PRESIDENT TRUMP has launched his ‘Liberation Day’ offensive against the working class of the world, including the workers of the USA.
Trump, in retaliation for tariffs imposed by other countries across the world on the import of American goods into their countries, has announced his own set of tariffs on goods going the other way into the US economy, with the US leader stating that these tariff rates are still only half those US exporters face when trying to do business across the world.
His sweeping tariffs on imported commodities include a 10% levy on all UK exports to the US.
Along with other European Union countries, Germany faces 25% tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars going into the US, as well as ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on other goods of 20%.
While American capitalists were elated at the ‘Liberation Day’ news, the world’s financial markets went into a nosedive, while millions of workers’ jobs were put under extreme threat.
American manufacturers rejoiced at ‘Liberation Day’, while the UK financial markets tumbled, as fears mounted at the projected loss of millions of jobs worldwide, including the UK!
As an initial response to Trump’s announcement, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer released a list of hundreds of American products which could be hit with tariffs in retaliation.
‘We must rise to this challenge, and that is why I’ve instructed my team to move further and faster on the changes I believe will make our economy stronger and more resilient.’
In fact, the only way out of this developing crisis is for the working class in the UK and throughout the world, including the USA and Europe, to call general strikes to bring in workers’ governments and nationalised and planned economies, putting an end to bankrupt capitalism for ever.
While a 10% rate puts the UK among the nations hit with the lowest tariffs of those announced, it still calls into question the nature of the so called ‘special relation-ship’ between the UK and US, it is to remain that of master and slave!
Trump is now willing to cause billions of pounds of damage to destroy the economies of close allies, but also damage the US economy, to increase the power of US imperialism. The ‘liberator’ Trump has now imposed 25% tariffs on auto imports and stoked up a massive trade war, that will develop into a shooting war! The US ruling class must not be allowed to start World War III!
To further compound the pain for UK and EU workers, Trump announced a 25% flat tariff on the import of all cars into the US, regardless of their country of origin, meaning many thousands more British and other workers’ jobs are now at risk.
Despite the role that the UK government plays in advancing imperialism with the United States around the world, when push comes to shove, the system they work to preserve is ‘a dog eat dog one’ that spares no one, whether friend or foe, as the UK ruling class is finding out.
In another attack, Trump has now threatened secondary tariffs on Russian oil if Moscow does not give way to the Ukrainian fascists!
Meanwhile, world share prices are plunging in Europe, and Asian stock markets have seen their worst falls in decades, as markets continue to reel from Donald Trump’s tariffs.
In London, the FTSE 100 index fell by 4.9%, while Germany’s Dax plummeted by 10% at one point – the incoming Chancellor says the situation is ‘dramatic and threatens to deteriorate further’.
Meanwhile, Trump digs in, telling reporters on Air Force One: ‘Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.’
Earlier, US futures were sharply down, indicating that Wall Street shares would fall when US markets opened at 09:30 EST (14:30 BST).
The price of Brent Crude, which is seen as the leading global price benchmark for Atlantic crude oils, fell to its lowest level since April 2021 on Monday.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) index, which reflects the price for a mix of crude oil, also dropped to a new low yesterday morning, with Reuters reporting the fall at around 3.58%.
There is only one way forward for the working class of the world. That is to build sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in every country to mobilise the working class of the world to carry out the victory of the World Socialist Revolution, consigning capitalism to its true place, the dustbin of history!
