United States: The worldwide shift toward politics described as “Trumpization” received strong criticism from French union leaders who took to the streets of Turin with a Trump puppet during their May Day demonstrations.
Workers Demand Reform World-wide
International Workers’ Day reached a historic milestone when hundreds of thousands of people across different continents gathered for protests against the policies of US President Donald Trump, including his economic trade war strategy and immigration enforcement efforts.
The United States saw its protestors participating in actions against what they described as a far-reaching attack on workplace protections, anti-discrimination programs, and public servant employment.
German labor leaders signaled that longer work schedules, as well as intensifying anti-immigrant feelings, have destroyed protections for workers.
From Tokyo to Turin to LA, President Donald Trump’s policies loom over May Day marches https://t.co/cJvnA1knIv
— Chicago Breaking News (@ChicagoBreaking) May 1, 2025
Thousands in Bern, Swiss joined a march that displayed banners against war and fascism as part of the response toward global far-right politics.
France’s union leaders estimated that hundreds of thousands of protesters would take to the streets nationwide because Americans maintained too much military presence along with trade dominance in European territories.
French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon attacked the United States for making Europe vulnerable to conflicts while forcing it into economic dependence, AP News reported.
“If the North Americans don’t want our goods anymore, we can just sell them to others,” he stated.
Thousands of Spanish demonstrators filled the principal streets of Madrid and Barcelona along with other cities while they continued to demand solutions to the historic power outage across the Iberian Peninsula, and they also pressed for reduced work hours.
“The world has changed a bit with Trump’s arrival,” as stated by Ángel López, 56, a worker from Madrid.
“The arrival of the far right to a country like the United States is a major global shift,” she added.
Economic fears surface in Asia
Trump’s name also surfaced. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te used the new US trade measures implemented by Trump to support his extensive economic initiative to boost industrial employment.
Through Mong Palatino’s leadership in the Philippines, he alerted that “tariff wars and policies of Trump” would endanger both local manufacturing industries and employment stability.
The Japanese public got a visual representation of Trump’s presence through a toy resembling his appearance, which was displayed in a row of Tokyo marching vehicles.
The protesters in that location demanded higher pay scales with gender parity, healthcare access, emergency aid Palestinian-Gaza truce conditions, and a stop to the Russian-Ukraine war.
“For our children to be able to live with hope, the rights of workers must be recognized,” said Junko Kuramochi, who is a member of a mothers’ group in Tokyo.
Furthermore, Tadashi Ito, a union construction worker, mentioned that he feared the rising cost of imported raw materials, as AP News reported.
“Everybody is fighting over work, and so the contracts tend to go where the wages are cheapest,” he stated.
“We think peace comes first. And we hope Trump will eradicate conflict and inequalities,” as he continued.