Agreement between Great Britain and the USA | Trade conflicts are class conflicts

US President Donald Trump is praising the announced trade agreement between Great Britain and the US as a "great deal." British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also sounds euphoric, saying the "historic agreement" would secure thousands of British jobs in key sectors such as automotive manufacturing and the steel industry. And experts are arguing over who came out on top in the exchange.

And what about the workers who are being courted from all sides? The unions were far down in the pecking order in the agreement, according to the largest employee representative body, GMB. And that's symptomatic – and not just for the social democratic Great Britain. Unions everywhere are fighting for a say and a few crumbs from the big bargaining table. More than job security is usually all they can achieve – at the expense of colleagues on the other side of the world.

It will be no different when the US negotiates with its currently most powerful competitor, China, this weekend, and when EU trade ministers meet in Brussels next week to discuss a joint roadmap. At its core, this concerns the interests of their own corporations, which are trying to assert themselves on the global market under changing global economic and geopolitical conditions.

Ultimately, trade conflicts are class conflicts, regardless of whether they are waged in the name of free trade or protectionism. No one should be blinded by the glittering rhetoric.