Revolutionary Communists reject Trump’s tariff threats

The Revolutionary Communists of America reject Trump’s cynical efforts to make the workers of the world pay for the crisis of American capitalism. Like a crazed wizard, the president imagines that by waving the menacing wand of tariffs, the rest of the world will fall into line, and the insoluble contradictions of his system will be magically resolved.

[Originally published at communistusa.org]

However, after promising 200 “amazing” trade deals, he has negotiated only three, was forced to extend his hard deadline, and has issued significant exemptions to avoid an all-out economic catastrophe. Far from trembling, US imperialism’s rivals are circling the wagons, and the world’s masses are indignant at the blatant imperialist bullying that menaces their livelihoods and futures.

In the latest example of arrogant grandstanding, Trump has promised 50% tariffs against Brazil, citing the ongoing legal proceedings against its former president, Jair Bolsonaro. Along with an ongoing dispute over media technology rights, this is certainly one of the reasons for his strongarm tactics. There is however, an even more important reason: Latin America’s largest economy has strengthened its economic ties with China in recent years and is an integral member of the BRICS.

Unnerved by rising Chinese and Russian imperialism and the emergence of BRICS, Trump is lashing out with politically motivated threats of intensified economic war. After floating 100% tariffs on BRICS countries, if they move forward with a currency alternative to the US dollar, he now threatens them with 10% tariffs across the board.

Unnerved by rising Chinese and Russian imperialism and the emergence of BRICS, Trump is lashing out with politically motivated threats of intensified economic war / Image: Kremlin.ru, Wikimedia Commons

Trump understands the danger: “BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar and take our dollar … take it off as the standard.” As he put it, losing the US dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency would be like “losing a war, a major world war. We would not be the same country any longer.”

All of this has enormous implications for the situation here at home. The relatively high quality of life enjoyed by US workers in the decades following World War II was predicated on the US’s global dominance. Now that that epoch has ended, there will be even fewer crumbs for the workers, and the result will be an intensification of the class struggle.

As we have explained on many occasions, tariffs will not bring back millions of jobs or “Make America Great Again.” The decline in American manufacturing ultimately stems from automation, financialization, and capitalism’s drive to maximize profits, which ultimately drives trade policies. Trump’s economic nationalism offers no real solutions to the systemic problems facing American workers.

American workers have nothing to gain from his efforts to pit workers from one country against workers from another. Labor leaders supporting Trump’s tariffs are mistakenly embracing a nationalist approach that fails to address the fundamental class issues facing workers around the globe.

The path forward lies in organizing workers across borders to confront the world capitalist system that exploits all workers, regardless of nationality. Only through united class struggle, not tariffs, can the working class defeat those who exploit and oppress us. The solution is not trade wars between nations, but a class war between classes.

Workers of the world, unite!