Despite a recent pause on some tariffs, many local companies are still grappling with higher costs for materials and are choosing to hire fewer people this summer, Portland-area business leaders say.
Mark Ferguson, president of the South-Portland based axe maker Brant and Cochran, said he already sources steel from the United States. But Ferguson said the price has gone up by 35% in the last month, as demand for the domestically manufactured material has increased.
And unlike large companies, Ferguson said he doesn't have cash on hand to wait for U.S. manufacturing to improve.
"I have payroll for my six employees for two days. And I don't think the tariffs on steel imports are going to increase domestic production and lower prices by Wednesday," he said Monday during a press conference at Orange Bike Brewing Company in Portland.
Monday's press conference was organized by "Tariffs Cost US," a national organization that's launched a campaign about the local impact of the trade policy.
Mary Chapman, and owner of Sissle & Daughters Cheesemongers & Grocers, said her company will not hire two seasonal workers for the summer like she initially planned, due to broad economic uncertainty.
Other Portland area business leaders said they're concerned that rising construction costs will delay home construction and slow other development.
Travis Blake, president of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Maine, said 95% of Maine's soft-wood comes from Canada.
"Even just the potential of the tariff has spiked the cost of some of the lumber and products that we're getting," he said. "That's a direct effect and it hasn't even taken effect yet."
Blake said two of his own clients have paused projects due to the economic uncertainty.
A state analysis finds Maine needs at least 80,000 homes by the end of the decade to keep up with demand. Quincy Hentzel, executive director of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Maine can't afford any delay in its attempt to reach that goal.
"We're not making great progress, and we are very worried that these tariffs are going to make the development of housing very difficult to do, and the housing that is built is going to be unaffordable for the people we're trying to attract to Maine and for the people who live in Maine who are looking for housing," Hentzel said. "The tariffs on lumber, steel and aluminum are just really giving developers, rightfully so, serious pause."
