Image by Paul Teysen.

Donald Trump’s paleo-conservative, isolationist attack on global capitalist trade is already having formidable impacts. If tariff levels and targeted announced on ‘Liberation Day,’ April 2, are sustained, a full-blown economic catastrophe could result, perhaps reminiscent of 1930s-scale Make America Great Depression Again.

Transactional Trump

The worst danger: national elites in victim countries will be divided-and-conquered. Even South African President Cyril Ramaphosa – who 15 months ago had bravely challenged Washington’s ‘rule of law’ fakery by authorizing Pretoria’s challenge to Israel’s genocide at the International Court of Justice – apparently feels compelled to dream up utterly irrational deals for Trump, ideally sealed over a game of golf. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson told the NY Times last month that Ramaphosa may soon offer to U.S. Big Oil firms generous offshore leases for methane gas exploration and extraction, in spite of enormous climate damage, Shell Oil’s courtroom setbacks, and widespread shoreline protests.

He’s not alone; more than 50 world leaders have ‘reached out’ to Washington in an obsequious manner, leading Trump to brag, “They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis.”

Even before the April 2 announcements, Trump imposed 25% universal tariffs on imports of

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