President-elect Trump has promised to impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico, and tariffs as high as 60% on goods coming from China on day one of his new administration. What will these protectionist policies accomplish?

Another check on the administration could be the fear of tariff-induced inflation. Americans’ experience of the highest price rises in 40 years helped doom Kamala Harris’s election bid. Mr Trump may not want to be seen as the architect behind surging prices of everything from Americans’ breakfast avocados to their newest set of wheels.