Trump showing a chart of tariffs during his “Liberation Day” speech on April 2, 2025. Photo by Daniel Torok/White House/Wikimedia Commons.

The era of neoliberal globalization seems to be screeching to a halt, with a protectionist capitalism emerging as a prominent feature of the far-right’s push to power. Leading the fray in the United States are Donald Trump and Elon Musk with their “Make America Great Again” political pitch that combines hatred for immigrants with a crude ‘let’s make a deal’ economic nationalism that gets passed off as pro-worker.

This is a key turning point because access to the 400 million-person US consumer market is the holy grail of globalization. It is what launched the various so-called Asian economic miracles and underpinned the Marshall Plan and the post-Second World War European economic recovery. The insatiable US consumer market has also been, in many ways, the motor of a malignant growth which is wreaking havoc with the climate and exacerbating inequality worldwide.

Economists tend to use categories that aggregate phenomena such as GDP or economic growth statistics, rather than subject such categories to critical scrutiny. US economic demand is a case in point. If we break it down, this vaunted demand consists of a great deal of military-related spending, in addition to a plethora of frivolous recreational buys from jet skis and the latest computer games to pickup trucks and SUVs destined for driving around downtown urban areas. Then there’s unhealthy fast food and pre-prepared meals that are antiquating the art of cooking. Adding to swelling consumer demand in the US are pharmaceuticals and other health care costs that are largely covered by the state in other advanced capitalist countries.

As he proceeds to dismantle the federal Department of Education, Trump denounced the fact that US spending on education is among the highest in the world with miserable performance results. Unlike many Trump........

© Canadian Dimension