Trump government tries to turn back time to revive US capitalism

Written by: Ned K. on 23 March 2025

Donald Trump; William McKinley (Getty/Mandel Ngan/National Archive/Newsmakers)

When Trump campaigned for US Presidency under the slogan "Make America Great Again", it was not very clear what period of time of US capitalism he was referring to. Was it the pre- Biden Presidency period, or the Cold War period of the 1950s or Roosevelt's New Deal period before the Second World War?

According to Trump's Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, none of the above!

Lutnick's idea "Make America Great Again" is a 21st Century version of the pre-1900 President William McKinley period. In this period, US corporations were making huge profits supported by a government making revenue from high tariffs and a relatively low portion of revenue from income tax. Lutnick's "modernization" of the McKinley era is to add a $5 million "gold card" visas payment to be made by wealthy foreign business tycoons to live in the United States. According to Lutnick, US allies could choose to be "in or outside the tariff tent" by setting up businesses in the United States or providing the Trump administration and US multinational corporations with whatever they wanted from allies such as the Australian Government.

Hence Trump and his cronies like Commerce Secretary Lutnick expect the Australian to give US corporations primary access to minerals such as lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earths.

The demands of the US pharmaceutical corporations on the Australian government to dismantle the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is also part of the plan to emulate the McKinley Presidential period.

The Australian Financial Review on Thursday 20 March commented that the US demand for complete subservience of its allies was alive and well when Obama was President. According to Joe Hockey, imperialist rivalry between the US and China at the time led Obama to demand that Australian government cease all export of iron ore to China!

At that time and to this day, iron ore exports to China are about 80% of all iron ore exports which amount to over $100 billion.

40% of all exports from Australia go to China.

As imperialist rivalry between China and the US intensifies, the Trump administration is likely to turn the screws on its allies such as the Australian government even more, in order for US imperialism to try and regain its ascendency as an economic powerhouse.

There is a rising tide of resistance to US imperialism's current economic aggression towards Australia. This is reflected even by outbursts from politicians like Jacquie Lambie calling on the Australian government to hit back by closing Pine Gap and cancelling the rotation of US troops in northern Australia.

Both the current Albanese government and the "wanna be" government led by Dutton have been forced to re-define their message about acting in the "national interest". However, the defence minister Richard Marles has quickly chimed in that any counter measures by the government to the current US tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium exports to the US will NOT include any change to Australia's commitment to AUKUS, the nuclear-powered submarine agreement with the US, or the Australia- US Alliance.

People's struggle for Australian independence from US imperialism and its rival China will inevitably grow as people see that the major political parties continue to toe the US line.

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