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This spring, President Donald Trump began to follow through on his campaign promise of implementing tariffs. Despite eventually pausing many of them — including on China — the U.S. has its highest tariff levels in over a century, including on Mexico and Canada.
Trump reasons that tariffs are a solution to decades of the U.S. getting ripped off by allies and foes alike. They’re a measure to rebuild U.S. manufacturing and bring more investment into the country, according to the administration. Of course, this won’t happen — the United States will not return to an imagined utopian past of high-paying domestic manufacturing jobs, and any industries that do return would be fueled by exploiting U.S. workers. As we have explained previously: As we have previously written, “What all corporations want is cheap labor, and they don’t really care if it’s American, Mexican, or Vietnamese.”
So, what are Trump’s tariffs actually about?
We need to place these measures in the broader context of declining U.S. power, particularly in the country’s rivalry with China. Put simply, Trump is attempting to use tariffs to reorient the world economy back to the United States, imposing U.S. imperialist interests and strong-arming its neighbors. The Trump administration is already claiming some success on these fronts, alleging (without evidence) that it has already negotiated many deals.
Domestically, Trump’s tariffs are also an attempt to throw some crumbs to the U.S. working class by promising jobs and economic growth. On this front, the president is getting some help from labor leaders — like the United Auto Workers president, Shawn Fain, who has repeatedly spoken out in favor of tariffs.
But Trump’s tariffs will do nothing for either U.S. or international workers. Decades of free trade and neoliberal attacks on the working class have been hugely destructive globally, but protectionist policies like tariffs are not a solution. In fact, these policies are likely to further drive a wedge between workers and weaken international solidarity.
On today’s episode, we interview Jason Koslowski, a college professor and rank-and-file union member in Philadelphia. We discuss Trump’s motivations, and the economic and historical circumstances that have led to this point. We place the current tariffs into the context of previous U.S. administrations; in particular, both the Obama and Biden administrations’ pivot to China.
Importantly, we also discuss how we should approach this situation as leftists. After all, the working class paid the price for neoliberalism, and we will also pay the price for tariffs and protectionism.
If we organize from below, if we unite the labor movements with the social movements and student movement, if we organize with our international class siblings — who are not our enemies, regardless of what capitalist politicians or labor leaders may say — we hold the cards. We have the power to not only stop Trump and the Far Right, but to fight for an independent perspective and a different system.
Listen to the episode on Spotify on Apple Podcasts.
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