouse,’ which starts at $80,000, and decided that today was the day to make that dream a reality, well the price tag on that dream went from $80,000 to now a little over $123,000.”
On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell weighed in on Trump’s tariffs, predicting that the newly implemented measures will likely increase inflation and slow economic growth—but warned that the true impact cannot yet be determined.
“While tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation, it is also possible that the effects could be more persistent,” Powell warned. “Avoiding that outcome would depend on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored, on the size of the effects, and on how long it takes for them to pass through fully to prices.”
Meanwhile, President Trump has said that he is open to negotiations, according to Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), who told Fox Business that the president had told him countries were already approaching the U.S. and saying: “Let’s work this out.”
“We’ve been getting the short end of the stick for years, and it’s important that Americans understand this,” Van Drew went on. “These are reciprocal tariffs. We have been tariffed. Our goods are tariffed. We’re always at an unfair disadvantage with these countries.”
Staples adds that all he can do right now is hope that the implementation of tariffs by China will lead to a “leveling out” in the short term, while the world waits to see what the global impact of the trade war will be in the longer term.
“While we understand the president’s goal of a stronger U.S. economy, we are also hopeful that in the very short term there is a leveling out, if you will, of these tariffs from both the U.S. and China,” Staples adds.
In the wake of Trump’s initial tariff announcement, homebuilders warned that the new trade policy will inevitably increase the cost to build a home.
“While the complexity of these reciprocal tariffs makes it hard to estimate the overall impact on housing, they will undoubtedly raise some construction costs,” Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, tells Realtor.com.
A recent survey of homebuilders found that they expect an average cost increase of $9,200 per home due to the recent tariffs. Tariffs are taxes on imported goods that must be paid by the company receiving the imports.
The NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) estimates that $204 billion worth of goods were used in the construction of both new multifamily and single-family housing in 2024—with $14 billion of those goods imported from outside the U.S.
Some states, more than others, have a bevy of new construction. Idaho has the most—40%—active listings that were new builds. This is followed by North Carolina (33%), Delaware (31%), Utah (28%), and Nebraska (28%).
While about 72% of construction lumber comes from Canada, other products popular among consumers, such as appliances and home furnishings, are made in Asia.
The tariffs move has forced BoxHouse to expedite their search to manufacture all components in the U.S.
“As mentioned, we are working rapidly to produce a domestic product,” says Staples. “We also have been forced to look at any areas of our production that need to increase efficiency’s to still provide an extremely high quality product at an extremely economical price point.
“Our outlook on today and the future of BoxHouse and our mission is as bright as ever.”
