Statement of All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU)
AICCTU Statement
On Job Losses Due to Trump’s Tariff Regime
The government must immediately step in to protect the workers from job losses.
AICCTU observed an All India Protest Day on 1st September.
A few weeks ago, the US President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on US imports from India, making good on a threat to ‘punish’ India over its purchases of discounted Russian oil. Trump alleged that oil and weapons purchase from Russia aided Russia’s war against Ukraine. The tariffs have now come into effect.
While 30% of (India’s US) exports will remain duty-free and 4% will face a 25% tariff, the bulk—66% covering apparel, textiles, gems & jewellery, shrimp, carpets, and furniture—will be hit with a 50% tariff, rendering them uncompetitive. Exports from these sectors could plunge 70%, dropping to $18.6 billion, causing an overall 43% decline in shipments to the US and endangering hundreds of thousands of jobs. Textiles and apparel manufacturers in Tirupur, Noida, and Surat have already halted production amid worsening cost competitiveness. Thus, the working class will be worst affected by the tariffs.
AICCTU has always held that Modi government’s desire to align with the United States is guided not by national interest but by corporate interests and it is against the interests of the working classes. This alignment has created opportunities for wealth amassment by the Adanis, Mahindras and Ambanis even as income inequality hits pre-colonial levels.
India’s alignment with Western imperialism has been touted by the government as a sign of India’s global leadership – its Vishwa Guru status. In reality, while corporations have gained, the working classes have suffered and our independent foreign policy has been compromised. The government has projected its Vishwa Guru claims to hide from failures to create jobs and its attacks on workers’ rights through demonetisation, the labour codes, the unplanned corona lockdown, demolitions and disenfranchisement.
Instead of creating jobs at home, it has forced thousands to migrate to Israel to replace the decimated Palestinian workforce; thereby sacrificing the lives and dignity of the working classes to appease Western imperialist powers. India must stop surrendering to US-Israel nexus and build solidarities with developing countries against Western imperialism and withdraw from economic dependence on US.
The Modi government stood mute and refused to intervene when the US government deported Indian professionals in chains. Now US imposes tariffs that is endangering millions of jobs and there is not a word from the Modi government.
AICCTU demands that the government must immediately step in to protect the workers from job losses and wage cuts in the affected industries by providing the right monetary support to workers.
AICCTU demands that the Modi government withdraws the four labour codes and its policies of contractualisation and privatisation.
AICCTU HQ