April 7, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French
On Wednesday, April 2—it would have seemed like an April Fool’s joke the day before—Trump announced an increase in U.S. customs duties. An economic war has been declared, risking nothing less than a global economic crisis.
American Imperialism on the Offensive
These tariffs will raise the price of most goods by anywhere from 10% to 50%, depending on the country. Automobiles face a minimum 25% tariff, regardless of origin. Chinese products already taxed at 20% will be hit with an additional 34 percentage points, bringing the total to 54%!
To justify this return to tariff levels unheard of in over a century, Trump portrays the U.S. as a victim of free trade – the very system his predecessors championed to secure U.S. dominance over the global economy.
According to him, these new tariffs are merely a “nicer” response to supposedly higher foreign duties. But this is a blatant lie, one that comes with an open threat to raise tariffs even further. And yet, many countries seem ready to negotiate with the head of the world’s leading power.
Their Economic War… On Our Backs!
Some are ready to strike back, blow for blow, tax for tax. Not so much in Europe, where [French President] Macron plays the ringleader but mostly just blows smoke in a tired, repetitive comedy, but more so in China, which has announced a 34% retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods. Whether countries retaliate or not, exports turned away from the U.S. will seek new markets elsewhere. That could, in turn, lead to new tariffs from those countries, too.
The prospect of a global customs war sent major stock markets into an immediate plunge. The capitalists are clearly worried, but workers have no reason to celebrate either. In the U.S., inflation is the first threat. Foreign companies won’t sacrifice profits at the border: they’ll simply raise their prices. And tomorrow, it could be jobs that take the hit. In Detroit, the heart of the U.S. auto industry, workers are already anxious about new tariffs on aluminum chassis from Canada, just across the border. If production costs rise, so will car prices. And if no one can afford the cars, jobs will be the next to go.
Reindustrialization: A Fool’s Game
Trump plays down the threat. These “disruptions,” he says, are just a rough patch to get through before the juicy U.S. market lures factories back to the U.S. Just like in France, where everyone from the left to the far right talks about reindustrialization. But no one is actually doing it.
With or without tariffs, what attracts capitalists is the chance to make a profit by exploiting workers. And whether they’re protectionist or pro–free trade, all capitalist leaders—from Macron to [French extreme right-wing leaders] Le Pen and Bardella—agree on one thing: making it easier to exploit labor.
No Borders between Workers!
Many unions, both here and abroad, are giving in to the siren‘s song of protectionism. As if a state controlled by bosses could ever do anything but help them exploit us! Free trade and customs barriers are just two sides of the same capitalist coin.
Tariffs won’t protect us from low wages or layoffs any more than will closing our borders to immigrants. Our enemies aren’t workers from other countries. On the contrary, it’s only by fighting side by side against our common exploiters that we can turn this upside-down world on its head.
