Analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland note that the U.S. president Donald Trump upped the ante in the U.S.-China trade talks last week, hiking tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10% to 25%.

• Earlier hikes in tariffs have had, to date, a limited impact. A combination of the tariffs being devised to be felt by Chinese suppliers, a falling Chinese currency and producers accepting smaller margins blunted their efficacy. This time it might be harder to insulate US consumers from the effects, a little upward pressure on prices may be unavoidable. Who has more to lose?
• Well, Chinese exports to the US are equal to about 2.5% of China’s GDP. For the US it’s much smaller, around 1%. But that’s just one angle to the trade war, there are a host of others.