Dialectics of Tariffs, Trade, and Global Automotive Production: A "Post-Neoliberal" World-System?

• In Event: Political Economy of the World-System Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Roundtable Ill: Drinks, Cars, Neoliberalism, and Coloniality in the World System

Abstract

Tariffs, considered anachronistic under free-trade neoliberal globalization, have reemerged in political discourse primarily due to the sweeping, fluctuating, and exorbitant tariffs announced during the second Trump administration. The aim of this essay is to contextualize and evaluate the contemporary relevance and expected effects of contemporary American auto tariffs through a historical analysis of globalization and trade practices in the automobile industry. Drawing insights from world-systems and critical political economy through a comparative historical approach, this analysis explores how globalization has changed in meaning and importance over time and between countries, highlighting how corporations transnationalize, trade liberalization ebbs and flows, the “race to the bottom” is eschewed or exacerbated, and how dark value is accrued through unequal exchanges between core and (semi)periphery. Specifically, I describe the dominant patterns of automobile production, trade, and globalization from the early 20th century to the present, with primary attention paid to developments in the United States in relation to the rest of the world. The global auto industry has historically been organized nationally or regionally but never fully globally, meaning the effectiveness of tariffs today remain in doubt, especially as past trade actions have encouraged domestic production. After describing the major historical trends and exemplars of auto industry globalization, I draw upon these historical insights to address three questions regarding the contemporary auto tariffs: how precedented or unprecedented are these tariffs, are the expected consequences likely to be of major or minor consequence for the industry, and are they likely to be efficacious in achieving the administration’s goals? Examining auto tariffs and industrial globalization as a historical case study informs a critique of contemporary developments by evaluating the historical distinction of the tariffs, their potential effects and efficacy, and the world-historic significance of the return of tariffs and trade wars among core countries.

Author

• Anthony Jack Knowles, University of Tennessee-Knoxville