PUBLISHED WEEKLY · THURSDAY
Long Read
Sustained analysis of the business, civic, and workforce forces shaping California's Inland corridor.
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Recent Long Reads
For Fontana's steel firms, the tariff question isn't whether they import metal — it's where they sit in the chain
Citrus Belt Review: Washington just softened a few finished-goods tariffs, but the force that actually moves IE metal companies is the 50% tax on raw steel and aluminum — and it splits local firms into winners and losers depending on whether they make metal or buy it.
The Inland Empire runs on diesel, and diesel just became its biggest exposure
Citrus Belt Review: At ~$7.17 a gallon, IE diesel runs about $2 above the national average — a direct input cost to the region's dominant industry. The logistics economy that the I-10/I-15/SR-60 corridor was built on now carries a fuel penalty the rest of the country doesn't share.
Europe Tightens, the US Loosens, and the Inland Empire Stays a Hallway
The EU's new Industrial Accelerator Act is the next chapter in bloc-aligned manufacturing. The IE missed the last chapter, and current trends suggest it will miss this one too.