Britain’s biggest businesses were fretting about the consequences of a global trade war even before President Trump’s flip-flopping on tariffs last week.
In the days leading up to Trump’s tariffs announcement, executives’ concerns about geopolitical risks were at the highest level since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to Deloitte, which surveyed FTSE 350 finance chiefs at the end of March. Doubts about the outlook for the US economy, the world’s largest, were also elevated.
Companies, already wary of what Trump might do, had started battening down the hatches ahead of time, slashing costs at a rate never seen outside of a global pandemic, Deloitte said.
“It is unsurprising that chief financial officers (CFOs) reported elevated levels of uncertainty,” Amanda Tickel, head of tax and trade
