Donald Trump’s team ramps up trade war rhetoric

The Trump administration has signalled it is prepared to start a trade war, as the President’s top economic advisers “set the stage for the rollout of his ‘America First’ manifesto on the world stage”, reports Bloomberg.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the White House sees America as the victim of a global trade war and warned the rest of the world should expect more tariff hikes in “retaliation”.

“Trade wars are fought every single day and, unfortunately, every single day there are also various parties violating the rules and trying to take unfair advantage,” he said.

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“The difference,” he added, “is that US troops are now coming to the ramparts.”

Ross’s words come after a furious reaction from China to US tariffs of up to 50% on imports of washing machines and solar panels, announced on Monday. Seen by many as the prelude to trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, the tariffs were defended by US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who said they were a response to “inappropriate behaviour” by the US’s trading partners.

Both men promied to fight harder to protect US manufacturers and exporters, but denied this represented a shift towards a more protectionist stance by the US.

The Daily Telegraph says the White House is deeply irritated over the way foreign leaders - namely China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, and some of Europe’s political class - “exploit the Davos forum to pose as the defenders of free markets, when in reality they game the system in subtle ways with covert barriers, tax distortions or currency manipulation”.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump accused China of unfairly boosting its manufacturers at the expense of US firms by keeping the value of its currency artificially low.

Now it appears the President, who is due in Davos later today, is ready to make good on his campaign promises, even if it risks damaging the US’s fragile economic recovery.