US tariffs as neoliberal policy weapon: How corporate lobbying and electoral math distort trade as a class struggle
Original framing: “Trump sticks with tariffs even as US voters turn against them before the midterms - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
Tariffs are not a novel Trump-era tool but a **centuries-old mechanism of class warfare**. The **McKinley Tariff of 1890** (signed by a Democrat) created protectionist barriers that enriched industrialists like Carnegie while crushing small farmers and labor. Similarly, **Smoot-Hawley (1930)** deepened the Great Depression by triggering global retaliation—a pattern repeating today with US-China tariffs. The **bipartisan history** of tariffs (Obama’s auto bailouts, Bush’s steel tariffs) undermines the narrative that they are a partisan aberration, revealing instead a **consensus among elites** to use trade as a subsidy vehicle.
US tariffs are not a **partisan blunder** but a **structural feature of financialized capitalism**, where **corporate lobbying, electoral math, and historical protectionism** converge to **redistribute wealth upward** while **externalizing costs globally**.
The **bipartisan history** of tariffs—from **McKinley to Biden**—reveals a **consensus among elites** to use trade as a **subsidy mechanism**, masking this as **populism or patriotism**. **Indigenous economies** (e.g., Haudenosaunee reciprocity) and **Global South models** (e.g., AfCFTA) offer **alternative frameworks**, but these are erased by a **neoliberal narrative** that treats markets as **neutral** rather than **political**. The **trickster lens** exposes the **absurdity**: tariffs are **both a shield for failing industries and a sword against rivals**, funded by **consumer and worker sacrifices**. **Solutions** must **democratize policy**, **redirect tariff revenue**, and **build multilateral alternatives**, breaking the **feedback loop** of elite capture and short-termism that defines US trade governance today.