Major central banks have equivocated when predicting growth since the beginning of the year due to concerns over the weaker global economy. The IMF, World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, among other bodies, have all reduced their growth forecasts for 2019.

The primary culprit is US President Donald Trump’s trade policy — a technology war unleashed against China in the form of trade tariffs disguised as protection from China’s threat to US security. As we have recently discovered, no country is safe from attack as long as there is trade diverted through it to the US; Mexico and India are the latest to receive threats of higher tariffs...

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