El Ciudadano
Original article: El arancel de EEUU no castiga a Luksic: Castiga a los chilenos que trabajan
By Leopoldo Lavín Mujica
Washington’s decision to impose a 12.5% tariff on Chilean exports is not just a technical penalty: it is a direct political blow to the wallets of regional workers.
While major copper and lithium mining operations remain exempt, the products affected by the tariff are essential for local employment within Chile’s neoliberal economy: antibiotic-treated salmon, pesticide-laden fruits, wines, and cellulose. The burden will not fall on Andrónico Luksic, but rather on the workers in Araucanía, Los Lagos, and Maule regions.
The pretext of “forced labor” is merely a smokescreen. This label was chosen to justify the measure, but any excuse would suffice. The real motivation behind Trump’s decision is commercial and revenue-driven, compounded by the weakness of Chile’s Foreign Ministry, which only invites higher tariffs. Focusing on refuting this pretext is a waste of time; the underlying issue is that Chile sent a former executive from Quiñenco-Luksic to negotiate.
Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna represents the interests of big capital. For 28 years, he was the strongman at Quiñenco, the Luksic holding company, and his appointment sends a clear message: Chile’s foreign policy is subordinate to the oligarchy’s interests. When Marco Rubio welcomed him in Washington, he did not see a defender of national sovereignty, but rather an ex-executive who maximized profits for one of the wealthiest families in the country for decades.
Rubio was not easily appeased, knowing precisely whom he was dealing with. U.S. officials are well aware of Pérez Mackenna’s boss’s profile: Andrónico Luksic is a donor to Babson College and a trustee for the foundation that bears his name. They know that their interlocutors control billions of dollars. Therefore, they demand more.
Why concede to a foreign minister representing private capital when that capital has the financial resources to absorb the impact without batting an eye?
The issue lies in Trump’s arrogance and erratic policy, but it extends beyond that: it is about the subservience of La Moneda. While the foreign minister negotiates from a standpoint that defends his former employers, Washington interprets that Chile can endure these penalties without complaint.
Having a representative of big capital at the negotiation table is not a comparative advantage; it is a vulnerability. The U.S. does not fear harming the Luksics because they have the means to protect themselves. In contrast, the seasonal workers in the fruit industry are exploited and have nowhere to turn.
The 12.5% tariff is a classist tax disguised as commercial policy. It protects large multinational mining companies (which also include foreign capital) while punishing local productive sectors that are deeply rooted in their communities and socially vulnerable.
This is not coincidental; it perfectly reflects the structural weaknesses of an economic model upheld by the parties in power since the transition. The focus should be on creating an economic alternative that fosters independent development away from the centers of capital power.
Pérez Mackenna is not a career diplomat; he is a wealth manager. And wealth managers do not negotiate for sovereignty or national development; they prioritize profitability. His meeting with Rubio two weeks ago was filled with generalities, lacking any concrete announcements regarding tariff defense. The antibiotic-treated salmon is not consumed by middle-class Americans or Europeans. They seek wild salmon from the Atlantic seas.
While the foreign minister sits at the table bearing the weight of the Luksic Group, the country’s interests are pushed aside. The oligarchy ensures their financial diversification; the workers in the forestry, salmon, agro-export, and winemaking industries do not.
It is time to call things by their rightful names: in the current economic model, the tariff does not penalize the wealthy; it punishes those who are already at the edge. And that is not foreign policy; it is a capitulation.
Leopoldo Lavín Mujica
La entrada US Tariff Impacts Chilean Workers, Not Luksic: A Political Blow to Regional Economies se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.
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