The decision of the Trump administration to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, among others, has caused a major political shock. It is important for revolutionary communists to explain what is behind this decision and to adopt a position based on the defense of the interests of the working class.
In Canada, bourgeois politicians and business leaders have called on the whole of the population to rally behind “Team Canada” and have announced retaliatory tariffs. In Mexico, the government of Claudia Sheinbaum has announced it will respond “with dignity” to defend the country’s “sovereignty and independence.”
Trump’s tariffs represent an escalation of a policy of economic protectionism which has been developing for some time. It was present during the first Trump presidency and was continued under Biden. It represents a departure from the enormous expansion of world trade after World War II, which became known as globalization.
Under capitalism, the two main barriers to the development of the productive forces are the private property of the means of production and the nation state. The creation of the nation state in the period of the bourgeois revolution played an enormously progressive role, in breaking down feudal particularism, creating a national market, and providing an impulse to the development of the productive forces.
That period came to an end over 100 years ago with the rise of imperialism. The economic forces conjured by capitalism could no longer be contained within the limits of the national state, which have been transformed into a reactionary fetter. The spiraling crisis and increased antagonism among the imperialist states led to decades of instability and two world wars. Only through unspeakable suffering and immense destruction did world capitalism reach a prolonged phase of growth with the post-WWII boom, ending up in the crisis of the 1970s.
After the collapse of Stalinism in Russia and with the restoration of capitalism in China, we saw a new period of development of the world market and further economic integration. The availability of a large supply of cheap labor and the opening of new markets gave a temporary boost to world capitalism. That led to the rise of new imperialist countries, China and Russia, which are now competing with the US for world domination.
In the present period of capitalist crisis, there is increased competition for markets. Globalization has come to a halt and the world is increasingly divided into warring economic blocks. The main powers are reverting to economic nationalism, which in essence means the attempt to export unemployment. This is the meaning of Trump’s “America First” policy. If America is to be first, it means the other countries must come after.
Trump’s message is simple: if you want to avoid tariffs, bring your production to the US. To the workers in the US he says: tariffs will bring back well-paid industrial jobs. The problem is that they won’t.
This policy, in fact, is a recognition of the inability of US capitalism to compete on the world market. Protectionism is a symptom of the crisis of capitalism, and in this particular case, it is a symptom of the relative decline of US imperialism on the world arena and an attempt to stop that process and partially revert it.
Protectionism and trade wars cannot solve the crisis of capitalism. They will in fact aggravate it. After the 1929 crash in the stock exchange, it was the policy of competitive devaluations and tariffs that tipped the world economy into a depression.
The economies of Canada, Mexico, and the US have become deeply integrated, particularly since the signing of NAFTA in 1994. Supply lines straddle the national borders. Any disruption to these will cause economic pain which the capitalists will make workers pay for through higher prices, layoffs, intensified exploitation, and factory closures.
We must be clear: the era of free trade has brought misery upon the working class, with stagnating wages, factory closures, and harsher working conditions. But trade wars will bring no solution.
Trump is attempting to pit workers against workers, and union leaders like those of UAW are shamefully lending their support to this program. Laying off thousands of workers in Mexico or Canada will do nothing to help American workers. What is needed is a joint struggle against the bosses who are earning billions while workers’ conditions are being eroded.
We support Mexican workers and poor peasants in their struggle against US imperialist bullying. Claudia Sheinbaum has called for mobilizations in defense of Mexico’s independence and sovereignty. As revolutionary communists, we say that the only way to carry out a consistent anti-imperialist struggle is by expropriating US multinationals without compensation and under workers’ control. Follow the example of Lazaro Cárdenas when he nationalized British oil companies! If companies shut down production using tariffs as an argument, workers must occupy the plants and demand nationalization under workers’ control. Supporting the “national” bourgeoisie by financing investments and giving them subsidies will not solve the underlying problem of Mexican society. We do not have to change masters—we have to end capitalism.
To the Canadian workers we say: no trust in the bosses or the capitalist politicians. No to the false idea of national unity with the capitalists! We stand for class struggle to defend jobs and conditions, including factory occupations! Instead of subsidies to the capitalists we stand for nationalization under workers’ control with planning for the needs of the people. Of course, many of the industries affected are integral part of supply lines linked to the US. Canadian workers defending their jobs should issue an internationalist appeal to their class brothers and sisters across the border. Companies nationalized under workers’ control could be retooled and repurposed to serve the needs of working people (making ambulances, public transport vehicles, etc).
To the US workers we say: No to “partnership” with the bosses! Trump’s tariffs will solve nothing. Only unionization and class-struggle methods can protect jobs and conditions. We need to go back to the proud traditions of the sit-down strikes which gave rise to the UAW in the 1930s.
In the last instance, tariffs and trade wars are a manifestation of the crisis of capitalism. There is no lasting solution for the working class within the limits of this rotten system. It is time for working people to take their future into their own hands and brush aside wage slavery once and for all.
For working-class unity across borders!
For a Socialist Federation of North America as part of a World Socialist Federation!
Revolutionary Communists of America (US section of the RCI)
Revolutionary Communist Party / Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire (Canadian section of the RCI)
Organización Comunista Revolucionaria (Mexican section of the RCI)
