By Rodger Morrow
Editor & Publisher, Beaver County Business
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Reports of Donald Trump’s demise sparked a media kerfuffle this past weekend, but—like Mark Twain before him—he was alive enough to insist “the rumors were greatly exaggerated.” By Monday morning, the former McDonald’s employee was back at his new gig, J.D. Vance at his side, promising prosperity in quantities so large you’d need a garbage truck to haul it home.
Once again, Beaver County has been assured our comeback—like the President’s—is imminent. All it will take, we’re told, is a bonfire of regulations, tariffs tall enough to be seen from Tiananmen Square, and tax cuts so permanent they’ll outlast the pyramids. Not to mention a tsunami of infrastructure investment.
Energy: Frack, Crack, and Glow
Trump’s first big order—“Unleashing American Energy”—frees up gas drilling, sidelines renewables, and gives nuclear power a pep talk worthy of a high school football coach. That matters here.
The Shell cracker in Potter Township inhales Marcellus Shale gas like a teenager discovering leftover pierogies at midnight. Easier drilling could steady production and— miracle of miracles—turn those ribbon-cutting promises into steady jobs. (And who knows? It may even change Shell’s mind about a possible sale.)
The Beaver Valley Power Station, with its thousand paychecks, also gets new life. Nuclear, once written off as passé, suddenly has a second act.
And if the promised infrastructure spending materializes—roads, bridges, pipelines, rail links—it could mean more than energy projects simply humming along. It could mean construction crews, material suppliers, and skilled trades finally seeing the kind of long- term work that outlasts an election cycle.
Of course, natural gas swings like Kennywood’s Pirate Ship, and nuclear is safe until some committee decides it isn’t. But at least the current rules lean in our favor. For a county that’s long been stuck with the wrong end of energy policy, that’s progress.
Tariffs: Walls Around Aliquippa
On trade, Trump has gone full bricklayer: 10% on imports across the board, 60% on China, 50% on steel and aluminum. In Aliquippa, it sounded like resurrection Sunday. Eaton, Veka, Mitsubishi Electric—all stand to benefit from foreign competition being told to wait outside the gate.
Yes, tariffs make equipment pricier and back-to-school shopping feel like Saks Fifth Avenue. And economists do love predicting a six-percent haircut for the national GDP. But Beaver County lives closer to the shop floor than the seminar room. If a few tariffs keep the mill humming, most folks here will count it a win.
Taxes: One Big Beautiful Deficit
Trump calls his latest tax package the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which is probably how he refers to any piece of paper he happens to sign. But in fairness, it keeps individual and corporate rates low, while raising standard deductions.
For local employers, that could mean money freed up for expansions—Mitsubishi in New Galilee, Eaton in Vanport, or even Shell, if it can stop tripping over its own pipelines. The fine print, of course, is that the top one percent pockets $1 trillion, while deficits balloon by $4 or $5 trillion. But deficits are like the weather in Washington—everyone complains, and nobody ever seems to fix it.
Immigration: The Wild Card
Then there’s immigration—the joker in the policy deck. Trump has promised tighter enforcement and fewer non-citizens competing for jobs. In theory, that could change the math in places like Beaver County, where whole sectors—warehousing along the Route 18 corridor, logistics jobs tied to Shell, construction crews on new housing and commercial projects, even the kitchen and cleaning staff at hotels—often lean on lower-wage immigrant labor.
If those workers become scarcer, local employers will face a choice: raise wages, improve conditions, or risk leaving shifts unfilled. For Beaver Countians who’ve long watched opportunities bypass them, this could mean a sudden advantage in bargaining power— whether in a union shop or at a non-union warehouse.
The risk, of course, is higher costs and project delays if labor tightens too much. But for workers looking to get back into trades or land steady pay in logistics, Trump’s enforcement push could open doors that have felt closed for years.
The Bottom Line
So where does that leave us?
- Energy: More drilling, cheaper gas, nuclear given a lifeline, infrastructure jobs on the way.
- Tariffs: Factories shielded, consumers not so much.
- Taxes: Incentives for business, deficits politely ignored.
- Immigration: More bargaining power for local workers in construction, warehousing, and service jobs.
Beaver Countians are a cynical lot. We know the gap between campaign bravado and paycheck reality. Yet, for once, some of these policies might actually tilt our way. If even part of the promised infrastructure boom arrives, it could mean jobs, paychecks, and a county economy that starts moving forward instead of sideways.
In a place where politicians accessorize their yellow ties and Brioni suits with hard hats, prosperity is perpetually “just around the corner.” This time, however, one politician looks to be driving a truck laden with jobs, not garbage.
