by Diego Morra
The current trade war launched by US President Donald Trump against Canada is but the latest episode of imperialist bullying of the North American country that provides 12% of US imports, pumps crude oil fit for US refiners, and provides the potash needed by fertilizer-hungry American farms. Stupid as he is, Trump is backstopped by equally moronic economic and financial advisers who still believe that tariffs are paid by exporters and hanker for the bad days when huge tariffs instigated the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
By treating Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as a vassal, Trump thinks he can smother opposition to his insane desires, including lusting for Natalie Harp, simply by dishing out threats like taking over Ottawa, making the country the 51st US state and sending his losing forces to subjugate Canada, which made history by burning the White House in 1812.
Canada is certainly more prosperous than the Philippines but it shares the same problem of a low IQ US president trying to ram his pet project Pax Silica into the throat of the Filipino people, which reminds us that back in 1969, the year of massive anti-war protests in the US, the year when Woodstock happened in Bethel, New York, the Canadian rock group Guess Who wrote the global hit “American Woman.”
US commentators tried to bowdlerize the lyrics of the song to make it appear like a love song, only to be told by Canadians that the tune was an indictment not only of the Vietnam War but also of US domination of the Canadian economy, with Washington DC trying at every turn to meddle with Ottawa’s domestic policy and demanding equal treatment for its products, investments and submission to US dictation. Written by Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale and Gary Peterson, two stanzas went this way: American woman, listen what I say//American woman, said get away//American woman, listen what I say//Don’t come hangin’ around my door//Don’t wanna see your face no more//I don’t need your war machines//I don’t need your ghetto scenes//Colored lights can hypnotize//Sparkle someone else’s eyes//Now woman, get away from me//American woman, mama let me be.
With Pax Silica, which was crafted in December 2025 and trumpeted as a business transaction that could transform the country into a high-technology nirvana though the 1,620-hectare hub in the Clark Freeport Zone, the local Trump servitors are working triple time to promote the illusion that it can generate up to $90 billion in investments and employ 190,000 Filipinos, with no less than Finance Secretary Frederick Go, favorite nephew of the late taipan John Gokongwei, saying Philippine participation in Pax Silica is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to establish a high technology manufacturing hub and profit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Central to the issue of Pax Silica is the selfish interest of the US to offshore its chip manufacture for advanced weapons systems in the Philippines. The project itself was a reaction to China’s 90% control of rare earths processing, refining and magnet production. The entire trouble is that the US ignorantly sold the technology for rare earth extraction to the Chinese more than 30 years ago to satisfy “shareholder value” and threw strategic interest by the wayside. Now that China has banned the export of dual-purpose rare earths, the US is frantic and wants to play catch, considering that there is only one rare earth mining company operating in the US today.
There are already at least 10 companies operating in the Philippines and already producing or assembling semiconductors, like the strike-bound Nexperia, decades after Intel abandoned the country for failing to secure extended tax perks. As is usual with capitalists, you give them an inch and they’ll demand a mile. Intel never “donated” technology to the Philippines or its employees. It simply pulled up its stakes and relocated to Vietnam during the gory days of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime. These companies are not exactly like ASML of The Netherlands, a monopoly that produces lithographic equipment needed to manufacture chips. It is an ultra-clean company that uses superior quality water for its machines, guaranteed water supply (the Dutch used underground cisterns to store water from thawing snow) as well as power supply. ASML is a national treasure envied by Trump and his gang.
Moreover, there are supposedly more than 400 special economic zones where companies seeking to exploit low wages and benefit from tax perks could locate. The US, as the war criminal Henry Kissinger explained, is not a missionary and its policies are not humanitarian or altruistic. Greed and power combined is what Trump and his minions are pushing. The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Agham and environmental groups are right in opposing this much-hyped Pax Imperialistica. Conceived for the sole purpose of pursuing the failed dream of Trump for low IQ world domination, Pax Silica, which is saddled with turbid plans, is bound to crash in flames, no matter how Go hypes it. The protesters aren’t just kicking up stink. The issue is as real as Trump’s senior diapers and deserves more discussion.#
