BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The economic outlook for Baton Rouge and Louisiana remains positive with significant investments driving growth, but tariffs could hinder progress, economist Dr. Loren Scott said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Louisiana Business Symposium, Scott highlighted more than $98 billion in ongoing construction projects across the state, with another $119.1 billion in the pipeline. These initiatives are expected to create thousands of jobs, many concentrated in Ascension Parish.

“One of the big ones is this sucker here, the Hyundai plant — 1,400 jobs coming into that area,” said Scott, president of Loren C. Scott & Associates Inc. “Ascension Parish is going gangbusters right now.”

However, Scott warned of inconsistencies in national economic policies, praising tax reforms a

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