US industry will see only slow growth

Driven by an excess of new capacity, the global chemical industry has endured a brutal downturn. Hardly a week goes by without word of petrochemical and even specialty chemical plant closures in Europe and Japan. Because of low energy costs in the US, chemical makers there haven’t been forced to shut much capacity, but that doesn’t mean their businesses are booming.The industry must contend with a US economy buffeted by many countervailing currents. Steep tariffs are crimping trade, unemployment has been inching up, and the broader industrial sector has been in a long slump. “High interest rates, higher prices for imported equipment and materials, and a highly uncertain economic landscape have curtailed or delayed investments,” the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a trade group, notes in its recent outlook report.On the other hand, business investment has gotten a push from the buildup of data centers to power artificial intelligence. “Business investment has also been a tale of two segments—AI and non-AI,” the ACC report says.And stocks, driven largely by the artificial intelligence boom, have been soaring. Higher-income individuals feel even richer and have been propping up consumer spending. According to Cox Automotive, 2025 was the strongest year for the US auto industry since 2019, with 16.3 million new vehicle sales. But the market research firm expects sales to decline to 15.8 million this year. “Factors such as slower economic growth, less job creation, and the lack of [electric vehicle] tax incentives are expected to affect vehicle sales in the year ahead,” Cox