MAGA homebuilder admits 'higher-end customers' putting plans on hold amid Trump tariffs

A Trump-backing homebuilder from Tennessee joined CNN on Friday evening to discuss how President Donald Trump's draconian new tariff regime, rippling through the stock market, is impacting his industry — and while he broadly tried to downplay it as a serious threat to his own business, he admitted it's been suffering at least to some degree.

"Maybe it's just too soon to tell, but I'm just wondering if any potential customers have expressed any concerns just because of the volatility of the market and the potential impact of the tariffs," said anchor Jake Tapper.

"Well, there has been obviously, because of the impact that the mentioning of tariffs have had on the stock market," said Dan Mitchell of Eagle CDI. "Some of our higher-end customers that, you know, get their funds and are going to use their funds from the stock market, are kind of putting their plans a little bit on hold until they kind of see how the stock market is either going to even out. You know, they do use that particular — the money that's coming from the stock market cashing in, like you say, the 401 or cashing in their stocks to be able to pay for some of the construction."

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"So they're taking a wait-and-see approach right now to kind of see what the stock market's going to do," Mitchell continued, adding that "two or three of our higher-end customers have just said we're going to wait and see what happens with these tariffs before we move forward with our construction project."

"President Trump is known to watch the occasional cable television news show," Tapper concluded. "If you could say something to him right now about the tariffs, what would you say?"

"Well, I would say that I understand what you're trying to do is to be able to even the playing field across the world, to be able to make trade more beneficial to the United States citizen. And I get that," said Mitchell. "At the same time, I really want you to focus on what's going on in the housing industry, to make sure that none of those tariffs have an impact on our ability to be able to put affordable homes on the ground, because right now that's the biggest issue, is housing affordability."

Additionally, he continued, Trump needs to think about interest rates.

"If we have an escalation in prices across the board, inflation increases. That means the Fed's not going to cut the rates. And then that means less consumers are going to be able to afford a mortgage. So the idea here is, is for us to get interest rates to start coming down. That would bring more people into the market to be able to afford homes, because it does come down to a monthly payment for a lot of people, and that's part of the interest rate and their mortgage payment."

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