PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — WPTV is digging deeper about the new hike on steel and aluminum tariffs which could impact us here locally.
President Donald Trump doubled the tariffs on the metals from 25% to 50%.
WATCH BELOW: 'We've got to find ways to save money,' Ken Ringe says
A construction company in Martin County told WPTV’s Tyler Hatfield, some of the materials on construction sites like this could be impacted by those tariffs.
Ken Ringe with Bayview Construction said they’re building a 60,000 square foot metal boat storage facility at Meridian Marina in Palm City.
But the decision by President Trump to hike tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from 25 to 50%—took Ringe by surprise.
“I spit out my coffee this morning,” said Ringe. “I don't know how it's going to stick."
While that site won’t be impacted, Ringe said his future construction could be.
“We have windows that are made out of aluminum,” said Ringe. “All the buildings made out of steel, there's steel rebar going in the slabs. All it affects every part of construction”
The impact, Ringe said, is already being felt on some material.
“These are all made out of steel, and they tried to raise the price on this already, even though they were in transit,” said Ringe.
Austin Cameron, owner of Meridian Marina said the price to build these steel structures already have little profit margins.
“We're adding 280 more boat spaces, and we were barely able to make the numbers work for the project,” said Cameron.
If the new tariffs raises prices higher…
“It would be doubtful that we'd be able to do this expansion,” said Cameron.
Ringe told Hatfield building with metal is cost effective, for now. But the tariffs could force them to pivot to other materials.
“We've got to find ways to save money,” said Ringe. “With this tariff, we're going to look at alternative construction methodologies.”
WPTV spoke to Dr. Brian Strow, dean of the Rinker School of Business at Palm Beach Atlantic University.
“If you're going to double the tariffs and steal aluminum,” said Strow, “it will make the production of cars and buildings much more expensive.”
Ringe said he’s concerned, but he’s seen price fluctuation on materials for decades.
“It's a sine curve,” said Ringe. “We deal with ups and downs, and it should average out, we hope.”
Ringe is hoping he’ll be able to weather this unexpected economic hurdle.
“We'll have to see where it settles,” said Ringe.
