World Tariff War: Are we heading towards the Third World War?
After Trump came to power, the world tariff war has started. This tariff war has shaken the stock markets of the world including India. America itself is not untouched by this. Recession and unemployment are spreading and big protests have started against Trump’s madness. Trump has termed the huge turmoil in the global financial markets as the effect of the medicine and has tried to assure the American public that everything will be fine.
Only time will tell what will be the outcome of this trade war, but no country, including the US, is in a position to maintain its growth rate. This means that the global growth rate will fall, inflation, unemployment and poverty — which are the basic problems of humanity today — will increase. The nature of capitalism is that it makes profits by putting humanity in danger. Imperialism, which is the extreme form of capitalism, is standing in front of us today in its most naked and ghastly form.
Trump’s world tariff war is a war to divide the world’s markets again. Capitalism has already given birth to two world wars to divide the markets. Hitler had started the Second World War to divide the markets and for the profits of his capitalists. The markets were divided, one-third of the world was freed from the clutches of capitalism and Hitler also fell. Today Trump is appearing in the same role of Hitler. Perhaps history will repeat itself again and Trump will fall like Hitler. Human civilization always wants to move forward, not backward and history has decided the fate of those who try to take it backward sooner or later. Perhaps the historical trajectory of Modi and Trump is the same!
Donald Trump has declared 2nd April as America’s Liberation Day. On this day, Trump has started a tariff war against the whole world. Trump has set out to become the world’s conqueror all by himself; he doesn’t need any allies like Hitler. China has given a befitting reply to this move of Trump by imposing a 34% tax on the imports of American products. On the fifth day of this war, Trump has said that he will not withdraw the tariff until America’s trade deficit with China, European Union and other countries is eliminated. According to Trump, this means that the whole world is responsible for America’s trade deficit and therefore, to recover America from the trade deficit, the whole world will have to open its market for America, whether they need American products or not, even if their country’s farmers, workers and agriculture and industries go bankrupt. Thus, this tariff war is also against other capitalist countries that have stood with America till now. It is also against the fundamental capitalist values that were set to carry forward the process of globalization through the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization.
In fact, on April 2, Trump has unleashed a bestial spirit that breaks all the capitalist rules and bonds built so far and is driven only by the desire for American dominance and control. This desire for dominance and control wants to move forward by crushing any sense and concept of justice. It denies every possibility of cooperation and promotes every form of conflict. In this sense, there is every possibility of Trump’s imperialism turning into Hitler’s fascism. There are hidden dangers of this trade war turning into a military war, because Trump’s tariff war is purely based on America’s military power.
This trade war is also a war to establish and recognize American dominance in the world’s ideology. That is why the world will have to say that it has not taken the contract to meet America’s trade deficit or eliminate it. Trump’s protectionism cannot continue at the cost of destroying the world economy.
The people of America are standing up against Trump. It is the greatest need of the hour that the working people of India and the entire world stand up with the people of America, because the responsibility of saving the world is not of Trump, but only of the people of the world. No help of any kind should be expected from the Modi government or right-wing governments and forces in this important task, because they are Trump’s natural allies.
(The author Sanjay Parate is the vice-president of Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha, affiliated to All India Kisan Sabha)
