Optimism Continues As Calendar Flips to 2025
Massachusetts employers remained optimistic as the calendar flipped to 2025 and President Donald Trump took over in the Oval Office, though the specter of major tariffs might change their outlook, according to a regional business group.
The latest business confidence index from the Associated Industries of Massachusetts rose two-tenths of a point to 55.6 in January, remaining for the seventh straight month well above the 50-point line that divides pessimistic territory from optimistic territory.
AIM noted that its survey took place before the Trump administration announced — and then postponed — plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on almost all goods traded with Canada and Mexico. In a follow-up survey after that news emerged, Bay State businesses “expressed concerns” about the chance of tariffs, AIM said.
“In the design and construction industry we are very concerned about the pending tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, and how they will impact already high construction costs,” one company wrote, according to AIM.
AIM has voiced concerns about wide-reaching tariffs. Its CEO, Brooke Thomson, said late last month that the “combination of increased prices for key commodities like energy with potential retaliation by important export markets is counterproductive to our collaborative efforts to expand the Massachusetts economy.”
Trump on Sunday signaled new plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Among constituent indexes that contribute to the business conference index, the confidence level employers maintain in their own operations gained 1.9 points to 57.3, 2.8 points better than in January 2024. The index assessing business conditions in Massachusetts lost 1.9 points to 53.1, or 0.9 point lower than a year earlier.
