The US housing market is extremely competitive right now; prices are high and houses are selling fast. And a huge factor has been the recent spike in the price of lumber.For homebuyers, the issue could go from bad to worse because of this new Biden policy.
Source: Here's How Biden Is Making It Even Harder to Buy a Home - Foundation for Economic Education
Why does Biden hate people that want to buy a home? Seriously though, a tariff is nothing more than a sales tax on the citizens of the country implementing the tariff. Either that tax goes to the government (if your lumber comes from Canada), or it effectively goes to some U.S. lumber company (if your lumber comes from a U.S. company). Either way you are paying more because of a government policy.
Lumber prices have been extraordinarily high for the last couple of years making me wonder about the timing of this. Partly this is because of COVID (or government policies implemented as a result of COVID to be more accurate) and partly it is because retailers and lumber companies greatly misjudged demand (assuming COVID would cause a large decrease in demand). But whatever the reasons, why, with lumber prices coming off of all time highs, is the government intentionally making lumber more expensive? I'm certainly glad I already own a house because I sure wouldn't want to be trying to buy one right now.