Contributed by Joe Montero

The good news is that Donald Trump and his political machine have been forced into a temporary backdown in its tariff war against the world. The agency for this, despite the caving in of some governments, is that most of the world has stood up against the bully. American citizens have stood up as well, with millions of them taking to the streets across the United States.

Cartoon by Markus Grolik

But this is only a partial and perhaps transitory victory. Most nations have been given a 90-day reprieve. The exception is China, which finds its enormous 104 percent tariff going up to 124 percent. The trade war isn’t over yet. Nevertheless, the world has shown that if it stands together, it can fight back.

Trump tries to hide this by claiming that 75 nations have decided to negotiate. What he means is that they backed down. The reality is that Canada, Mexico, Europe, and others had imposed their own tariffs and other measures on United States exports. It was Trump and his team that backed down.

The ongoing targeting of China is particularly important. We are talking here about what has become the economic engine and workshop of the world. Hurt this and the global economy is in trouble. Damaging the global economy threatens the onset of a depression.

China has reacted. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Lin Jian, said on Wednesday (10 March 2025), “If the US truly wants to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation, it should adopt an attitude of equality, respect and mutual benefit.”

He went on to add “While China opposes trade wars, it will firmly defend its legitimate interests.” Tariffs on American imports have been raised to 84 percent, and some products have been banned. In addition, China has considerable capacity to use financial instruments. It holds $1 trillion of American debt, which is called on would devastate he American dollar.

This is not being contemplated at present. The pressure will, however, provide a new impetus for the rise of the BRICS alliance as an alternative for trade in both goods and finance. On top of this, China’s economy is now largely orientated towards reliance on the rise of internal consumption relative to exports.

The real damage is to the global economy and loss of trust in the post-World War Two international trade regime and its institutions like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and the Swift financial transfer system. Inconsistency in the actions of Washinton doesn’t help to restore lost confidence,

The tariff war is no accident or for no purpose. It makes sense in the context of a combination of  the rise of rentier capitalism and the drive to maintain imperialistic dominance over the global economy and nations. The United States is a declining, although still powerful, force. Wall Street ees its interests in maintaining hegemony. The dominant rentier section sees this is terms of rising the price of assets and control over financial flows.

There is a positive in all this. The world has an opportunity to unite into a powerful force to bring in a new era of greater equality between nations and the peoples of the world, through instituting a global economic regime where none are subjugated by a big power.