China has posted unexpectedly strong economic growth in the first three months of 2025, before the full force of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs took effect.

I dunno, I go on holiday for a few days and in my absence Donald Trump has turned the US’s already messed-up tariff schedule into the kind of hopelessly tangled cat’s cradle that even the most down-and-out feline* would reject as a place of repose.

On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs – a 10% levy on nearly all U.S. imports, along with targeted duties aimed at punishing countries he accuses of exploiting American markets.

History shows that tariffs to revive U.S. manufacturing, reclaim jobs and counter allegedly unfair trade practices rarely succeed. In today's interconnected world, they're more likely to provoke painful retaliation.