On
Tuesday,

President
Trump
commented
that
145%
tariffs
on
China
are
“very
high,”
adding
that
they
“will
come
down
substantially,”
according
to

reporting
from
The
Wall
Street
Journal.

Trump
and
China
are
locked
in
an
intense
trade
clash.
The

“Liberation
Day”
announcement
in
early April
piled
an
extra
34
percentage
points
onto
the
20%
tariffs
the
Trump
administration
had
imposed
at
the
start
of
his
term.

China
hit
back
with
its
own
34%
duty
on
U.S.
goods,
and
on
April
8,
both
sides
upped
the
ante,

slapping
50%
tariffs
on
each
other.

On
April
9,
Trump
drew
back
on
his
original
tariff
plans,
which
included
a
baseline
tariff
of
10%
on
all
imports,
a
25%
tariff
on
all
foreign-made
automobile
imports
and
individual
levies
on
countries.
The
president
posted
on
social
media
that
he
was
placing
a

90-day
pause
on
tariffs
against
56
countries
and
the
European
Union.

The
tariff
decisions
have
already
resulted
in

upheaval
for
mortgage
lender
stocks.
Of
the
nine
publicly
traded
mortgage
lenders
analyzed
by

HousingWire,
each
have
seen
their
stocks
fall
since
April
2.

Rocket
Mortgage, whose
stock
had
been
bolstered
by
its
recent
acquisitions
of Redfin and Mr.
Cooper
—
reaching
a
gain
of
31.2%
at
one
point
—
sank
by
2.3%
following
the
tariff
announcement.

Homebuilders
have

borne
the
brunt
of
the
damage
to
stocks.
The
25 %
tariffs
on

steel
and
aluminum,
along
with
the
145 %
levy
on
Chinese
imports,
are
directly
squeezing
construction
costs.
As
of
April
14,
every
one
of
the
nine
publicly
traded
builder
stocks
had
fallen
more
than
13 %
since
Jan. 20.