“Our country has been stripped, robbed, violated and torn apart by nations that are far and near, friendly or hostile.” It's with these words that Trump declared trade war on the world by announcing a new, brutal and massive increase in US tariffs.

“Our country will be completely different. It will be fantastic for workers and everyone,” he added. Right now, American workers will have to face a fantastic price surge! For example, foreign-made cars will be $6,000 to $10,000 more expensive. This will be true for many goods because not all imports can be replaced by domestically produced ones.

Inflation may even be aggravated by a financial crash, as all stock markets have plummeted since this announcement. For American workers, whose retirement pensions depend on stock prices, this could become a catastrophe.

The US economy is so intertwined with the rest of the world that many American companies will be impacted by these taxes. It will be the case for Nike, Apple and Dell who manufacture their products in Asia, as well as for Ford and General Motors who have assembly plants and many subcontractors in Mexico and Canada.

Economic experts believe that Trump has ushered in the “era of economic nonsense.” If it were just Trump and his megalomania, things would be simpler because he is not immortal and won't occupy the White House forever. The problem is much deeper. It stems from the capitalist system itself which has reached an impasse and the contradictions of which are now plain for all to see.

Although American capitalists may be the richest in the world, having accumulated capital at an unprecedented level, they are nevertheless facing the limits of solvent markets.

The big capitalists hold billions in accumulated capital and they need to find the investments that will bring them the highest profits. To do this, they must be able to expand, exploit, dominate and plunder the entire world. They must constantly neutralize, even crush their competitors to ensure their markets and their supply of raw materials, energy and rare earths.

This is a necessity for all capitalists on the planet and they can count on their national state and its leaders to do it for them. When Trump is talking about annexing Canada and Greenland, it's not just bluster. There are real issues at stake: minerals, hydrocarbons and Arctic trade routes.

The older capitalism gets, the more saturated markets become. The more the capitalists on the planet get in each other’s way, the more the bourgeoisie’s politicians become aggressive, cynical and desperate to satisfy their greed for domination.

Trump embodies this evolution. The logic of his policies is that of American imperialism.

By increasing tariffs, Trump has brought out his big stick and is forcing the hand of his competitors. Negotiations will follow, country by country, even company by company to obtain reductions and exemptions. But he has indeed boosted the protectionist fever, the full consequences of which no one can yet measure.

Protectionism certainly does not stop trade wars – it intensifies them. In the 1930s, escalating tariffs precipitated the collapse of global trade and plunged the capitalist world into the Great Depression which led humanity to World War II.

We have indeed every reason to be concerned. In France, we are told that we must retaliate, that the European Union will in turn take protectionist measures against the United States, following those adopted against China a few months ago. Given the divisions in the European Union, anything could happen.

We, workers, have everything to lose in this escalation. Our leaders are fighting, not to defend our jobs but to defend the profits and interests of the bourgeoisie. It’s what Trump and his billionaire friends are doing in the United States.

The capitalists are fighting over their share of the pie. What's more, they're preparing for war. And they're united in exploiting and living off workers’ backs around the world. It's by relying on the international force that workers represent that we will be able to wrest the control of society from them and prevent them from leading us to disaster!

Nathalie Arthaud