Billionaire Condo Mogul Plans To Outmaneuver Trump’s Tariffs And Immigration Crackdown

Jorge Pérez, the 75-year-old billionaire behind South Florida’s luxury condo boom, is confronting headwinds from former friend President Donald Trump’s economic policies.

Now worth an estimated $2.6 billion, Pérez has built and managed over 100,000 housing units and sold more than $50 billion worth of property. I Photo: Related Group

Trump’s steep steel and aluminum tariffs — doubled to 50% on June 4 — are inflating construction costs and slowing development, Forbes Daily reported.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, housing permits in the Miami area have plunged 29% since the initial tariff announcements. Pérez’s firm, the Related Group, has warned that construction costs could spike by as much as 20%.

Trump’s immigration crackdown is another major concern. With immigrants making up roughly a quarter of all U.S. construction workers, labor shortages are hitting developers hard.

For Pérez, who was born in Argentina to Cuban parents and came to the U.S. at age 19, the stakes are personal as well as financial.

Now worth an estimated $2.6 billion, he has built and managed over 100,000 housing units and sold more than $50 billion worth of property. Still bullish, Pérez said: “We are part of the very lucky people that this country has allowed to make more money than I ever thought was possible.”