This year, the giant paradigm-shifting global event is President Donald Trump’s trade war with practically every country in the world. This, of course, is having very tangible impacts in Central Massachusetts.
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As a business journal focused solely on the Central Massachusetts economy, Worcester Business Journal typically doesn’t cover national news. Other publications like Wall Street Journal and Business Insider cover national news from a business angle much more comprehensively, so we concentrate our coverage on news happening within the borders of our business community.
Of course, there are exemptions, especially if national or international news is so wide-ranging that tangible impacts are felt in WBJ’s coverage area. The best (and worst) example of this is the COVID pandemic, which upended so many norms and ways of conducting business, practically every feature article WBJ wrote from 2020-2022 mentioned the pandemic in some capacity. Heck, even a couple of articles in this edition still reference COVID.
This year, the giant paradigm-shifting global event is President Donald Trump’s trade war with practically every country in the world. This, of course, is having very tangible impacts in Central Massachusetts, from what consumers are seeing on the shelves and how much they are paying, to the fallout on businesses' operations and how they are adjusting (or not). The problem WBJ has encountered in covering the tariffs in any meaningful way since Trump took office is the tariff policy seems to change by the day. It’s difficult to understand tariffs’ impact locally when the policies shift so suddenly nationally.
WBJ Managing Editor Eric Casey makes our first significant examination of tariffs in this edition, by focusing on how manufacturers are navigating the chaos in his “Embracing uncertainty” story. The business advice is surprisingly straightforward and similar to what to do during all times of change: save your cash, hold off on major expenditures, shore up your supply chains, and advocate for yourself.
It’s a rapidly changing world, and part of WBJ’s role is to help our audience better understand that change and find room to succeed. It’s never going to be easy, but we remain firmly committed to this principle.
Brad Kane is the editor of the Worcester Business Journal.
