Construction + Economy

  Demand for U.S. industrial space—especially in the warehouse sector—fell for the first time in fifteen years during the second quarter of 2025, signaling a dramatic shift in commercial real estate dynamics since the pandemic-era boom. This decline was marked by an 11.3 million square foot contraction in the second quarter alone, with total net [...]

  Recent trends in U.S. housing construction highlight how single-family housing starts have declined while multifamily construction has grown—primarily in smaller and less densely populated markets—during the second quarter of 2025, according to the NAHB Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). Single-Family Construction Declines Single-family construction experienced declines in nearly every region during Q2 2025, signaling [...]

  The risk of a recession in September 2025 is elevated, with analysts citing a combination of slow job growth, persistent inflation, and rising tariffs as key factors pushing the U.S. economy toward a downturn. Some, like Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi, suggest the U.S. is “on the precipice” of a downturn, with the period of greatest [...]

  Annual spending on home renovations and repairs in the United States is projected to grow at a much slower pace through the first half of 2026, according to the latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. The LIRA predicts that expenditures for improvements and [...]

  On July 2, 2025, The White House announced a new tariff agreement with Vietnam, representing the administration’s first trade deal in Asia outside of China, and signaling a notable shift in US trade policy in the region. The agreement sets a 20% tariff rate on certain goods. The primary goal of this deal is [...]

  Last week, the United States and China reached a new trade agreement framework following intense negotiations aimed at de-escalating the ongoing trade conflict between the two largest global economies. This development, announced Wednesday, after talks in London, built on a prior consensus from Geneva in May 2025. The deal represents a partial rollback of [...]

The recent 90-day tariff reprieve between the U.S. and China, announced last week, marks a significant but temporary easing of trade tensions that have deeply affected the lighting industry and many other industries reliant on Chinese imports. The agreement reduces tariffs on imports from China from an unprecedented 145% to 30%, and on U.S. goods [...]

By Derek Bobbitt and Geoff Ling, Merrimack Group The first 100 days of the new U.S. administration have been tumultuous to say the least. The tariff war has caused major disruption to supply chains, caused significant stock market volatility, and stoked fears of inflation and recession. For lighting business owners, this environment has introduced a [...]

President Trump’s unprecedented tariffs on Chinese imports, which have triggered a dramatic drop in shipments from China to the United States, cast a shadow of uncertainty over the U.S. economy. President Trump, fulfilling campaign promises, has radically altered decades of American trade policy by imposing broad and unpredictable tariffs. As of early April 2025, a [...]