Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International expressed concern over the new steel and aluminum tariffs announced by the Trump Administration.

The current overall domestic production capacity of steel and aluminum HVACR products cannot alone meet current demand of the domestic market, according to  a survey of HARDI members conducted by the HARDI Sheet Metal & Air Handling Committee that concluded on March 7.

The group also said that U.S. steel and aluminum industries also cannot currently make certain materials such as the low-gauge foil required to make FSK (Foil-Scrim-Kraft) facings used on essential duct insulating products such as duct board and duct wrap.

“Therefore, our concern is that an increase in aggregate costs brought by the new tariffs may also result in a decrease in demand for HVACR products further along the supply chain,” said the HARDI statement. “HARDI does not currently know how these tariffs will affect the demand of finished HVACR products in terms of quantified metrics, but going forward HARDI intends to quantify this impact through closely monitoring its benchmarking and statistical programs.”