“Apart from anything else, those who support the tariffs are at risk of incurring the blame for the downturn in the global economy irrespective of whether or not that is true,” he told reporters on Saturday.

He said other countries, including the UK are “at risk of being implicated in this.”

“We [the UK] face tariffs of altogether £2.25 billion – that’s the value of the goods affected, £1.1 billion on whisky alone – that we could face if this goes on. This is not the way to proceed.”

He called on the president to change tack and go for an “opening up of global trade,” instead.