Another week and Donald Trump has sent another wave of tremors through global markets with his disdain for conventions, rules and institutions. This is now the recurring story of the second Trump presidency. The shock and awe of the more than 130 executive orders Trump has signed in the 93 days since his return to the Oval Office has turned into a policy whiplash that is proving even more destabilising.

At the start of the month, Trump’s “liberation day” announcement of reciprocal tariffs upended the international trade system as we knew it before a bond market revolt forced him to implement a 90-day pause for most countries. However, the tit-for-tat tariff conflict between the world’s two largest economies has escalated, with the retaliatory duties levied by the US and China on each other topping out at a prohibitive 145 per cent and 125 per cent, respectively.