All eyes this week are on the diving stock markets and a fast-approaching “global economic nuclear war” – as described by Bill Ackman, an alarmed US billionaire investor and supporter of president Trump, the man who has unleashed all this chaos on the global financial markets.

This is a fast-moving situation, but increasingly it is becoming clear that Trump does not intend to back down on the foreign imports tariffs he announced on so-called “Liberation Day” last week. The shockwaves of this new reality are now rippling out.

The UK is the least affected developed country with only the baseline tariff imposed on it, while more severe rates apply to the likes of China and the EU. But that is of limited comfort when the likes of JP Morgan have said the risk of a global recession this year has increased to 60%, while in the UK growth forecasts for this year have now been downgraded to 0.8%.