Your Pain for Trump's Gain

In just the last week ​we have seen amassive escalations and wild fluctuationsin the breadth, scope, and size of the tariffs levied by the United States against the rest of the world. Far from some 4D-chess, economy-revitalizing negotiating tactic, the whipsawing from raising tariffs, to pausing some tariffs while increasing tariffs on China, to exempting certain tech industries, then-unexempting the very same Industries just days later has led to an absolute paralysis in the business sector.

The stock market had an epically bad week, before rallying once Trump announced a “pause” to the tariffs. The exuberance of the market is likely to be short-lived, however, as the uncertainty created by Trump’s erratic International policy only deepens and the trust costs set in. In just a couple weeks we’ve started a global trade war, trashed our trading agreements, and spurred the formation of new alliances in opposition to US bullying. Capital investments are down,consumer confidence is down, and the chances for recession are rising, especially as China begins to retaliate with more than just tariffs.

There are some arguments for tariffs if they are targeted to particular economic sectors and coupled with industrial policy, but such a comprehensive approach appears nowhere within the Trump administration's objectives. So, instead of bringing back jobs or negotiating better trade deals, what the US people will be getting is higher prices and less compensation and more layoffs, all at a time when social services are being slashed and regulatory watch dogs being dismantled.

At this same time as he’s tearing up the international order, Trump has also likely been lining his own pockets. We saw Trump just last week, hours before the so-called pause on the tariffs cajole his supporters to buy stock, corresponding to a large increase in trading just before the market prices surged with the announcement. Politicians and watch dogs are already calling for an investigation, but once again Trump has already admitted out loud, on TV, how members of his circle made huge sums of money, in some cases hundreds of millions to billions. Somehow bragging about this massive market manipulation publicly means no one is sure if it’s illegal.

Thankfully, moments like this do offer opportunity. It’s not just average Americans who disapprove of Trump’s tariffs, much of the ruling class is deeply dismayed by this behavior, especially the weakening of the dollar as the reserve currency. this provides a potential point to split the ruling class from each other to align with the working class to help resist Trump authoritarian regime. However, in order to be sure that working class interests are not subsumed in this process we need to join together in solidarity, politically and economically. The people need united economic power to be at the table when important economic decisions are made. So. join us each Tuesday in growing solidarity as we fight this madness and this object corruption to bring back a government that works for the people.

Don't shop on Tuesday!