How the SCOTUS Tariff Decision Could Impact Industrial CRE

The Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down many of the Trump administration’s tariffs has thrown another wrench into the planning of business leaders, who for months have been dealing with lingering uncertainty over the duties.

Leaders in the industrial sector have, for the most part, been carrying on with business as usual. While it’s too early to detail exactly what impact the Supreme Court’s decision will have—especially with the prospect of additional tariffs through other statutes still up in the air—experts who spoke to Commercial Property Executive remain largely bullish on the sector’s prospects.

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“What’s become clear since mid-2025 is that many industrial occupiers, particularly global corporates, are looking past short-term tariff noise and making longer-term strategic decisions driven by a much broader matrix of factors, of which trade policy is just one piece,” Lisa DeNight, managing director and head of North American Industrial Research at Newmark, told Commercial Property Executive.

DeNight added that while the uncertainty surrounding tariffs is likely to continue, the benefits from other factors, such as the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the prospect of lower inflation and interest rates, are likely to outweigh any uncertainty.

Joe Santaularia, executive vice president at Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services/CORFAC International, told CPE that the decision could help the industry move on from the “decision paralysis” brought on by tariffs. However, he added that any benefits might be delayed as the administration pursues tariffs in other ways.

The effect on manufacturing

And while there is some early evidence that manufacturing reshoring may have increased because of tariffs, the Supreme Court’s decision does not necessarily mean that domestic manufacturing growth will slow or reverse, according to Joshua Harris, executive director of the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Fordham University.

Reshoring had already been growing before the tariffs, Harris noted, due to many factors including the reaction to pandemic-related supply chain issues and other domestic policy incentives.

“If I can have more of my supply chain, more of my final goods, produced and stamped ‘Made in America,’ I’m probably going to look at that from a long-term standpoint,” Harris told CPE.

Anthony Graziano, CEO of Integra Realty Resources, noted that it is also important to consider the ways other countries have responded to American tariffs.

“U.S. manufacturing is less impacted by the U.S.-imposed tariffs and more heavily impacted by the reciprocal tariffs from other countries, which are inputs to U.S. manufacturing and which affect U.S. exports,” Graziano said.

The most notable outcome of the Supreme Court decision, according to Harris, may simply be the Court’s signal that it is not fully behind the president, and the new precedent that has been set.

Further tariffs, for example, might be struck down by lower courts as a result of the new precedent, leading to quicker resolutions that would be easier for business leaders to navigate.

“Trump is a known quantity,” Harris said. “The Supreme Court was an unknown quantity.”