Mexican Workers, Peasants: We Must Defend Ourselves from Trump

Trump is targeting Mexico with tariffs of 25 percent. Although they have been postponed because President Sheinbaum agreed to reinforce the National Guard on the northern border, this promises to be just the beginning of a series of attacks—global tariffs on steel and aluminum imports were announced today. Trump is determined to further squeeze his main semi-colony by ending the decades-long status quo of “free” trade. These tariffs and Trump’s overall plan will hit the Mexican economy severely, bringing inflation, layoffs, wage cuts, reductions in social programs and so on. There is no time to waste! What is most urgently needed is the defense of Mexico. The question is: What strategy can successfully respond to Trump?

To protect the economy and take a stand against Trump, Sheinbaum plans to impose tariffs on U.S. products. While this would be a measure to defend the country’s economy, it would have negative consequences for both the Mexican masses and the workers north of the border. A genuine anti-imperialist government would take measures to attack the imperialists’ property in Mexico while limiting the impact on U.S. workers. They, too, have an interest in fighting against their imperialist bosses, and we must encourage joint struggle. We propose: Nationalize one million pesos in the assets of imperialist companies for each worker fired! As an elementary measure of independence, the riches of Mexico should stay in the country: Expropriate the energy sector and mines without compensation! In response to the imperialists’ financial extortion and to ensure the livelihood of the people: Expropriate the banks! Cancel the debt!

Sheinbaum is betting on developing the country through the “Plan Mexico.” This plan limits relations with China—in support of U.S. imperialism and its trade war—in exchange for the promotion of certain sectors of national industry under the auspices of the USMCA. But it is the more than 30 years of free trade that have led to this situation of deep subjugation and vulnerability to imperialist blackmail. To undermine U.S. control of the national economy, a truly anti-imperialist government would strengthen its trade relations with China. China wants to sell machinery and products that Mexico needs, as well as invest in necessary infrastructure. The only reason this doesn’t happen is to please the imperialists. Chinese machinery for the Mexican countryside! For a public works plan supervised by the workers of both countries! Mexico must have control over its foreign trade: Down with the USMCA!

Trump has declared the cartels to be terrorist organizations. This executive order is a dagger directed at anyone who dares to confront the imperialists, and at the populist Mexican government itself (which Trump accuses of being in league with drug traffickers). Meanwhile, this administration continues to allow U.S. military personnel and agents into the country and collaborates with imperialism in security efforts. This conciliation can only sabotage the fight against the imperialist yoke. All imperialist forces out of Mexico! Trump’s threats are directed against the entire continent: tariffs, mass deportations, regaining control of the Panama Canal, starvation sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, etc. A government that truly seeks to combat these depredations must mobilize and unify the Latin American masses, as opposed to the various national lackeys who think they can get a better deal from the imperialists by undermining the freedom of their countries. For an anti-imperialist united front of the Americas to fight Trump! This front would do everything possible to mobilize U.S. and Canadian workers against the strong headwinds of reaction and in opposition to the discredited liberals. A revolutionary alliance of the Mexican working masses with U.S., Canadian and Québécois workers is needed to fight for a plan for the industrialization of the region and for the elimination of the national oppression of Mexico and Quebec.

The “national unity” Sheinbaum is promoting has nothing to do with the strategy outlined above. Instead, it is based on linking the struggle against the imperialists to the national bourgeoisie, which, for now, supports her. But the big Mexican capitalists are completely tied to U.S. imperialism. Sooner rather than later, they will be forced to seek an agreement, even if it means groveling at Trump’s feet and selling out the country. As imperialist attacks batter the national economy, as the flow of foreign investment dries up, as the government budget becomes insufficient, Sheinbaum and her Morena party will feel increasing pressure from the national bourgeoisie to conciliate Trump. Those who want to fight against imperialist oppression must turn to the powerful Mexican proletariat and seek to set it in motion. This is the only force capable of unifying the oppressed behind itself in the struggle for national and social emancipation—not only in Mexico, but throughout the Americas.

In the context of Trump’s attacks, various union organizations—such as the miners, the UNT (National Workers’ Union) and the Congreso del Trabajo (Labor Congress)—are calling for a National Workers’ Convention with the aim of patching up the USMCA and supporting the policies of the Sheinbaum administration. Indeed, a workers’ convention is urgently needed, not to promote a strategy that is a dead end for the anti-imperialist struggle, but rather to organize workers independently. The most immediate task is to prepare defensive strikes against the coming layoffs and wage cuts. But the current leaders of the working class will never carry out such struggles on their own initiative. Whether in Matamoros city, at Audi or in Lázaro Cárdenas city, they have repeatedly been a huge obstacle to the victory of the proletariat against the bloodsucking bosses by aligning with the populists’ program of conciliation. During these weeks of “respite,” we must establish a National Committee for Struggle to raise sufficient funds and coordinate the strikes. If one union goes on strike, the others should follow! If we let these attacks go unchallenged and the layoffs become widespread, the conditions for struggle will be much more difficult later on.

For months, Sheinbaum told us that Trump wouldn’t follow through on his threats. It was easy for her to respond to Trump’s verbal provocations when he hadn’t yet taken office. But facing real attacks is a very different matter: the Mexican government is in a panic and unsure what to do. The populists foolishly believed that the “honeymoon” of “shared prosperity” under former president López Obrador would continue for many more years. But Trump has gone on the offensive and shown who’s in charge. Sheinbaum and Morena are obstacles to any meaningful measure in defense of Mexico, and we can’t rely on them. A truly anti-imperialist plan, unlike Morena’s half-measures, will show that it is the working masses who must take the reins of this country into their own hands. For a workers and peasants government!