Donald Trump looks set to reignite his tariff war with China when he returns to the White House. But a different and friendlier region will become collateral damage. Europe may well be faced with its own Trump tariffs but it’s those aimed at Beijing that could be more detrimental for the region.

President-elect Donald Trump’s latest threats to impose US tariffs on friends and foes alike may put the European Union’s new trade powers to the test.

The popular wisdom had become that he wasn’t really that serious, and the key bit of evidence for that was his nomination of hedge fund investor Scott Bessent as his Treasury Secretary, someone seen as a moderate when it came to tariffs compared with others whose names were floated for the role.