Rising US economic nationalism threatens to undermine world trade whoever wins November’s race to the White House, with shipowners particularly concerned about Donald Trump’s protectionism returning “on steroids”, the head of the global industry body has warned.
“The world order has never been under such threat since before the second world war,” Guy Platten, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Shipping, told the Financial Times. “When we last did this, it didn’t work . . . Trade wars lead to war.”
Platten was worried that Republican candidate Trump’s nationalist policies could return with a vengeance, adding that a “scary” visit to the White House during the former president’s first term in 2018 left him “taken aback”.