Trump’s Tariffs Would Intensify Labor Exploitation: Truthout

President Donald Trump is hardly a model of anti-consumerism.

Trump’s tariffs are unlikely to generate significant employment gains in the U.S.

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With an estimated net worth of $5 billion, the former reality TV star, crypto promoter, and real estate mogul owns a vast portfolio of luxury properties, private jets, and expensive cars.

Yet amid the contentious rollout of his sweeping tariff policy, Trump has delivered an unexpected message to Americans: Buy less, Schuyler Mitchell reported for Truthout.

Roughly 80% of the U.S. toy supply comes from China, an industry now bracing for impact from Trump’s trade war. The U.S. is the most wasteful country globally, generating 12% of the world’s trash while comprising just 4% of the global population.

More than 11 million tons of textile waste are sent to landfills annually.

This level of consumption harms both the environment and human rights. America’s access to cheap goods often relies on exploitative labor conditions in the Global South. Trump has framed his tariff plan as a dual solution: curbing overconsumption and boosting American jobs.

While acknowledging that prices may rise temporarily, he argues that high import taxes will prompt companies to reshore operations, hire U.S. workers, and spark a domestic manufacturing revival.

But experts say this vision is unrealistic. Trump’s tariffs are unlikely to generate significant employment gains in the U.S. or address deep-rooted inequities in global supply chains.

On the contrary, analysts warn the tariffs will likely increase costs for low-income American families and further degrade labor conditions overseas.

“It’s a real myth that all these industries are going to come back to the U.S.,” said Sanchita Saxena, a faculty fellow at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, who has studied human rights in global supply chains for over two decades.

“The reality is, these companies have seen the financial benefits of cutting costs for decades. Even if tariffs raise production costs in one country, companies will just move to another with cheaper labor than the U.S.”