By Miguel Sorans, a leader of Socialist Left Argentina and the IWU-FI
Trump delayed his tariffs for 90 days, except for China’s 145 per cent tariff. China has responded with an 84 per cent tariff on US exports. But this reversal is partial and does not close the global crisis it has triggered. Trump maintains the 25 per cent tariffs on aluminium, steel, and automobiles, which continue to affect the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and South Korea, among others. And a 10 per cent tariff remains in all countries.
This “war” is not over. Protests and economic pressures may alter Trump’s unpredictable path. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand, “Hands off!”
Trump’s retreat is a sign of his weakness
Trump and his administration want to give the impression that they are in control of the situation and that this retreat was part of a calculated plan to open negotiations. But this is false.
His retreat was because of the brutal catastrophe it wreaked on the already deteriorating capitalist economy of the United States and the world. The stock market crash cost Wall Street $6 trillion in under a week.
Since April 2nd, Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos collectively lost $80 billion. Many bourgeois analysts described what happened as a “historic” fall, a “bloodbath,” and with “devastating consequences.”
Dan Ives, senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, had called Trump’s tariffs “the biggest disaster the markets have ever seen. It will be an economic Armageddon” (Clarin, 6 April 2025). JP Morgan, the largest US bank, warned of a potential global recession trigger.
Trump seemed confident and would not back down. Against criticism and street protests, he bluntly declared: “Don’t be weak! Don’t be stupid! (…) and greatness will be the result!” (Ambito, Argentina, 7 April 2025). He mocked the countries of the world: “They’re kissing my ass,” he mocked at a dinner with Republican congressmen, where he asserted: “I know what the hell I’m doing.” (El Pais, 10 April 2025). But it lasted 48 hours.
The New York Times called it “Trump’s pathetic march and countermarch.” And regarding the Trump administration, it noted that “if you hire clowns, you should expect a circus. And, fellow Americans, we’ve hired a group of clowns” (Thomas L. Friedmann, in La Nacion, Argentina, 10 April 2025).
It remains to be seen whether Trump also postponed the tariffs imposed on two small and remote islets (Heard Island and McDonald Islands), populated only by penguins and seals, located 4,000 km southwest of Australia.
Capitalism suffers the most serious crisis in its history
This political and economic reversal by Trump is explained because for decades, imperialist capitalism has been going through an enormous economic, political, social, and environmental crisis. It is not a temporary crisis. We revolutionary socialists consider this to be the most serious crisis in its history, even worse than the crisis of 1929. Foremost, because it is longer-lasting and extends over a longer period than the crisis of 1929. It began in 2007/2008 and has already lasted 17 years. Second, because it was linked to other crises and the worsening of the environmental crisis generated by capitalism itself. Trump’s policies, for example, may cause the beginning of a new acute economic crisis.
This is a broader process of absolute decline and disarray in imperialist capitalism. The outlook is for a deepening economic and social crisis. It can only be overcome by fighting to achieve workers’ governments that pave the way for socialism.
Adding fuel to the global chaos of capitalism
Trump is launching a counterrevolutionary imperialist counteroffensive. It seeks to subordinate Chinese imperialism, the world’s second-largest power, to its policy of plunder and exploitation, as well as minor imperialisms such as the European Union and Russia, and the semi-colonies. And it seeks to defeat mass movement struggles, reverse the gains of the fourth wave of women, and the rights of sexual dissidents. This accompanies a racist and anti-immigrant offensive in the US and globally. But all this remains to be seen in the future.
