The British historian Arnold Toynbee remarked famously that America was a large, friendly dog in a very small room and that, every time it wagged its tail, it knocked over a chair. If he had lived to witness Donald Trump’s America he would not have called the dog friendly. And he would have noted the presence of another big beast in the room, namely China.
Policymakers in these two countries hold the key to the gyrations of global markets in the coming months. An important question is how market-friendly China is likely to be.
Since it started to open up its economy in 1978, the country has contributed considerably to global growth, though not always in benign ways.