The jolt of euphoria that gripped the stock market after Donald Trump was re-elected has waned as investors have attempted to parse the effect his proposals and cabinet picks could have on industries and the economy.

The layman’s narrative of the 1930s is that America’s Smoot-Hawley tariffs set off a beggar-thy-neighbour spiral and caused the Great Depression. It is not true.

The European Union should seek constructive engagement on trade with the incoming Trump administration, but be ready to hit back in a coordinated way at the United States if it imposes new tariffs on the 27-nation bloc,

In the summer of 2018, when former President Donald Trump launched a trade war with Beijing, the Chinese economy was gaining on the United States, and popular opinion suggested it could soon become the world’s largest.