Specifically, they welcome Mr Trump’s crusade to redraw the rules of international trade but know from experience just how porous tariffs can be. What is needed, they say, is much stricter enforcement at the border to prevent foreign companies from dodging levies.

U.S. stock indexes fell on Thursday following President Donald Trump's threat to impose additional tariffs on imports from the European Union, although data showing cooling inflation offered some respite.

As Donald Trump’s tariffs send markets into a tailspin, pressure is mounting on the president to speed up his main proposal for juicing the economy: a sweeping tax bill.