When America sneezes, the world catches a cold. That phrase encapsulates the global economy’s interdependence and the centrality of the United States within it. The choices of Americans, from their consumer trends to their election results, have a wide-ranging impact worldwide, including in the UK.

President-elect Donald Trump won Tuesday’s US Presidential Election on a platform committed to imposing minimum tariffs of 60% on all Chinese goods imported into the US and 10% on all goods imported from elsewhere. He has promised to cut federal income taxes using the proceeds of these tariffs. He intends to encourage foreign companies to move their production process to the US and make US companies more competitive in the American market. The consequences could be a spike in inflation, an economic slowdown, and a hit to growth in America’s allies.

By definition, increasing the prices of goods imported into the US by imposing tariffs will increase inflation, which only fell below 3% a few months ago. Cutting income taxes will inject additional demand into the American economy, likely increasing inflation. The long-term consequence could be a slowdown of American economic growth as Americans find themselves unable to continue consuming goods and services at the same rate. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research in the UK has projected that the tariffs would cut US GDP growth by between 1.3 and 1.8 points over the next two years.

Read more by Mark McGeoghegan

None of this would be good for American consumers, and none would be good for America’s allies. The UK would be particularly badly hit. Ours is an open,........

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