United States

Over the weekend of June 6, Los Angeles was subject to a coordinated series of raids by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Militarized federal agents armed with assault rifles and teargas grenade launchers were assisted by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Dozens of officers descended on workplaces in immigrant-dense working-class neighborhoods in downtown and East Los Angeles, arresting at least 44 people.

460 communists gathered in Philadelphia on May 31 and June 1, 2025, for the Second National Congress of the Revolutionary Communists of America. Delegates from 33 cities were present, with visitors from several dozen more. Every major region of the United States was represented, from Seattle to Atlanta, New York to Los Angeles, Chicago to Dallas. The Congress was also thrilled to have guests from Canada and Quebec, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, as well as the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International in London.

In February, the Trump administration announced the “Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.” Its supposed goal is “to root out antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.” In reality, it’s nothing but a smokescreen for attacks on democratic rights and cuts to education funding.

On 12 May, little more than a month after Trump launched massive tariffs on China on 2 April, a ceasefire in the US-China trade war was declared. The crippling tariffs, which effectively meant each country’s economy was sealed off from the other, have now been paused for 90 days.

Elias Rodriguez has been charged with murdering two low-level Israeli embassy staffers in an apparent act of protest in solidarity with Palestine. Already, the imperialists and their media have cynically used this to justify their support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza and their anti-democratic attacks on the pro-Palestine movement.

The global trade war launched by Trump has already resolved into one between the two dominant actors of the world economy, the US and China. The question is posed: who holds the cards? Who will blink first? This question determines the fate of the world economy.

After a week of market mayhem, Trump decided that retreat was the better part of valour and paused his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. Yet, the trade war is still very much in full swing, and the markets are jittery.

The financial markets are reeling from Trump’s tariff announcement yesterday. The confidence of the collective capitalist class has received a body blow as Trump imposes the highest tariffs since the 19th century.

Image: Own work

A spectre is haunting Europe. This horrible phenomenon has appeared suddenly, as if by some kind of black magic, conjured up from the darkest pit of hell by a malevolent devil, to plague and torment the good people of the Earth, to disturb their rest and people their worst nightmares.

On March 8, ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and pro-Palestine activist. Thugs dragged him off in front of his wife, who is eight months pregnant, and transferred him to a detention center in Louisiana where he was initially prevented from speaking to his lawyer in private. Khalil holds a green card, legally entitling him to live and work in the US, as well as the right to “be protected by all laws of the United States, your state of residence, and local jurisdictions.” Nonetheless, the Trump administration seeks to deport him for the “crime” of exercising his First Amendment right to oppose Israeli and American imperialism.

We publish below a joint statement by the US, Canadian and Mexican sections of the Revolutionary Communist International, explaining the need for internationalism and workers’ unity in response to the Trump administration's recent tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

The burgeoning U.S.-Canada trade war has become the central question in Canadian politics. Whichever way this situation plays out, the relationship between the two countries is irreparably changed. This will have far reaching consequences for the economy, politics and the class struggle.

The Chinese have an old saying: the greatest misfortune that can befall a man is to live in interesting times. The truth of that ancient wisdom has now suddenly dawned on the rulers of the western world.