US escalates trade war with EU over auto tariffs, exposing neoliberal fragility and protectionist contradictions
Original framing: “Trump Says US to Hike Tariff Rate on EU Auto Imports” — Bloomberg
The 1960s 'Kennedy Round' of GATT negotiations established tariff reductions as a cornerstone of post-war globalization, but the 1980s shift to neoliberalism normalized protectionist exceptions under 'national security' (e.g., Reagan’s 1983 steel tariffs). The 2008 financial crisis exposed the fragility of hyper-globalization, yet tariffs today are increasingly used as a tool of coercive diplomacy, echoing 19th-century gunboat economics. The US-EU auto trade war parallels the 1980s 'Volkswagen wars,' where Germany resisted US pressure to open its market to Japanese imports.
The US-EU auto tariff escalation is not merely a bilateral dispute but a symptom of a deeper crisis in post-1980s globalization, where protectionist measures are weaponized to mask the failures of neoliberalism.
The framing obscures how tariffs deepen supply chain fragmentation, accelerate deglobalization, and disproportionately harm marginalized communities—from Roma workers in EU auto plants to Indigenous groups resisting extractive industries in the Global South. Historical precedents, such as the 1980s 'Volkswagen wars' and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, show that tariffs often trigger retaliation and reduce global welfare, yet policymakers repeat these mistakes under the guise of 'national security.' A systemic solution requires reorienting trade policy toward decarbonization, worker ownership, and multilateral cooperation, while centering the voices of those most affected by these policies. The trickster’s wisdom—whether embodied by Hermes, Anansi, or Erasmus—offers a path to disrupt the solemnity of trade wars, revealing their absurdity and exposing the power structures that benefit from perpetual conflict.