Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution on the economy, that was adopted at the 8th Congress of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

_Tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports includes Christmas lights _

San José, CA – While most Americans won’t have a ‘white Christmas’ this year, many of us will be looking forward to the displays of lights on many homes and businesses. Now the Trump administration’s escalating trade war with China threatens to dim this coming holiday celebrations – or at least make them more expensive.

New York, NY – On June 5, fashion designer Kate Spade died via suicide. Three days later, chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain also committed suicide. Along with his TV show, Bourdain was a supporter of Palestine and the #MeToo movement, as well as openly criticizing Henry Kissinger for his foreign policy.

San José, CA – U.S. stock markets fell again, June 25, as trade war worries continued to weigh on investors. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 1.3% or more than 300 points, after regaining some ground from a 500 point sell-off earlier in the day. The NASDAQ index, which includes more stocks of high-tech companies, fell over 2%.

San José, CA – On June 19, stock markets around the world fell in reaction to U.S. President Trump’s promise to escalate the U.S. trade war with China. The Japanese Nikei index fell almost 2% along with other Asian markets. In Europe, Germany’s export-oriented economy meant its stocks were hit the hardest, with the German DAX index down more than 1%. The world sell-off ended in New York City, with the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 1%, bringing the average to below its starting point for the year.

San José, CA – On Friday, June 15, President Trump signed orders to place tariffs (taxes) on $34 billion of imports from China beginning July 6. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) will be imposing tariffs on another $16 billion of imports from China in the near future for a total of $50 billion in imports facing 25% taxes. This represents another turnaround in trade from a few weeks ago, when Trump’s Commerce Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the trade war was “on hold” after initial negotiation with the Chinese government, which had offered to increase purchases of U.S. goods and further open the Chinese economy to foreign investments.

San José, CA – On Friday, June 1, new U.S. tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum imported from Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU) went into effect. These countries supply about half of U.S. steel imports. All of the countries responded with counter-tariffs on U.S. exports that will start in a month or less. In addition, the other countries are going to be filing suit with the World Trade Organization (WTO), charging that the U.S. reason of “national security” is just a fig leaf to cover U.S. violation of WTO rules.

New York, NY – Around 50 socialists and community organizers gathered on Sunday, May 6 to celebrate the 200th birthday of Karl Marx – the founder of scientific socialism.

Editor’s note: Fight Back! will be running a number of articles to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx.

Part three of a three-part interview with Professor Masao Suzuki

This is part three of a three-part interview. Click for part one and part two of this interview. Fight Back!: President Trump seems intent on risking on a trade war with China in order to narrow the U.S. trade deficit. Trump thinks the U.S. trade deficit means that the U.S. is a loser, and by bringing down the trade deficit the U.S. economy will grow by the same amount, creating jobs and income here in the U.S. What do you think?