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Trade

The Black Swan: Why The Age Of Tariffs Is Sunsetting

April 14, 2025 Jeremy Rifkin, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Unlike physical goods produced by global companies and subject to tariffs in world trade, global companies and high tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) utilizing AI directed 3D printing/additive manufacturing can share digital software files for their product lines with local distributors at near zero marginal cost around the world. Distributors can then print out the items and deliver them to consumers without paying tariffs. And that changes everything. On April 2nd, the White House announced that the administration will issue a reciprocal tariff “number” to various nations that the US argues “represents their tariffs” obligation, in what’s shaping up as the great geopolitical tariff war of the 21st century.

Tariff Blackmail Cannot Intimidate China

April 9, 2025 Friends of Socialist China. , , , ,
On Saturday 5 April, the Chinese government set out its position opposing the US’s unilateral imposition of tariffs on all its trading partners, including China. The statement correctly noted that these tariffs are in clear breach of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, and threaten to seriously disrupt the global economy. “Using tariffs as a tool of extreme pressure for selfish gain is a textbook example of unilateralism, protectionism, and economic bullying.” It’s clear that China is the main target of the US’s tariff blackmail, which is being used to undermine China’s growth, to force China to accept the US’s terms of trade, to bully other countries into siding with the US against China, and to punish China for its success in building a modern economy and its refusal to bow down to US hegemony.

Over 4,000 Factory Workers Laid Off As Tariffs Spark Economic Chaos

April 9, 2025 Alexis Sterling, NationofChange. , , , , ,
More than 4,000 American manufacturing workers lost their jobs this week, the latest evidence of mounting economic instability tied to former President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Congressman Ro Khanna and labor leaders are raising urgent concerns as layoffs sweep across the industrial sector, hitting plants in more than a dozen states and leaving thousands of union workers without employment or clear prospects. Automaker Stellantis announced Thursday that it would temporarily lay off 900 workers in the United States due to production disruptions at its Canadian and Mexican facilities—disruptions directly linked to recently announced tariffs.

Nicaragua’s Opposition Media Welcome Trump’s New Tariffs

April 7, 2025 John Perry, Popular Resistance. , , , ,
Five countries in Central America, together with the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, have a free trade agreement with Washington, but this didn’t protect them from the punitive tariffs announced on President Trump’s “Liberation Day.” A minimum 10 per cent tariff on exports to the US will hit low-income countries throughout the region. But exports from Nicaragua have been saddled with an even higher tariff of 18 per cent. Delighted opponents of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government have blamed it, rather than Trump, for the country receiving this additional penalty. However, simple examination of the figures shows that Nicaragua’s tariff was calculated in the same way as every other country’s.

This Is Why Trump’s Tariffs Will Fail

April 5, 2025 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. , , , , , , , , ,
In his first term as president of the United States, Donald Trump launched a trade war against China. In his second term, he has expanded that trade war to many countries around the world. In a ceremony outside the White House on April 2, which the US president dubbed “Liberation Day”, Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on dozens of countries, including high taxes on imports from top US trading partners: 54% on China, 46% on Vietnam, 25% on South Korea, 24% on Japan, and 20% on the European Union. Trump falsely claimed that these tariffs were “reciprocal”, but they were actually unilateral.

Trump Takes Aim At Globalization On ‘Liberation Day’

April 3, 2025 Jimena Vergara, Left Voice. , , ,
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced that the United States will impose a 10 percent tariff on all imports and additional, much higher rates for specific nations, in what he called “Liberation Day” for U.S. trade policy.  The universal baseline tariff will begin on April 5 and the added penalties will take effect by April 9. The countries being specifically targeted for being “unfair trade partners” are China (which is being hit with a 34 percent tariff), Japan (24 percent), and the nations included in the European Union (20 percent). There is increasing fear among sectors of the American ruling class and some think tanks that Trump’s tariffs are fueling geopolitical shifts and further jeopardizing U.S. hegemony.

Setting The Pace In Auto: Thinking Bigger Than Tariffs

March 31, 2025 Andrew Elrod, Labor Notes. , , , , , ,
President Donald Trump’s infatuation with tariffs dates back to the 1980s, when he first said tariff was “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” On March 26 he announced “a 25 percent tariff on all cars not made in the U.S.,” but exempted auto parts that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the successor to NAFTA. For those parts, and for the 25 percent of U.S.-sold vehicles that are assembled in Mexico and Canada, the tariffs will be applied partially at an undisclosed date to only the non-U.S. part of the vehicle’s value. Essentially, auto manufacturing is already so integrated across North America that the administration has left carve-outs for Mexico and Canada.

Trump Has Ignited A Wave Of Economic Defiance In Canada

March 26, 2025 Aparajita Ghosh, Waging Nonviolence. , , , ,
The relationship between Canada and the United States, once a symbol of economic interdependence and diplomatic cooperation, now stands at a crossroads. The recent imposition of sweeping 25 percent tariffs on Canadian exports by U.S. President Donald Trump has ignited a wave of resistance in Canada. But beyond the sharp exchanges of political rhetoric and retaliatory measures, a quieter but resolute movement is emerging — one that is reshaping Canadian consumer behavior, business practices and national identity. In response, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swiftly retaliated with tariffs on $20.8 billion worth of American goods, signaling a sharp departure from Canada’s traditionally measured approach to trade disputes.

International Solidarity Is The Union Answer To Tariffs And Deportations

February 25, 2025 Jeffrey Hermanson, Labor Notes. , , , ,
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has recently expressed the UAW’s readiness to “work with Trump on trade.” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke on a podcast against “illegal immigrants that come into our country to commit crimes and steal jobs.” But based on my experience, in the long run, international solidarity is the only way we can build working-class power. Demagogues like Trump have often exploited the protectionist and anti-immigrant sentiments that have been widespread in American labor for generations. A working class that is divided, both within the U.S. and across North America, is easier to exploit. Corporations have greatly profited from our divisions over the three decades since NAFTA was enacted.

Trump’s Threats Expose Canada’s Utter Dependency On The US

February 16, 2025 Adam D.K. King, Portside. , , , , ,
United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Canada are understandably causing much consternation and debate. Some business leaders are forecasting dire warnings, union officials are calling for retaliation and relief while also sidling up with their corporate counterparts to present a united front. But these developments are about much more than tariffs. Trump’s tariff plan exposes the perils of Canada’s dependency on the US and the price of integration within the American Empire. To discuss these issues, last week I sat down with Sam Gindin. For more than 25 years, Sam was research director of the Canadian Auto Workers union.

Trump Escalates Trade War With 25% Tariffs On Steel And Aluminum

February 15, 2025 Masao Suzuki, Fight Back! News. , , , , ,
San José, CA – On Monday, February 10, President Trump signed an executive order raising tariffs, or taxes on imports, to 25% on steel and aluminum. The tariffs are to start on March 4. While his first round of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China was based on a “national emergency” of refugees and drugs coming into the country, the latest tariff order used a “national security” rationale. They are seen as less likely to be suspended as the first round was. Trump says that these tariffs will create jobs and expand manufacturing, but in fact they raise prices and cause overall job losses in manufacturing.

Should Canada Be Ready To Switch Sides?

February 15, 2025 Jen St. Denis, The Tyee. , , , ,
Jeff Rubin is the former chief economist for CIBC World Markets and is the bestselling author of a number of popular economics books that have tried to explain how the world is changing and departing from the norms of the 20th century to a more unsettled era of scarcity, inequality, natural disasters and war. His previous books have warned about the end of cheap oil and explained how the middle class “got screwed” by globalization. Rubin’s latest book is called The Map of the New Normal: How Inflation, War, and Sanctions Will Change Your World Forever, and it tackles the rapid inflation that hit economies across the globe in the wake of pandemic measures.

Trump’s Tariff Threats Could Destabilize The Global Economy

January 26, 2025 Michael Hudson, Geopolitical Economy. , , , , , , , , ,
Trump told the Davos Economic Forum January 23: “My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth.” Otherwise, if they continue to try and produce at home or in other countries, their products will be charged tariff rates at Trump’s threatened 20%. To Germany this means (my paraphrase): “Sorry your energy prices have quadrupled. Come to America and get them at almost as low a price as you were paying Russia before your elected leaders let us cut Nord Stream off.”

What Could Workers Win In A New NAFTA?

January 25, 2025 Natascha Elena Uhlmann, Labor Notes. , , , , , ,
In his nine years in the auto industry, Ben Hinsey has seen a lot of misplaced blame. The threat of job cuts is always looming. In fact, Hinsey transferred into his current job at the Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, when his previous one at the Chrysler Toledo Machining Plant evaporated in a 2017 wave of layoffs. He now installs instrument panels and serves as a float, moving from job to job to cover absences. Hundreds of thousands of auto jobs have disappeared from the U.S. since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 and its successor, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), often known as NAFTA 2.0.

Our World Is Not For Sale: 25 Years Of Fighting The WTO

December 1, 2024 David Solnit and Deborah James, Common Dreams. , , , , ,
25 years ago, for the six months leading up to the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle in 1999, I met Deborah in organizing meetings to prepare. Today, while many of us continue our efforts for a better world in many different places and movements, for 25 years Deborah has remained in constant combat with the WTO, together with global movements as part of the Our World is Not for Sale network. I asked if they could share insights on the impacts of the Seattle WTO confrontation and the current threat of the WTO–including obstruction of the needed transition off fossil fuels and the growing domination of Big Tech.
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