Be prepared: Integrated strategy a must for handling global uncertainty

It is far from clear what the pattern of world trade, including in services, will be once this tariff dynamic has played itself out

Well into Donald Trump’s second year as US president, oft-expressed worries about his isolationist administration’s impact on world trade are finally being realised. The past fortnight has seen a flurry of action on the trade front. Mr Trump, months ago, indicated that he intended to raise tariffs on steel and aluminium being imported into the US. Not that these are being put in place, the US’s trading partners are informing the World Trade Organization of the retaliatory tariffs that they intend to impose. Many of these target US agricultural exports. Some are narrowly focused on states that are important to