Manananggol Para sa Katarungan (MAKATA)
Published on Apr 25, 2025
Bulatlat.com

The aggressive posturing of Donald Trump—manifested in trade wars with former allies, attacks on NATO, flirtations with authoritarian regimes like Russia, and the dismantling of key state functions—should not be dismissed as mere erratic behavior. These are the convulsions of a declining imperialist power grappling with internal contradictions that monopoly capitalism can no longer resolve. U.S. imperialism, long sustained through military dominance and global financial hegemony, now faces the crisis of overaccumulation, intensified class antagonisms, and the decay of its political institutions.

The economic base of the U.S. is deteriorating. With federal debt surpassing $36 trillion and a debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding 121.86%, the predatory & exploitative financial system continues to plunder state resources, while nearly $968 billion is funneled into military expenditures—tools of imperialist coercion. Economic growth is stagnating, projected at a meager 0.1% in 2025, as productive sectors shrink and speculative finance dominates. Inflation, estimated at 4–4.5%, and rising unemployment—expected to hit 5%—signal the sharpening of contradictions between capital and labor, with the burden once again pushed onto the working class. Real wages have stagnated despite productivity gains, while labor force participation remains below pre-pandemic levels, reflecting deep structural underemployment and disillusionment among the working class. The housing crisis, exacerbated by speculative capital inflating real estate prices, has pushed homeownership out of reach for millions, while homelessness surges across major cities. Student debt remains above $1.7 trillion, shackling an entire generation of workers into economic uncertainty.

Meanwhile, corporate profits soar—particularly among monopolies in Big Tech, pharmaceuticals, and finance—highlighting the growing chasm between the ruling class and the impoverished majority. These indicators are not anomalies; they are the inevitable outcomes of a decaying monopoly capitalist system in its imperialist stage, where accumulation for the few proceeds through dispossession of the many.

The political superstructure also reflects this decay. Deepening polarization, legislative deadlock, and the erosion of public trust in bourgeois democratic institutions have exposed the ruling class’s inability to maintain hegemony through consensus. In this vacuum, right-wing populists like Trump emerge, offering economic nationalism and chauvinism as false solutions to a capitalist system in terminal decline.

Trump’s brand of economic nationalism—marked by protectionist tariffs and deregulation—seeks to repatriate industrial capital to American soil. But such policies, we believe, are a smokescreen for intensified exploitation.

Tariffs on allies like Canada, Japan, and Mexico do not restore productive capacity; instead, they raise costs for workers and consumers, while monopolies pass on losses to the public and continue offshoring production when convenient.

The historical record contradicts the promises tariffs are supposed to generate for the American economy. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 exacerbated the Great Depression. Trump’s own 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminium raised costs for U.S. manufacturers, triggered retaliatory tariffs, and led to job losses in downstream industries. Many corporations passed the added costs to consumers rather than investing in domestic production.

The so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” backed by tech oligarchs like Elon Musk, is a neoliberal assault aimed at dismantling public services at the expense of the working class, altogether disregarding, even removing, public oversight and further subordinating the state to the dictates of capital. Verily, these protectionist actions are framed as tools of national revival but, in truth, are mechanisms for redistributing the crisis of capitalism onto workers at home and abroad.

This economic reorientation is mirrored in foreign policy. Trump’s disregard for NATO and the U.S. security umbrella stems from a transactional, cost-benefit approach that reduces alliances, mutual support and cooperation to profitability. Trump expressed disdain for the defense of Ukraine. Russia is seen not as a threat, but as a declining power to be ignored. Allies with trade surpluses are labeled freeloaders. This inward turn reflects the unraveling of the post-WWII imperial order, replaced by short-term bargaining for capitalist gain.

It can be said, therefore, that the pivot inward represents not peace, but the strategic repositioning of a beleaguered power—one still armed to the teeth and capable of violent outbursts as it loses ground to competing capitalist blocs, particularly China.

This sharpening contradiction between the U.S. and China mirrors the classic imperialist tendency toward inter-capitalist conflict. Yet history offers a warning: when declining imperialist powers feel cornered, they lash out. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939, and the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan in 1979 were not acts of confidence but of desperation, triggered by economic isolation and political overreach.

The current trajectory of U.S.-China tensions risks repeating these patterns. Today, with the U.S. empire in decline and China asserting its own imperial ambitions under the guise of a multipolar world order, the world edges closer to conflict once more.

The Philippine Situation: Neocolonial Vulnerability Amid Imperialist Rivalry

The Philippines, long a semi-colony of U.S. imperialism, stands on precarious ground as this new inter-imperialist rivalry escalates. Our country, made dependent on imported agricultural inputs due to decades of neoliberal agricultural policy, is dangerously exposed. Tariffs and trade disruptions driven by U.S.-China tensions threaten our nation’s food security.

The Philippines, long trapped in a neocolonial economic structure imposed by imperialist powers and upheld by the local comprador elite, remains dangerously dependent on foreign agricultural imports—a dependency rooted in the destruction of our own productive base. In 2024, the country imported 4.7 million metric tons of rice, making it the world’s second largest rice importer after China. Despite being an agricultural nation, the Philippines relies on Vietnam, Thailand, and other countries to feed its population—an outcome of decades of land-use conversion, liberalized trade policies, and the systematic neglect of domestic food production in favor of cash crops for export.

This dependence extends beyond rice. The country imports more than 95% of its soybean needs, and around 60% of its corn supply for livestock feed. Even basic food commodities like garlic (93% imported) and onions (60-70%) are sourced from abroad. Fertilizers and agricultural machinery are also heavily imported, making local production extremely vulnerable to global price shocks, currency fluctuations, and geopolitical tensions.

As U.S.-China trade wars escalate, the resulting supply chain disruptions, rising tariffs, and export restrictions threaten to drive up the costs of these critical imports. This will inevitably lead to higher food prices, scarcity, and worsening food insecurity for the Filipino masses.

This dependency is no accident. It is the product of imperialist economic restructuring—via institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO—that has de-industrialized the Philippines and dismantled food security in favor of global supply chains that serve monopoly capital.

The geopolitical stakes are just as high. The contested waters of the West Philippine Sea have become a flashpoint where rival imperialist powers flex their military might. The Philippines, caught between two giants, is again treated as a pawn. ASEAN, riddled with contradictions and beholden to transnational capital, has proven incapable of mounting a coherent response.

In this setting, the continued reliance on the U.S. for military protection is a dangerous game. The abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Trump’s threats to abandon NATO allies, as recent examples, make clear: U.S. commitments are governed by capitalist interest, not moral obligation. Should the costs outweigh the returns, the U.S. will not hesitate to abandon the Philippines.

Meanwhile, China advances its own hegemonic ambitions. Its encroachment in the West Philippine Sea and its economic penetration through projects tied to the Belt and Road Initiative reflect its bid for regional dominance. Both the U.S. and China exploit the Philippines through unequal trade, militarization, and ideological influence. Neither side offers genuine liberation.

The Path Forward: National Democracy and People’s Sovereignty

In this period of deepening crisis, the Filipino people must not be passive observers. We must reject both the fading Pax Americana and the rising Sinocentric order. Neither U.S. nor Chinese imperialism will liberate us from poverty, hunger, or foreign domination.

Instead, we must rally behind a vision of national democracy—one that fights for genuine land reform, industrialization, and an independent foreign policy rooted in people’s sovereignty. Food sufficiency must be reclaimed through the revitalization of local agriculture, state investment, and peasant empowerment. We must dismantle the existing structures that enable exploitation and oppression and create a system of governance that prioritizes the protection and welfare of the masses, free from exploitation and foreign domination & control.

As José María Sison aptly stated, “Imperialism is the principal enemy of the Filipino people, and it is the primary cause of the country’s underdevelopment, poverty, and dependence on foreign powers. National liberation and democracy cannot be achieved unless imperialist domination is ended” (Sison, The Philippine Revolution: The Leader’s View, 1989).

The crisis of the imperialist system is also an opportunity. As contradictions sharpen, new alignments become possible. But the people must be organized, conscious, and militant. Only then can we chart an independent path in a world gripped by capitalist decay.#