THE riposte of China last week to US President Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and imposition of punitive tariffs on Chinese goods could be taken as the beginning of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trade partners of both countries are justifiably gravely concerned at the potential, perhaps even inevitable, collateral damage to their own economies as a result.

Trump on Thursday announced he would order an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. That is in addition to $50 billion in punitive tariffs already imposed on products such as steel, aluminum and others.