The US auto giants are the most affected but every auto company in the world is impacted with major adverse consequences for American workers whom Trump, with the support of the trade union bureaucracy, falsely claims to be defending.
Unifor is the largest private-sector union in Canada, with approximately 320,000 members, including over 35,000 employed in the auto sector who will be directly impacted by expected slowdowns and layoffs as a result of the tariffs, which are set to go into effect on April 2.
With this statement, the union bureaucracy makes clear that it is lining up with an out-and-out fascist-led government attempting to erect a dictatorship.
Across the 38-member organisation, interest payments on government debt are swallowing an ever-greater portion of government spending.
Trump has indicated there is nothing companies can do to have the tariffs removed and that they are “permanent, 100 percent.”
In the run up to the announcement of “reciprocal tariffs” against countries, Trump has said action is impending on particular commodities, including cars, semi-conductors, lumber and pharmaceuticals.
China slammed the Hong Kong-based firm for portraying the agreement as “purely commercial in nature” and condemned the pact as “a tool to enforce US hegemony”.
The belief, widely held as recently as the start of the year, that the US economy and stock market would continue to power ahead is being brought into question as all the institutions of post-war capitalism are shattered.
Under the “reciprocal tariff” regime, aimed at major economies, in particular the European Union but many others as well, the US is set to take tariff action against countries whose internal policies are deemed in any way to adversely impact on the profits of its corporations
The tariff wars and the sweeping cuts made by the Trump administration have brought about a vast transformation in the economic landscape in which the prospect of recession, considered negligible at the start of the year, is now a real possibility.
In the past 25 years the price of gold has increased 10-fold, with its rise passing key marker points in periods of financial turbulence.
Trump’s tariffs threaten tens of thousands of jobs across North America. They are aimed at economically weakening Washington’s northern neighbour to prepare the way for Canada’s annexation as the 51st state of the US.
Markets are sharply down as a result of the increasing chaos in the US economy and fears of a recession.
The tariff measures went ahead with no exemptions, despite lobbying from US businesses concerned they will have a major impact on the economy and threaten thousands of jobs.
The work report presented to the National People’s Congress in Beijing pointed to “changes unseen in a century” unfolding at a fast pace.
Canada’s ruling class, furious at the disruption of its eight-decade-long partnership with American imperialism, has responded by promoting vile Canadian nationalism to keep the working class divided and conceal its drive to make workers pay for the capitalist crisis.
The Wall Street Journal has warned that Canada and Mexico could face contractions in their economy of up to 5 percent and 3 percent respectively because of the tariff war against them.
The trade war targeting America’s three largest trading partners is part of the Trump administration’s drive to reshore production and secure its dominance over the Americas in preparation for world war against adversaries and nominal allies alike.
Trump’s tariffs will roil the North American economy, with workers in all three countries bearing the brunt in the form of mass layoffs and punishing price hikes.
These demands require an all-out assault on working-class conditions and basic democratic rights, to be unleashed as soon as the federal election is out of the way.
