TORONTO — Some developers say looming U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum could be detrimental to the housing sector due to higher costs of key construction materials.

The Ontario Home Builders’ Association, which represents more than 4,000 companies offering services such as development and renovation, said the tariffs could prompt an economic slowdown and lead to decreased investment in residential real estate.

The group’s CEO Scott Andison warned that could be “a brutal blow to the housing sector and therefore to housing affordability.”

“When you throw something as dramatic as trade tariffs into an environment that’s already suffering from low margins, high interest rates and high input costs, the potential for costs … going up makes builders quite nervous,” he said in an interview

“This is just something that puts the development market into a bit of chaos.”

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to levy 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to his country beginning March 12 — a move that Canadian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Candace Laing called “wrong on so many levels.”