London — The spectre of a global trade war sent world stocks tumbling on Friday and drove investors toward the traditional safe plays of government bonds and the Japanese yen. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index fell more than 1% early on, following both Wall Street and Asia down, after President Donald Trump said the US would impose hefty tariffs on imported steel and aluminium. Trump said duties of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium would be formally announced next week, sparking concerns of retaliatory moves from major trade partners such as China, Europe and neighbouring Canada. "It is a real worry because Europe is an open global economy so it isn’t just about US versus China," said Ian Ormiston, European equity fund manager at Old Mutual Global Investors. "And we will see retaliation there are no two ways about it." Europe’s early drop came amid caution anyway ahead of few crunch days of politics. Britain’s under-fire Prime Minister Theresa May will flesh out her Brexit plans later, while...
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