• President Donald Trump has imposed a flurry of tariffs that have driven up costs.
• Real estate developers have been hit with sticker shock on steel orders, which have risen 20%.
• Despite widespread optimism at the beginning of Trump's second term, developers have grown worried.

President Donald Trump has promised to power the economy by imposing tariffs on foreign goods and materials.

Instead, the duties are heaping new costs on commercial real estate development projects in the US as prices rise sharply for core building components like steel, aluminum, copper, and tiling.

Joseph Taylor, the CEO of Matrix Development, a New Jersey-based warehouse developer, said that his company recently ran into tariff impacts on the steel it is buying to erect a warehouse in Newark, New Jersey.

"I can tell you steel is up 8-10%" for the project, Taylor said, noting that the increases had driven up the planned building's costs by about $2 million.

Another developer planning a more than $100 million warehouse outside of Washington, DC, meanwhile, said that Nucor, a North Carolina-based steel manufacturer that he had tapped to make the structural beams for the project, alerted him in recent days that prices were rising 15% on his $12 million order.

The developer was able to lock in his original price because he had made a reservation for the steel, but he now anticipates the project's construction costs will rise by about 10% overall because of the impact of tariffs on other materials, such as steel rebar in the project's concrete foundation, as well as growing charges for insulation and roofing.

The developer said that the increases would eat into his forecast returns for the development.

"It's going to be harder to get new projects going," the developer said.

The person did not want to be identified because he said he is negotiating with other suppliers and didn't want to tip his hand on where he anticipates price increases.

The prices of commodity goods like metals and common fabricated products like rebar and steel wall framing that are used in real estate development are strongly affected by global markets, experts say. The tariffs have had the effect of pushing up costs, even for goods made domestically.

"What you did is you hamper competition, so the domestic people simply just raised their price where they can," said Dain Drake, a principal at DeSimone Consulting Engineering, whose focus includes sourcing structural steel for commercial development.

The Trump administration placed a 25% duty on foreign made steel and aluminum imports in February and the trade barriers went into effect on March 12. Trump has explored tariffs on other important building materials, including copper, which is widely used in plumbing and electrical systems.

The increases haven't registered yet in much of the data that tracks materials costs. But experts say builders are beginning to experience sticker shock.

Drake said that quotes for fabricated steel he is helping to procure for the expansion of a manufacturing plant in the Houston area have risen 20% recently — in line with steel increases he has seen across the market. The contractor, which will have to pass the cost onto the customer, was surprised and "not happy," he said, when he reported the new quote.

Drake said that such escalations could impact whether projects proceed.

"It hasn't shut things down yet, but that conversation's going to manifest," he said.

More expensive ceiling tiles and lighting systems

The charges have been felt not just in ground-up development but also in the multi-billion dollar industry for interior work and renovations.

Richard Jantz, an executive at Cushman & Wakefield who leads its project and development services team in the tri-state region, said that a large office tenant recently put a roughly $20 million renovation of a space it occupies in Manhattan on hold because of cost escalations that coincided with the tariffs.

The duties have cascaded through the supply chain, Jantz said, raising the price of items like ceiling and acoustic tiles, which often use China-made fiberglass, or lighting systems, which can have internationally sourced components. The Trump administration has imposed a 20% tariff on imports from China.

Ceiling tile systems also employ steel or aluminum grids to suspend them, which have become more expensive.

Jantz said that construction costs have risen by about 3% on average annually in New York City for decades. This year he forecasts increases of around 5%.

"That is largely based on the tariffs and a little bit of greedflation that we're seeing," Jantz said, referring to domestic manufacturers and suppliers who have been opportunistic by raising prices because foreign competition has grown more expensive.

The higher costs have also had an impact on the construction of apartments, as Business Insider reported in February.

A lack of clarity on tariffs

Trump's return for a second term in the White House created widespread optimism across the commercial real estate industry. But a turbulent month and a half in office has rattled investors.

Trump has upended global alliances by placing tariffs on close US trading partners, including Mexico, Canada, and Europe. As major stock indexes have tumbled as a result of his policies, Trump appeared to suggest that he was willing to accept a contraction of US growth to meet his objectives, telling Fox News that the country may endure a "period of transition."

He has also zig-zagged on major policy announcements that have disoriented executives and raised uncertainty in the business sector. Trump's administration, for instance, announced a 50% tariff on Canadian steel on March 11, only to call off the sweeping action later in the day.

Construction experts say that such whiplash moves encourage developers to wait on the sidelines in the hope that other tariff actions and charges will also be pulled back.

"The lack of clarity on the tariffs and the resulting impact of those tariffs, it's driving uncertainty," said Joseph Mizzi, the president of Sciame Construction. "If someone has to guess with a lack of certainty, they're typically going to — in the contracting world — guess in a more conservative way."

Mizzi said that he and other contracting executives he speaks with have become concerned about the situation recently. He said the industry had expected an upswing in construction in 2025 after a few years of diminished activity in the sector that was brought on, in part, as a result of higher interest rates.

"We lay in bed at night thinking about things that might happen," Mizzi said. "So yeah, it's on our radar for sure."

When in Florida, watch out for gators on the golf course. 

Unless you’re Bill Horschel. 

Horschel, a Florida Gators alumnus, knows all about real-life gators meandering onto the course. That’s what happened at PGA National Thursday during the first round of the Cognizant Classic. 

Horschel was spotted with his 60-degree wedge shooing a gator approaching him during his round, and he entered the clubhouse tied in 16th place with a 5-under performance. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Looking unbothered, Horschel poked at the gator, and it retreated to the water. 

After the round, Horschel spoke about the moment that went viral on social media. 

"I'm not afraid of gators," Horschel said, via ESPN. "Listen, as I tell most people, I said, 'They're more afraid of you.' The majority of the time, they're only going to come after you during mating season where they're a little aggressive, and then if you're around their nest when they've got some eggs. The majority of the time, they're fine."

PGA'S JAKE KNAPP JOINS HISTORIC COMPANY WITH 59 AT FAMED TOURNAMENT

That’s not to say Horschel wasn’t being cautious. He made sure not to aggressively try to poke the gator. He was calm and collected, just as he's been during many pressure moments during his PGA Tour career. 

The gator emerged as Horschel finished his sixth hole during the round, and he found the gator while walking to the next tee box. 

"He was going nowhere good," Horschel added. "So, I just went over there, helped the cop."

Horschel ended his day with four birdies, one eagle and one bogey. The bogey came on the par-4 second hole, but he eagled the par-5 third to get back under par. 

Horschel birdied holes eight, nine and 10, and, after cooling off a bit on the back nine with some pars, he finished his round with a birdie on the par-5 18th. 

While this would’ve been a great round in any other tournament, Horschel has some catching up to do because Jake Knapp shot an amazing 59 to put him in the lead after Round 1 at 12-under.

The closest to Knapp are Daniel Berger, Russell Henley and Sami Valimaki, all of whom are at 8-under. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

• Trump levied an additional 10% tariff on imports from China and said that could increase further.
• Economists and industry groups said US consumers could end up seeing higher prices as a result.
• Consumer electronics, clothing and textiles, cars, and home appliances could all get more expensive.

If you're planning to buy a new phone, clothes, or kitchen appliances made in China, you may need to rethink your budget.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on imports of Chinese goods. If the duties stay in place or increase, Americans could pay more for a wide variety of products.

The US imported $427 billion in goods from China in 2023, the most recent year for which full data is available, according to the Census Bureau. Goods like consumer electronics, car parts, and appliances were among the biggest-ticket items. Here are four product categories that could see price increases.

Consumer electronics

The US imported $66.7 billion in cellphones and other household goods, $37.4 billion in computers, and $15.7 billion in computer accessories from China in 2023, per the Census Bureau.

The Consumer Technology Association has estimated that 87% of US video game consoles imported to the US in 2023 came from China. That estimate was 78% for smartphones and 79% for laptops and tablets.

The trade group said in a January report that across-the-board tariffs would increase prices of laptops by up to 68%, video game consoles by up to 58%, and smartphones by up to 37%.

Clothing and textiles

The US imported $19.6 billion in textiles and clothing from China in 2023.

The National Retail Federation has previously said that sweeping tariffs would considerably increase the price of apparel, footwear, and travel goods such as backpacks and wallets.

The Trump administration removed the "de minimis" provision for imports from China, which previously exempted imports worth up to $800 from tariffs. That could cut into the business model of Chinese retailers such as Temu and Shein, which relied on small duty-free shipments directly to US consumers.

Some retailers that manufacture a large share of their products in China have previously signaled they were preparing to pass on the cost of tariffs to customers. Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle told The Washington Post his company was "set to raise prices." ELF Beauty CEO Tarang Amin told CNBC that if the company "needed to leverage pricing," it would.

Cars

China is also a big producer of car parts, with the US importing $14.6 billion worth of parts and accessories in 2023.

Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, previously told BI that US automakers sourced a big share of their parts from China, so it was "very reasonable" to expect them to raise prices.

She added that automakers might struggle to shift production out of China because if Trump imposes a universal tariff, "you don't really know if there's any safe place."

Home appliances

The US imported $13.8 billion worth of appliances from China in 2023, with the NRF previously saying in a report that it expected the average basic fridge price to rise from $650 to $776 under Trump's tariffs.

The NRF said in a statement on Saturday that it encouraged "all parties to continue negotiating to find solutions that will strengthen trade relationships and avoid shifting the costs of shared policy failures onto the backs of American families, workers and small businesses."

Lizards are ancient creatures. They were around before the dinosaurs and persisted long after dinosaurs went extinct. We’ve now found they are 35 million years older than we thought they were.

Cryptovaranoides microlanius was a tiny lizard that skittered around what is now southern England during the late Triassic, around 205 million years ago. It likely snapped up insects in its razor teeth (its name means “hidden lizard, small butcher”). But it wasn’t always considered a lizard. Previously, a group of researchers who studied the first fossil of the creature, or holotype, concluded that it was an archosaur, part of a group that includes the extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs along with extant crocodilians and birds.

Now, another research team from the University of Bristol has analyzed that fossil and determined that Cryptovaranoides is not an archosaur but a lepidosaur, part of a larger order of reptiles that includes squamates, the reptile group that encompasses modern snakes and lizards. It is now also the oldest known squamate.

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