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Trade

China-Celac Forum Brings Latin America And China Together

Ten years after its creation, the China-CELAC Forum has consolidated its position as one of the most relevant platforms for dialogue between Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. “The platform has strengthened cooperation between CELAC members and China, based on sovereign equality, mutual respect, plurality, and shared benefits,” states the meeting’s final joint declaration. Under the theme “Planning development and revitalization together, jointly building a China-LAC community with a shared future,” the meeting brought together representatives from more than 30 countries and leaders such as Xi Jinping (China), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), and Gabriel Boric (Chile).

War By Other Means: Trump’s Tariffs And The Empire’s Final Gamble

Over the past two weeks, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the global economy by announcing sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries. This abrupt move sent stock markets in the US and abroad into a tailspin, forcing the administration to quickly backpedal. In a hasty retreat, Trump revised the policy to impose a lower, across-the-board 10% tariff (25% for aluminium and steel), while simultaneously singling out China with a staggering 145% tariff on all imports from the country, one of the most extreme trade measures in modern history—though some categories were subsequently exempted.

Trump’s Tariffs Hurt The United States Much More Than China

Why has US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on countries all around the world? And in particular, why is Trump waging a trade war on China? What are his real goals? Well, to try to answer these questions, I spoke with the economist Michael Hudson, who is the author of many books, and who just published the new report “Return of the robber barons: Trump’s distorted view of US tariff history“. Michael Hudson outlined the history of the use of tariffs in the United States and in other countries, and he explained how Trump is using tariffs as a weapon of class war, to benefit the rich at the expense of the vast majority of the population, and also how Trump is trying to reshape the global financial system, in order to benefit the United States at the expense of everyone else.

How Eco-Localism Differs From Tariff Terrorism

Trade makes many folks materially better off by enabling a local abundance of resources or skills to be shared across a wider area. However, increased trade often worsens economic inequality and depletes and pollutes the environment faster than would otherwise happen. Therefore, eco-localists see trade as a mixed benefit whose unintended negative impacts must be carefully managed. Globalization of trade raises the stakes of both benefits and risks. On the risk side of the ledger, taken to the extreme, it leads to a world in which everything is for sale, all resources are depleted, pollution is everywhere, labor is exploited to the maximum degree, and everything is owned by a tiny number of super-rich investors and entrepreneurs.

Trade War And Austerity: The Final Stages Of US Capitalism

The Trump administration is imposing tariffs on a growing list of countries in a desperate effort to find leverage for protecting US interests abroad and to ostensibly re-industrialize the United States. Clearing the FOG speaks with Jon Jeter, author of "Class War in America: How the elites divide the nation by asking are you a worker or are you white?", about the motives behind the trade war and how this may impact both the global and domestic economies. Jeter explains that the United States is entering uncharted territory as it increasingly isolates itself from the rest of the world and hurtles toward another Great Depression. For the first time, the US may experience a situation in which the shelves are empty and families are unable to afford what is left.

The Black Swan: Why The Age Of Tariffs Is Sunsetting

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

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

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

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

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’

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

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

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

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

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.

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