(Article was current at the time of writing. Since then, the US government has dramatically increased tariffs on imported goods from China, and China has increased tariffs on imported goods from the US.) 

13-04-2025: US President Donald Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” triggered immediate stock market slumps across Asia, Europe and America itself.[1] These markets may stabilise in weeks to come, but international turbulence will follow, given the sweeping nature of the imposed tariffs, effectively ending 50 years of “free trade”. Trump’s tariffs will include a likely 54% on products from China, 46% on Vietnam, 27% on India, 37% on Bangladesh, 36% on Thailand, 20% on the European Union (EU) and 10% on the United Kingdom.[2] There is a blanket 25% tariff on Canadian goods, and 25% on all steel and aluminum entering the US, which will affect Australian steel and aluminum exports. Russia, Belarus, Cuba and the DPRK (“North Korea”) have not been hit with tariffs – but these nations viewed as adversaries to the USA are instead still subject to heavy sanctions. The tariffs will likely spark a trade war, further increase international tensions, and may trigger a global recession.

Targeting the PRC

The US ruling class appears to be trying to burn down the house in order to rule over a pile of ashes. Trump and his elite backers are aware that this could cause a major recession in the US itself, with inflation and the cost of living increasing yet again to levels of significant pain for working people. They are seemingly not concerned that most countries internationally, including strong “allies” will be hit hard economically at a time when most of them are already struggling. Another way at looking at the course of the Trump administration is that they are battening down the hatches on their ship and are preparing to ram all other ships hoping that they will sustain the least worst damage, and will not sink entirely. There is little to no chance that the tariffs will re-start production or manufacturing in the US, as there will be no government intervention in the economy to build infrastructure, no extra credit for the expansion of basic industry, or investment in technical and science linked education.

There is little doubt that a major target of the US launched trade wars is the giant People’s Republic of China (PRC), which is now the world’s only manufacturing superpower. The PRC immediately struck back at the Trump Administration with a 34% tariff on all US goods as well as export restrictions on certain rare earth minerals.[3] Some of these rare earths – which include dysprosium, gadolinium, lutetium, samarium, terbium and yttrium – are critical for military and technology applications. Explanations of how the PRC became the world’s only manufacturing superpower usually focus on elements such as a large labour force, favourable infrastructure and integration into global supply chains.[4] Yet this is only scratching the surface. The PRC has risen to the status of a superpower on the back of nationalised land, public ownership of the major and strategic means of production and a planned economy – all fruits of its 1949 socialist revolution. And that is not all. The PRC now anchors the non-imperialist BRICS alliance, which now comprises 10 full members and 9 partner states. The BRICS bloc is an alternative economic and trading system, which now represents 54.6% of the world’s population and a stunning 42.2% of global gross domestic product (GDP) when measured in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).[5] If there is one reason for Trump’s trade war, this is it.

West in decline, East on the rise

Working people internationally should be clear – the dramatic decline of the West is the stumbling of a capitalism on its last legs. Conversely, the rise of the PRC is the rise of a socialistic giant which is far surpassing the former colonial powers. The ruling classes of the West can see that there is no chance that they will catch up to the PRC unless they can tear it down along with its allies. The BRICS bloc now has Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as full members, and Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan as partner nations. There are many more countries in the “Global South” who are applying to join. As yet, the BRICS bloc is an alternative economic and trading alliance, but it is inevitably heading in the direction of offering a political, cultural and even sporting alternative. The atrophy of capitalism in the West in an economic sense brings with it a corresponding political and cultural ruin. The BRICS bloc, on the other hand, is travelling on another highway.

The Trump Administration is sparking a trade war as one response to the failing efforts to ignite a world war, despite the slogan of “peace through strength”. In reality, the plan was likely to be a division of labour for the EU to continue to threaten Russia via Ukraine, while the US prepares for a war in the Pacific on Red China. At the same time, the US ruling class has desperately aimed for a regime change war on Iran for the last 40 years but has been unable to launch one. Iran today is far stronger than it has been since its 1979 revolution and has Russia and China as firm allies. Despite Trump and Elon Musk nobbling the USAID (US Agency for International Development) and the NED (National Endowment for Democracy), the CIA continues its work in fostering colour revolutions the world over. Trump has given the green light for the Israeli state to resume its massacres in Palestine, while bombing Yemen as a proxy for the strikes on Iran they desire but do not dare.

In the West, the cost-of-living crisis is out of control, most notably since the fraudulent “Covid” lockdowns began – which was arguably their purpose. Many workers with full-time work and/or relatively high wages are struggling with the outrageous costs of housing, food, rent, services and basically everything. Young people are facing a future where they may never own a modest house and will spend decades paying off an education – if they can find work which aligns with what they have studied. Where people have work, the underpayment of wages and unpaid overtime is rampant, limiting the time people can spend with their families or taking part in their local community.

Socialists must explain to workers that trade wars, kinetic wars and the skyrocketing cost-of-living crisis are linked to one source – the capitalist system where everything is subordinated to maintaining the private profits of billionaires at literally any cost. The PRC operates on a different basis, which is why it offers its workers an expanding economy, jobs and improving living standards. At the same time, the political leadership of the PRC is inward looking, and does not seek revolutionary change internationally. A real leadership would tactically orient working people towards the BRICS alternative while politically preparing Marxist vanguard parties to drive towards socialist revolutions in the West, and proletarian political revolutions in the East. Workers have nothing to lose but their chains.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] www.abcnews.go.com/Business/stock-markets-tumble-response-trumps-sweeping-tariffs/story (09-04-2025)

[2] www.theweek.com/business/economy/trump-tariffs-five-scenarios-for-the-worlds-economy (09-04-2025)

[3] www.mining-technology.com/news/china-retaliatory-tariff-us/ (09-04-2025)

[4] www.chinesemfg.com/how-china-became-the-worlds-manufacturing-hub/ (09-04-2025)

[5] www.geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/01/19/brics-expands-population-nigeria-africa/ (09-04-2025)

Image: http://www.theweek.com