Thailand’s prime minister survives no-confidence motion

Robert Campion

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra survived a no-confidence vote last week after two days of a censure debate in the National Assembly. Called by the parliamentary opposition bloc, this was part of the ongoing infighting within the Thai ruling class, which is certain to continue and generate further political instability.

Thailand‘s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, centre, arrives at Government House for cabinet meeting in Bangkok, February 4, 2025. [AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit]

The censure motion was led by the so-called “progressive” People’s Party (PP) in alliance with the military-backed Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP). The ruling bloc in parliament, which includes Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai Party (PT) and its allies including the right-wing Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) and the United Thai Nation Party, which is also backed by military factions, defeated the motion 319 to 162.

Afterwards, Paetongtarn stated that the debate went “smoothly” and thanked all members of parliament for motivating her to “continue to work hard for our people.” Paetongtarn became prime minister last August after Srettha Thavisin, the first Pheu Thai prime minister, was removed from office by the Constitutional Court on trumped-up ethics charges.

Paetongtarn was probed on a number of issues including corruption over landholdings, tax evasion and even poor economic knowledge. She was also accused of taking political orders from her father, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the founder of Pheu Thai who was removed from office in the 2006 military coup. He remains de facto party leader and a political target of the military and the royalist political establishment.

As has repeatedly been the case in Thai politics, the corruption charges are simply the means by which rival factions of the political establishment battle for power and influence. Tensions in ruling circles have markedly sharpened amid a worsening economic crisis and growing fears of an eruption of opposition by workers, peasants and youth.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Thailand’s GDP growth in 2024 was just 2.6 percent, with contractions in both manufacturing and agriculture. The growth rate was considerably lower than the region as a whole, which sees countries in the order of 5 to 6 percent.

In backing the no-confidence motion, the “progressive” People’s Party, as the lead opposition party in the National Assembly, has aligned itself more closely with the PPRP, which was the party of the military junta that seized power in the 2014 coup.

People’s Party MP Pakamon Noon-anan criticised remarks Paetongtarn made last September, in which the latter stated a strong baht was good for Thailand’s exporters. “People worldwide know that a strong baht benefits imports because they cost less to bring in. It harms exports because our products are more expensive… Lack of understanding of a simple issue affects people’s confidence in the nation’s leader,” Pakamon declared during the debate.

It is not the “people’s confidence” but the interests of big business that is the real concern. Thailand is in the firing line in the Trump administration’s trade war measures, having a trade surplus with the US of $35.42 billion in 2024. The US is Thailand’s top export market, supplying food stuffs, electrical appliances, automotive parts, industrial products and some minerals.

According to estimates from the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking, operating costs for Thai exporters could spike by 6 to 8 percent if US tariffs are directed against Thailand.

In the first part of this year, Thailand’s exports have actually grown, partly in anticipation of US tariffs. However, this growth is not sustainable. The Economic Intelligence Center (EIC) of Siam Commercial Bank this month lowered its export growth forecast from its November prediction of 2 percent to 1.6 percent, while the government is targeting 3 to 3.5 percent growth.

The EIC’s prediction is based in part on factors like US tariffs, which includes 25 percent tariffs on all vehicle and auto part imports into the US that came into force today. Thailand has the tenth largest auto industry in the world, and in 2024 exported approximately $US4 billion worth of auto parts to the US.

The Thai economy has taken another huge hit today after Trump announced his list of so-called reciprocal tariffs on countries worldwide—friend and foe alike. Now Thai exports to the US across the board will be subjected to a huge 36 percent tariff.

Sections of Thai big business are deeply concerned that Paetongtarn lacks the ability to deal with Trump’s trade war, protect corporate interests and deal with the inevitable social unrests as new burdens are imposed on working people. As a result, the future of the Paetongtarn government is still very much in doubt, despite its defeat of the no-confidence motion.

PPRP Secretary-General Paiboon Nititawan remarked prior to the parliamentary debate: “After the censure debate, many issues will follow and involve legal ones which can be expanded. They may turn out to be petitions to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the Constitutional Court.”

He warned that a petition to the Constitutional Court on the prime minister “may lead to political change” and would be “fun.” Four prime ministers have been removed by the Constitutional Court in the last 16 years, including Pheu Thai’s Srettha Thavisin last year.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and other bodies like the Constitutional Court (CC) have been heavily influenced by the military since the 2014 coup. The coup leaders wrote and rammed through the 2017 constitution that paved the way for elections and included substantial powers for the military.

Significantly while the People’s Party criticised Thaksin’s “undue influence” on the Paetongtarn government during the censure debate, the influence of the military and the monarchy went unchallenged. Its past criticisms of the military and monarchy have now been shelved as it has aligned itself with the PPRP.

The PP’s predecessor, the Move Forward Party, rose to prominence following huge protests of mainly young people in 2020 against the 2014 coup leader, the 2017 constitution and the monarchy. After winning the 2023 election, the military blocked it from forming government and undoubtedly played a role in its dissolution last August.

That the People’s Party is working with the PPRP to target the Paetongtarn government, not only exposes the fraudulent character of its progressive posturing, but demonstrates the organic inability of any faction of the bourgeoisie to defend basic democratic rights.

US sends stealth bombers and aircraft carrier to the Middle East in threat against Iran

Andre Damon

A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, June 29, 2024. [Photo: Air Force Senior Airman Jack Rodgers ]

Against the backdrop of Israel’s Gaza genocide and ongoing US attacks against Yemen, the Trump administration is rushing military hardware to the Middle East amid escalating threats to attack Iran.

While the Trump administration’s pretext for threatening Iran is the alleged development of its nuclear program, US war plans against Iran are part of a US-Israeli offensive, decades in the making, to reshape the Middle East under direct imperialist domination and launched using the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas as a pretext. As part of this plan, Israel is ethnically cleansing Gaza and seeking to annex the territory.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group will be deployed to the Middle East, joining the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group.

The Pentagon has sent six of its B-2 stealth bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean—within striking distance of Iran—or 30 percent of the entire US stealth bomber fleet. The B-2 bomber is capable of deploying both nuclear weapons and the largest US bunker-buster bombs, which are reportedly capable of reaching underground Iranian nuclear facilities.

Military aviation analyst Peter Layton told CNN that the deployment of six B-2 bombers would be far too many to be used against Yemen and could instead only be leveraged in an attack on Iran. “Six is a serious number. For Houthi deeply buried targets, two or maybe three, but six B-2s is a major effort,” he said.

Alongside the aircraft carriers and bombers, the US has sent additional destroyers capable of launching long-range cruise missiles and Patriot missile defense batteries to bases around the region.

Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump declared that unless Iran accepted the United States’ demands, “there will be bombing.”

Last month, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the United States is seeking the “full dismantlement of” Iran’s nuclear program. Waltz said:

This isn’t some kind of, you know, kind of tit-for-tat that we had under the Obama administration or Biden. ... This is the full program. Give it up or there will be consequences.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron held a meeting to discuss the likelihood of a US attack on Iran, with a spokesman later declaring that a military escalation appeared “almost inevitable.”

On March 15, the Trump administration launched a series of bombing campaigns on Yemen, which have hit hundreds of targets in the most intense US bombardment of the country to date.

On Tuesday, Trump again threatened Yemen, saying:

we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.

The same day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the United States has carried out over 200 attacks on Yemen, declaring:

Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks, and we have seen they have taken out Houthi leaders.

In response to Trump’s threats against Iran, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that “if they commit any mischief they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow.”

The Telegraph reported Sunday that an Iranian official said that British troops could also be targeted in response to a US attack, saying:

There will be no distinction in targeting British or American forces if Iran is attacked from any base in the region or within the range of Iranian missiles.

He added:

When the time comes, it won’t matter whether you’re an American, British, or Turkish soldier—you will be targeted if your base is used by Americans.

A US attack on Iran threatens to massively escalate the ongoing war throughout the Middle East, potentially drawing in China and Russia

Last week, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf said:

If the Americans attack the sanctity of Iran, the entire region will blow up like a spark in an ammunition dump.

During Trump’s first presidential term, the United States withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement brokered under the Obama administration to reduce the scale of Iran’s nuclear program. In December, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran has expanded its capacity to enrich uranium.

In a statement this week, Ali Larijani, Khamenei’s adviser, raised the prospect that Iran would build a nuclear weapon in response to the US threats. Ali Larijani said:

We are not moving towards (nuclear) weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards that because it has to defend itself.

He added:

Iran does not want to do this, but … (it) will have no choice. … If at some point you (the US) move towards bombing by yourself or through Israel, you will force Iran to make a different decision.

Meanwhile, the Gaza genocide continues to expand. Al Jazeera reported that at least 77 Palestinians had been killed in the blockaded territory Wednesday, amid nonstop ground and air attacks by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In the IDF’s missile attack on a United Nations medical facility in the Jabalia refugee camp, at least 22 people, including women and children, were killed.

On Tuesday, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced that every one of the bakeries it operates in Gaza has been closed due to shortages of food and fuel caused by the ongoing Israeli blockade.

For nearly a month, Israel has prevented all food, fuel, water and electricity from entering the Gaza Strip as part of a deliberate policy of starvation and ethnic cleansing aimed at killing or displacing Palestinians in Gaza and annexing their land.

On Tuesday, Israel announced a major expansion of its ground offensive in Gaza, adding that large portions of the enclave would be seized and put under military control.

Meanwhile more details continue to come out about the 15 aid workers, including one UN employee, massacred by Israeli forces on March 23 and dumped into a mass grave. After The Guardian reported Tuesday that those who had been killed had been bound and executed, the New York Times reported that the rescue workers “were shot multiple times before being buried in a mass grave.”

French overseas minister returns for talks in New Caledonia amid ongoing crisis

John Braddock

France’s Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls in Paris January 7, 2025 [AP Photo/Ludovic Marin]

France’s Overseas Minister Manuel Valls returned to New Caledonia this week for four days of talks on the French Pacific territory’s future. Valls previously visited the capital Nouméa between February 22 and March 1 to convene multi-party discussions, ostensibly to initiate a new agreement on the colony’s political status, following months of widespread civil unrest by indigenous Kanak youth.

That meeting involved representatives of all the colony’s establishment parties, including pro-France “Loyalists” and factions of the pro-independence movement. That had not happened since 2021 following three referenda on self-determination, the last of which was boycotted by the Kanak community.

The participants insisted that the initial round of talks were only “discussions,” not formal negotiations. Valls published a “synthesis paper” summing up the pro-France and pro-independence camps’ opposed views, which was put forward as a working basis for the more advanced talks.

With the opposing camps holding, for now, entrenched positions, Valls, a former prime minister during the Hollande Socialist Party presidency, has adopted a superficially conciliatory approach. Interviewed by Le Monde ahead of his first visit, he spoke about the provisions of the 1988 “power sharing” Nouméa Accord, noting the Accord’s reference to eventual “full and complete sovereignty” and decolonisation. Valls’ statement provoked hostile protests from the Loyalist factions on his previous arrival.

In a statement before the latest meeting, Valls said the talks had “a clear objective: delineate the fresh horizons of New Caledonia and map out the contours of a shared future after clarifying everyone’s expectations, without any taboos or detours.”

The statement also affirmed President Emmanuel Macron’s priority for France’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, declaring: “Our exchanges concerning New Caledonia’s competencies in international relations were marked by a shared commitment: advancing New Caledonia’s interests while ensuring France’s strategic security.” Valls warned that “any actions or alliances that harm France’s strategic interests, particularly those that side with foreign powers seeking to weaken us, will not be tolerated.”

France, determined to ensure its position as an Indo-Pacific power amid escalating US-led preparations for war against China, will not relinquish its hold over the strategically vital territory. New Caledonia is home to a major French military base and holds nearly a quarter of the world’s reserves of nickel, essential in the manufacture of stainless steel and in the defence industry.

In an interview with French media outlets in March, Valls said the situation in New Caledonia was not yet “appeased” and that a comprehensive agreement on the territory’s future was still remote. “Even though we managed to get all political forces to speak to each other again, we are still far from an agreement. One has to understand the fear all of our compatriots over there, and especially those of European origin, have gone through. And to understand also the Kanaks’ aspiration to emancipation and decolonization,” he added.

The latest talks, held behind closed doors at the French High Commission, reportedly centred on the definition of New Caledonia’s future links with France, the possible transfer of powers from Paris, New Caledonian citizenship, and the related question of who is eligible to vote in local elections.

New Caledonia’s status remains to be determined. Options include “shared sovereignty,” “full independence” or a “free association,” similar to New Zealand’s neo-colonial arrangement with its so-called “Realm” countries, the Cook Islands and Niue.

New Caledonia’s main pro-independence organisation, the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) issued a blunt statement condemning any move to open up the local electoral roll to recent arrivals from France. The issue triggered the uprising last May, which continued for months in the face of brutal police-military suppression by the French state.

Opposing the granting of votes to post-1998 immigrants, the FLNKS declared it “rejects the principle of mass naturalisation, which would weaken the emancipation project derived from the Nouméa Accord, by allowing recent residents to influence the political future of New Caledonia. In a process of decolonisation, citizenship is not built on residence or taxation alone. It is based on history, belonging, and mutual respect.”

Departing Nouméa on Tuesday, Valls told the media that “all parties of the political landscape, both pro-France and pro-independence, were once again part of the series of round tables.” An official document, which remains confidential, has been tabled for “a third sequence” of discussions beginning on 29 April.

What the talks will not address, let alone resolve, is the deep economic and social crisis hitting the colony, and in particular the impoverished working class and youth. The issues behind the unrest including poverty, social inequality, unemployment and social desperation remain. The rebellion brought a substantial section of Kanak youth into conflict, not only with French colonial oppression, but with the territory’s political establishment, including the local government and the FLNKS.

January saw a sharp shift to the right by the local ruling elite. Following the territorial government’s collapse on Christmas Eve, the new cabinet installed anti-independence loyalist Alcide Ponga, the first Kanak to lead the pro-France Le Rassemblement party, as its new president. Ponga replaced Louis Mapou of the pro-independence Parti de Libération Kanak (Palika), who bitterly declared; “It’s a dirty political blow to the country.”

Congress last month adopted an austerity budget. With businesses failing and thousands unemployed, the government is cutting public services. A spokesman for the pro-independence Union Calédonienne (UC), Pierre-Chanel Tutugoro, denounced the budget as an “anti-Kanak, anti-islander budget.”

In fact, the austerity measures are an attack against the entire working class, including workers in France and internationally, who are being made to pay for the worsening global economic crisis. The crisis in the colony has been exacerbated by the months of violence, including the brutal police-military crackdown, which resulted in 14 deaths and an estimated €2.2 billion in damages.

Nearly a year since the unrest started, unemployment remains high. One in five workers has lost all or part of their income and more than half of the 11,000 people who lost their jobs after last May were still unemployed at the start of this year.

University of New Caledonia economist Séverine Blaise told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the economic situation was “catastrophic.” She said the local government should focus on strengthening social security for people struggling to make a living, and invest in sectors that might promote economic development, such as agriculture. This is a forlorn hope.

Migration figures earlier this year showed a net 10,700 people, mainly French nationals, departed the territory in 2024, a dramatic population decline for the territory of just 270,000. A shortage of doctors and nurses has left health services on the verge of collapse. About 20 percent of the 1,000 locally registered doctors have left, according to the French Medical Association of New Caledonia. A similar shortage of surgical nurses has forced Nouméa’s hospital to close departments and stop some surgeries.

The nickel industry, which in the past accounted for about 20 percent of GDP and 90 percent of exports, is in crisis. It was already in decline before the uprising due to global competition from suppliers in China and Indonesia. Since then, exports have dropped and two of the main smelters have been idled.

One of these is Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS) owned by Swiss mining giant Glencore in a joint venture with Kanak-owned Société Minière du Sud Pacifique SA (SMSP). Last year Glencore announced it would suspend production and sell its stake, leaving 1,000 workers jobless.

Koniambo was a product of the “economic rebalancing” agenda of the Nouméa Accord, established to provide business opportunities for a privileged Kanak layer. Its unviability is testament to the fraudulent promise of Kanak “independence.”

Simmering tensions could erupt again at any time. Last month, in an incident outside a Nouméa nightclub, up to 400 youths were involved in a public brawl. Law enforcement units were called and declared they found themselves in “a dangerous situation” confronted with “hostile” individuals and used teargas and stun-balls.

The French High Commissioner’s chief of staff Anaïs Aït Mansour told reporters the reintroduction of restrictive measures used under last year’s “insurrectional situation” would again be “under consideration.”

Education Dept. abruptly ends COVID relief extensions, revoking $3 billion nationwide

Jane Wise

University of Michigan academic workers struck in September 2020 to prevent their exposure to COVID-19

In the latest series of actions by the Trump administration to decimate public education, the Department of Education has abruptly ended billions in pandemic relief funding to districts across the country.

Last Friday, the Department of Education (DE) revoked funding extensions—previously granted under the Biden administration—for states to use remaining Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. This will retroactively nullify spending plans already approved for schools across the country such as tutoring, mental health services, and infrastructure upgrades. 

The Trump administration’s revocation of ESSER extensions affects 41 states, with $2.5 billion stripped from K-12 schools and $433 million from private school grants.

In a blatant disregard for the well-being of students, Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued a letter on Friday, March 28, informing state education officials that the deadline to spend remaining COVID relief funds had passed that very day at 5 p.m. EST. 

McMahon’s letter, issued sweeping dismissals of schools’ ongoing need for pandemic aid, framing further support as unnecessary and misaligned with the department’s priorities. She stated that “extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion.” 

Furthermore, she asserted that states and school districts “have had ample time to liquidate obligations” and that they “could not rely on the Department adhering to its original decision” to grant extensions. This declaration effectively pulled the rug out from under school districts that had already budgeted and committed these funds for crucial projects, anticipating federal reimbursement.

Districts had requested extensions for a variety of reasons. Many had already signed contracts for services, like tutoring, HVAC and window upgrades, and mental health programs, that extended past the original deadline. Supply chain issues delayed deliveries, and labor shortages made it hard to schedule contractors, especially since many districts were competing for the same workers. Major renovations also had to be done during summer breaks to avoid disrupting classes, further limiting timelines. 

Some districts needed extra time to launch tutoring, literacy, or after school programs, and the complex process of managing and reimbursing funds also caused delays. These extensions were essential to help schools use the funds to improve air quality, boost health and safety, and support student recovery. 

These cuts are only the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to do away with the right to a public education and critical thought. Since January 2025, the Trump administration has slashed billions in education funding while halving the Department of Education’s workforce. These cuts have disrupted Title I support for 26 million low-income students, gutted civil rights enforcement, and jeopardized 420,000 education jobs.

Programs serving 7.5 million students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are being transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, under the control of the anti-science quack Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio was handed to the Small Business Administration amid its own staffing crisis. This restructuring deliberately destabilizes public education to pave the way for the Trump administrations privatization schemes like vouchers.

School officials across the country, already facing major budget crises are now scrambling to figure out how they will deal with the abrupt loss of billions of dollars already approved for their schools. Details from just a few states indicate the massive impact on schools across the country: 

Maryland faces over $350 million in lost funding, placing immediate halt to HVAC upgrades, tutoring, mental health services, and school construction in Baltimore City, Prince George’s, and Montgomery counties. $305 million was already spent but not reimbursed, including literacy programs and room health upgrades in schools across the state. Some districts may be unable to pay vendors for new instructional materials and tuition costs for educator preparation programs.

Massachusetts lost $106 million for pandemic recovery initiatives. The New Bedford Public School District in Massachusetts, where approximately 80 percent of students come from low-income families, had $12 million in ESSER funds approved for extension to support five critical infrastructure projects. Three of these projects—a central kitchen, modular classrooms, and accessibility upgrades—are nearing completion. The district is now relying on emergency reserves to honor existing contracts.

The sudden ending of federal funds has halted and jeopardized the remaining two projects in the district: the installation of an HVAC system in a 1970s-era building that currently lacks proper ventilation and the construction of a school-based health center to provide medical services for students. 

Michigan stands to lose as much as $42 million, impacting at least 27 school districts. State Superintendent Michael Rice rightly decried the action as “unacceptable,” telling the Detroit Free Press that the state had already approved projects, including HVAC improvements and window upgrades, with the expectation of federal reimbursement. Now, to honor these contracts, districts may be forced to reduce classroom spending or dip into savings. Flint Community Schools faces the largest potential loss in Michigan, at $15.6 million.

Efforts to improve student health in communities heavily impacted by the pandemic, such as Flint and Pontiac, Michigan, are also likely to be undermined. Programs supporting homeless students, including transportation, after school tutoring, mental health services, and navigators who assist families with basic needs, are now at risk.

Initially, states had to justify each expense as pandemic-related but were not required to submit contracts, only to keep them on file. Then in February, the department quietly changed course, demanding itemized receipts for every purchase, adding a new layer of red tape.

On March 11, just weeks before the cutoff, Secretary McMahon fired all 16 staffers in the office responsible for processing those payments, effectively shutting down the mechanism for distributing the remaining funds. 

By mid-March, state officials were scrambling. “I’m reaching out again to find out the status of these approvals,” a Pennsylvania official pleaded in a March 15 email to the department, according to The 74.

“It makes me incredibly angry,” said Laura Jimenez, who led the relief office until January. “We very carefully administered $200 billion, and they’re completely destroying that with the last couple of billion.”

The ED, meanwhile, offered no real justification. Spokeswoman Madi Biedermann claimed it was “past time for the money to be returned to the people’s bank account” and vaguely referenced “numerous documented examples of misuse” without naming one.

While GOP lawmakers have long railed against schools spending on gyms and athletic fields, there’s little evidence of actual fraud. In contrast to the Paycheck Protection Program, which saw over $60 billion lost to theft largely from businesses, school relief funds were tightly monitored. A 2023 Inspector General report confirmed the department had taken “significant actions” to oversee spending.

The Trump administration’s ending of ESSER funds extensions comes after the Biden administration had allowed ESSER funding to expire, sending many districts across the country over a “fiscal cliff” because of their dependence on the funding. Even before the abrupt cutoff last Friday, school districts have been carrying out steep budget reductions by closing schools, shuttering vital programs, and triggering layoffs of thousands of teachers, counselors, social workers, and support staff, stripping schools of vital personnel and pushing class sizes higher. 

Furthermore, the Trump administration, through its Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann, shamelessly declared, “COVID is over” as a justification for halting the payouts. This statement flies in the face of the pandemic’s continued global impact.

As the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) has documented, five years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, the disease continues to spread, having claimed roughly 30 million lives globally, with hundreds of millions more suffering from Long COVID. 

The current administration’s denial of the pandemic’s ongoing effects is a continuation of the deliberate bipartisan policy of deception to justify the austerity measures imposed on the working class to fund war and enrich the world’s oligarchs.

The assault on public education must be understood within the broader context of the Trump administration’s agenda to dismantle essential public services. Just days before McMahon’s announcement, the Department of Health and Human Services abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment, and other urgent health issues. 

This move, like the defunding of schools, will further cripple already underfunded public programs, leading to the layoffs of thousands of workers and jeopardizing programs vital to the working class. The halting of COVID relief funds is another step in this destructive process, aligning with the administration’s broader attack on science and social programs and its “let it rip” pandemic policy.

The capitalist system is incapable of addressing the fundamental needs of the population, as evidenced by the disastrous response to the pandemic and now the gutting of public health and education. 

The fight to save public education cannot be left to the Democrats or union bureaucracies who, in their refusal to act in the interests of the working class, are open collaborators with the fascist Trump administration. 

The Democratic National Committee issued a statement denouncing the cuts to education as part of Trump’s broader agenda to dismantle public education, calling it a betrayal of 50 million students. Yet, despite their rhetoric, Democrats voted for the 2025 federal budget that included over $200 million in cuts to education, exposing their complicity in the bipartisan assault on public education. 

Meanwhile, the national teachers unions the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association—led by Randi Weingarten and Becky Pringle respectively—have sought to suppress the growing opposition of their four million members, including blocking strike action by 26,000 Chicago teachers. Instead, the union bureaucracies are trying to smother opposition by telling educators to appeal to Democratic Party legislators as well as Trump himself.

European Union threatens retaliation against Trump tariffs

Alex Lantier

Ursula von der Leyen presents the new Commission and its program ahead of the vote in the European Parliament [Photo by Europäische Union, 2024 - EP]

European Union (EU) officials responded to global tariffs imposed by the Trump administration yesterday by moving to impose tens of billions of euros in tariffs on US products. With Washington now imposing a 20 percent tariff on all EU goods and a 25 percent tariff on European auto exports, US-EU ties are suffering a historic breakdown, and a trade war is being set into motion, threatening unprecedented attacks on workers in America, Europe and internationally.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke this morning from Uzbekistan, where she is attending a Central Asia-EU summit, appealing to Washington for talks while threatening a first raft of €26 billion in EU tariffs. Asking Trump to “move from confrontation to negotiation,” she said, “We are already finalizing a first package of countermeasures in response to tariffs on steel. And we are now preparing for further countermeasures to protect our interests and our businesses if negotiations fail.”

Vast numbers of goods and jobs are at stake. US-EU trade reached €1.6 trillion in 2023, including €851 billion in goods and €746 billion in services. While Europe ran a €153 billion trade surplus in goods, mainly in cars, machinery, aerospace and pharmaceuticals, it ran a €109 billion deficit in services, driven mainly by purchases of services by US banks and tech firms. The United States and the EU have invested over €5 trillion in each other’s financial markets.

The EU’s first wave of tariffs target US goods, including jeans, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, steel, aluminum and agricultural goods. The EU may also invoke its so-called Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), a 2023 law to coordinate trade war measures against countries the EU considers are seeking to economically coerce it. This would let EU countries cut payments to US banks and tech firms for financial services or intellectual property rights.

For now, uncertainty prevails in European ruling circles as to what sort of deal they can negotiate with Trump and how quickly and deeply trade war measures will undermine Europe’s economy.

Dutch bank ING estimated that a 25 percent US tariff would cut 19 percent of EU goods exports to the United States. The value of these lost sales, at around €100 billion, is 0.87 percent of EU Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, there would be far broader economic knock-on effects as workers in affected industries are fired, their income and purchasing power collapse, and the US and EU potentially impose further rounds of tariffs on each other. ING said it is “impossible” for now to quantify the economic collapse the “tariff tsunami” will cause.

Financial analysts are raising concerns over German car exports, with tariffs expected to largely price them out of US markets. “Tariffs on automotive exports present a major challenge for Germany’s economy,” said Daniel Parker of Capital Economics. “Stuttgart, Upper Bavaria, and the Braunschweig region—which includes Wolfsburg—are likely to suffer the most pronounced impacts.” Auto plants and parts suppliers in Germany and across Europe, notably in Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, would also be badly hit.

EU officials, together with broad sections of the European corporate and political establishment, are calling on Trump to come to reason and grant a deal reconciling US and European interests.

EU Council President and former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa told Euronews:

[US-EU] trade relations represent 30 percent of global trade [and] 40 percent of global GDP, so it won’t just affect Europe and the United States, it will affect everyone. So it’s a big mistake. ... We must respond in a firm but also smart manner. That means we must reach a negotiated solution … in the common and mutual interest of the United States and Europe.

Whatever deals the EU may make with Trump, however, they will not restore the US-European alliance and economic equilibrium as it existed in the decades after World War II. Not only do US and European imperialist interests clash, but trade war measures will vastly intensify economic hardships facing workers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Trump administration’s foreign policy is indubitably hostile to Europe. Beyond its tariffs, it is threatening to take Greenland from Denmark and aims to plunder hundreds of billions of dollars of Ukrainian mineral resources that the EU hoped to also seize in the Ukraine-Russia war. However, the US-EU conflict does not flow simply from the mindset of America’s far-right president but from objectively rooted inter-imperialist contradictions between America and Europe.

Trump’s trade war marks an eruption of US-European tensions that twice in the 20th century exploded into world wars. His trade war aims to address America’s relative economic decline, reducing its deepening budget and trade deficits, while defending US military dominance by consolidating US military supply chains. The EU powers, on the other hand, have been discussing for nearly a decade how to consolidate their industry and build European military forces ultimately to rival America’s.

While governments on both sides of the Atlantic are formally preparing for negotiations, hostile statements are mounting on both sides. Yesterday, acting German Economy Minister Robert Habeck denounced Trump’s tariffs, comparing them to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that the EU opposed militarily. He said the tariffs recall “the beginning of our time in office, especially with the war of aggression against Ukraine and the threatening situation with natural gas.”

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, who agreed on a target of spending 5 percent of GDP on the military—which would require savage social attacks on workers in Europe. However, US officials reportedly objected to EU plans to build up its defense industry with a €800 billion rearmament package, by blocking EU purchases of US weapons systems. European diplomats demanded to be consulted on US plans to move weapons systems out of Europe to the Pacific to target China.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot had, however, traveled to China last week, seeking closer ties with Beijing on trade policy. He asked his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to help end the tariffs China imposed on French alcoholic beverages after France voted for EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and to pressure Moscow to include EU powers in the Ukraine negotiations. Wang called for “multilateralism over unilateralism” in world affairs, while Barrot said that “a number of major principles, particularly those of multilateralism, are being shaken.”

While conflicts are mounting between the imperialist powers, workers on both sides of the Atlantic face similar prospects of mounting attacks on their basic social and democratic rights. The first stage of the trade war threatens US workers with devastating price increases and layoffs, while European workers face vast job losses. The EU estimates that 5 million jobs in Europe depend on exports to the United States, while 2.4 million US jobs depend on exports to Europe.

As Trump’s tariffs take effect Stellantis announces thousands of layoffs in Canada, Mexico and US

Logan Buchko, Shannon Jones & Jerry White

Shift change at Stellantis Windsor Assembly, April 3, 2025

Only a few hours after President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs were announced, workers across North America began experiencing the consequences. Stellantis will “temporarily” idle its Windsor Assembly Plant in Canada and Toluca Assembly Plant in Mexico. About 4,500 workers in Windsor will be impacted. Some 2,600 are employed at the Toluca facility.

In the United States, Stellantis is laying off 900 workers at factories, which supply both the Canadian and Mexican plants. Workers at Warren and Sterling Heights stamping plants outside of Detroit, and two transmission factories and one casting plant in Kokomo, Indiana are among those that will be impacted in the US by the layoffs.

In a statement to Stellantis employees, head of North American operations Antonio Filosa said, “With the new automotive sector tariffs now in effect, it will take our collective resilience and discipline to push through this challenging time.” He continued, “But we will quickly adapt to these policy changes and will protect our company, maintain our competitive edge and continue delivering great products to our customers.”

The Stellantis executive added that the company was still assessing the long-term impact of the tariffs but had decided to take certain immediate actions by idling the Windsor and Toluca plants.

The cuts are the predictable result of the disruption caused by the tariffs, which amount to a declaration of economic war by the Trump administration against the rest of the world.

Despite the lying claims by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain that the tariffs will lead to more jobs for American workers, the reality is the working class will pay the price both in higher prices and layoffs. Any production “reshored” to the US, moreover, will come with demands for lower wages and other concessions.

Trump, who has the support of major union heads, including Fain and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, is aiming to create a fortress North America in preparation for world war against its global capitalist rivals. Fain has claimed that Trump—who is witch hunting immigrants, deporting students for opposing the US-backed Israeli genocide, firing thousands of federal workers and erecting a fascist dictatorship—is fighting for the working class by waging trade war.

In response to the layoff announcements Fain issued a defensive statement feigning shock and blaming Stellantis management for the cuts while not mentioning the tariffs at all. “Stellantis continues to play games with workers’ lives,” Fain said. “As we’ve shown time and again, they’ve got the money, the capacity, the product, and the workforce to employ thousands more UAW members in Michigan, Indiana, and beyond. These layoffs are a completely unnecessary choice that the company is making.”

The UAW bureaucrat predictably said nothing about the loss of workers’ jobs in Canada and Mexico.

These cuts are only a foretaste of the jobs bloodbath that is coming. In reality there is no such thing as an “American” car. Every vehicle that rolls off the assembly line represents the collective labor of workers all over the world united in a globally interconnected chain of production. Tariffs will disrupt production and lead to economic collapse. If not stopped by the intervention of the working class this path leads to trade war and world war as the experience of the 1930s testifies.

A World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter reporting team spoke to workers at the Stellantis Windsor Assembly Plant Thursday. Referring to Fain’s support for trade war, one worker said, “That reflects upon their ignorance. The auto industry is too tied together and integrated. It’s going to affect his own members. Multi-billion-dollar companies are going to exacerbate the recession to the point that tariffs could possibly cause a depression like they did back in the 1930s. The collaboration of workers across borders would work.”

Another worker added,  “It’s not a tax against us (Canada), it’s a tax against the American people. It’s going to hurt both sides. There are five plants in the states where there are going to be layoffs and a few in Mexico. We are so closely integrated and we are in profit-driven industry.

“I don’t blame the American people, it’s completely out of their control. We’ve worked together for decades. We can’t be at each other’s throats.” Asked if workers should have a global strategy to fight the global corporations, he said, “Absolutely. That’s what the unions are supposed to do for us. But us, as workers, we can take it a step further.”

A younger worker said, “This trade war is garbage. All the tariffs need to be finished right now. I just started this job six or seven months ago and I didn’t think I’d be getting laid off this soon.”

Windsor Stellantis workers reading the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter denouncing the UAW's backing of Trump's tariffs and calling for the unity of US, Canadian and Mexican workers

Another worker said, “I love my American brothers and sisters. I am grateful to live next to America, but I disagree with the tariffs they are imposing on us. I won’t let them divide us and will do everything to fight that.

“A trade war is not good for anyone including the United States. It’s a shortsighted solution for a big problem. Workers should be working together, we should not be pit against each other. My plant has been here for over a hundred years. We are not taking any jobs from people in the United States. It’s just not possible, it’s just not true. Us in a trade war only hurts all of us. The US, Canada and Mexican workers should be together. Our economies are all integrated together.”

No less hostile to a unified movement of the working class than the UAW bureaucracy, the Canadian auto union called for retaliatory tariffs against the US. “Canada needs to respond swiftly and strategically to halt Trump’s attempt to steal jobs and pick off industries one by one,” Unifor President Lana Payne said.

These cuts in North America follow the announcement by Stellantis that it has scrapped plans for a battery plant and parts distribution center in Belvidere, Illinois, and scaled back plans for reopening its idled Belvidere assembly plant. The factory is supposed to open in 2027 with only 1,500 workers returning.

The decision to reopen the plant—which employed 4,000 workers in the 1980s—was the centerpiece of the supposed “victory” of Fain’s bogus “Stand Up strike” in 2023. After the wave of mass layoffs that followed the sellout agreement and Stellantis’ decision to put the Belvidere reopening on hold, the UAW launched the Keep the Promise campaign, which consisted of filing grievances and holding votes to authorize a strike, which the UAW bureaucracy never intended to call.

Fain attributed the resignation of Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares last December to his publicity stunt campaign and then told workers to place their faith in Stellantis’ new North American executives to “work with the union” to reopen the Belvidere plant and “save” American jobs. In the run up to these new job cuts, the UAW worked with Stellantis to press workers in Michigan and Ohio to accept buyouts to proactively reduce headcounts. 

With a large selloff on Wall Street and increasing predictions of an economic recession, job cuts are sweeping across the US. According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, “US-based employers announced 275,240 job cuts in March, a 60 percent increase from the 172,017 cuts announced one month prior.” That is a 205 percent increase from March 2024, which was the highest monthly total that year. The total included 216,215 furloughs of federal government workers.

Among other job cut announcements, Whirlpool in Amana, Iowa is laying off 650 workers effective June 1, citing lower sales. Chevron meanwhile is cutting 600 jobs at its old headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Graphic Packaging Holding Company plans to close its manufacturing location in Middletown, OH, eliminating 130 jobs.

Conditions rapidly worsening for victims of Myanmar earthquake

Ben McGrath

A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in Myanmar following the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake there on Friday. As of early Monday morning, the death toll had risen to 1,700, though this figure will certainly grow as rescue teams search the rubble and reach outlying areas. Recovery efforts are underway in neighboring Thailand, which was also affected.

Buildings in damaged by Myanmar earthquake, March 29, 2025 [Photo: UNICEF]

The earthquake struck along the Sagaing Fault near Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar. Other major cities along the fault include Yangon and the capital of Naypyitaw. The earthquake as well as powerful aftershocks knocked down buildings and bridges while destroying roads, essentially flattening whole towns. There are also serious concerns about the state of Myanmar’s dams.

In addition to those killed, more than 3,400 have been injured while many more remain missing. The US Geological Survey estimates that the death toll could surpass 10,000.

Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world and many of the buildings were not constructed to withstand earthquakes. Brian Baptie of the British Geological Survey told the Associated Press, “When you have a large earthquake in an area where there are over a million people, many of them living in vulnerable buildings, the consequences can often be disastrous.”

These conditions are making it difficult for healthcare and rescue workers. Damage to roads, airports, and other infrastructure is causing delays in getting aid to those who need it. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that a “severe shortage of medical supplies is hampering response efforts, including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicines, and tents for health workers.”

OCHA further noted, “Thousands of people are spending the nights on the streets or open spaces due to the damage and destruction to homes or fearing further quakes.”

Han Zin, a resident of the city of Sagaing, located near the earthquake’s epicenter, told Reuters, “What we are seeing here is widespread destruction—many buildings have collapsed into the ground… We have received no aid, and there are no rescue workers in sight.” He added that much of the town is without electricity and that drinking water was running out.

Most of the efforts to provide aid and locate people trapped under buildings has been conducted by self-organized groups of residents who lack the necessary tools and equipment to dig people out of the rubble. Rescuers have also cited fears that many buildings are unstable and could collapse, preventing them from searching for survivors.

The destruction could potentially equal as much as 70 percent of Myanmar’s GDP, which stood at $US64.28 billion last year. Prior to the earthquake, the World Bank also predicted the economy would contract by 1 percent at the end of the fiscal year this month. Nyi Nyi Kyaw, a political scientist at the University of Bristol who is from Myanmar stated, “In essence, Myanmar is wholly unable to deal with the shock and its aftermath.”

Several countries have dispatched rescue teams, including China, Russia, India, and Thailand. Beijing sent 135 rescue personnel and necessary supplies while pledging $US13.8 million dollars.

The Trump administration in the US has pledged support, but a three-person team from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is not expected to arrive until Wednesday. Even as the earthquake was unfolding, Trump was gutting the organization. Last Friday, USAID employees in the process of preparing a response to the earthquake received emails notifying them that they had been fired.

Other natural disasters have also battered Myanmar in the past year, including Typhoon Yagi, impacting an estimated 2.4 million people as well as half of the country’s agricultural firms. This led to a sharp increase in food insecurity, which is now being exacerbated.

In Thailand, which also felt the effects of Friday’s earthquake, at least 18 people have been killed in Bangkok, including 10 workers constructing a high-rise building. An additional 78 people are missing and some people are believed to still be alive under the wreckage. Naruemol Thonglek, the wife of one of the missing workers, who is from Myanmar, said, “I was praying that that they had survived, but when I got here and saw the ruin… where could they be?” Other fatalities also occurred at construction sites.

Many people in Bangkok were unable to return to their homes, pending safety checks. The city government said it had received more than 9,500 reports of building damage. Residents shared pictures online of their homes with cracks in them. People were forced to sleep in parks, with the city providing portable toilets and drinking water.

The earthquake disaster could lead to serious political unrest, particularly in Myanmar where the ruling military junta has been in control since staging a coup in February 2021. This intensified armed conflict involving separatist armed militias, which has been ongoing in the country for decades. The junta, which is highly unpopular, holds a fragile grip on power and its inability to provide aid could trigger a mass anti-government movement.

Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing stated over the weekend, “All military and civilian hospitals, as well as healthcare workers, must work together in a coordinated and efficient manner to ensure effective medical response.”

However, the government has restricted aid from reaching many of those displaced by the civil war. The National Unity Government (NUG), a coalition of forces opposed to the junta, controls large parts of the Sagaing region.

The NUG stated Saturday night that there would be a partial two-week ceasefire in earthquake-affected regions, beginning the next day. It also stated that it would cooperate with the UN and aid organizations “to ensure security, transportation, and the establishment of temporary rescue and medical camps.”

The military has reportedly continued air strikes against opposition forces, including in the states of Kayin and Shan, both of which border the Mandalay region. The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Tom Andrews described the situation as “nothing short of incredible.” He stated, “Anyone who has influence on the military needs to step up the pressure and make it very clear that this is not acceptable.”

Over the last four years alone, more than 75,000 people have been killed and more than 3.5 million people have been displaced. Furthermore, throughout Myanmar, an estimated 19.9 million people, or slightly more than one-third of the population, were already in need of aid before the earthquake, with millions facing food insecurity.