GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Business leaders in Gwinnett County are feeling the squeeze as newly implemented 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports begin to drive up construction costs and potentially complicate infrastructure planning.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
“We’ve seen the steel materials increase in price 15% or more in some shapes,” said Cole Porter, CEO of Porter Steel, a family-owned company that fabricates steel for buildings across the Southeast.
Porter isn’t against tariffs in principle. He understands the need to level the playing field, especially when he says Canadian companies can undercut American fabricators in their own backyard.
“There’s a lot of unfair trade setups between different countries, trade deficits, particularly in steel, so it makes sense that we want to right the ship on that,” Porter said.
His main concern? How fast it’s all happening.
Porter’s company runs on long-term contracts, often with 10 months of backlog work already signed. When material costs suddenly spike, it can mean less profits.
“That eats into that margin and the ability to invest in my people,” Porter said.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Significant severe weather threat is ahead this weekend
- Roswell police charge youth pastor with possession of child sexual abuse materials
- Atlanta mayor announces changing ‘vision’ of streetcar, Beltline access at MARTA board meeting
He’s not asking for a complete rollback, just a more measured approach.
“I would suggest something where we do 1% a month tariff,” he said. “That gets us to where we need to be but allows me not to have an overnight, drastic increase in the price of steel.”
And it’s not just individual businesses noticing the potential impacts.
Emory Morseberger, Executive Director of the Gateway 85 Community Improvement District, which represents over 1,800 businesses along the I-85 corridor, is worried about how tariffs, combined with potential federal spending cuts, will impact infrastructure projects.
“The current situation is messing up our planning. We can’t cut federal funding for roads,” Morseberger said.
His organization is working to redevelop the congested I-85 corridor from Spaghetti Junction into Gwinnett County, a project that depends on stable material costs.
“We’ve got to keep those solid,” he said. “We can’t go up and down, because it just stops planning.”
According to Gateway 85 CID documents, the area ranks as the fourth-worst truck bottleneck in the country in a 2025 report, making infrastructure improvements even more urgent.
Both business leaders stress that they’re not against addressing unfair trade practices. They just want some predictability so they can plan properly.
Porter even took his concerns straight to the White House, writing a letter that was delivered by a congressman.
“It said, ‘Hey, Mr. President, we appreciate your care for the American business owner,’” he said. “‘We support trade being made right and fair trade and even the principle of tariffs when needed. Here are some unintended consequences, particularly for the construction industry,’ in which I explained how my backlog is affected and my margins are going to directly impact my people.”
At the end of the day, Porter says the conversation around tariffs needs to be about smart policy, not politics.
“Let’s settle down for a minute,” he said. “We don’t know exactly what the long-term play is. We also aren’t sitting in the cabinet. We don’t know what’s in the president’s head.”
Meanwhile, Metro Atlanta is gearing up for major events like the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Super Bowl in 2028, both likely requiring big construction projects.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
