When the theatrics and fantastical hyperbole now indelibly associated with the Trump presidency are set to one side, the tariff war launched on April 2 boils down fundamentally to an attempt to appropriate to US capitalism a larger share of value from the world economy at the expense of its ‘trading partners’, “friend and foe alike” as Trump himself puts it.

No new value will be created from the import tariffs, a tax on incoming goods collected by the US Customs and Border agency on behalf of the federal government at 330 air, sea and land ports of entry into the country. Instead, even at the average tariff rates currently in place after Trump’s April 9 panicked ‘pause’ about-turn in the face of failing US bond markets, an extra $3.4 trillion would be in line to be grabbed by the American state to 2034.
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