Conventional wisdom suggests any impediment to free trade is detrimental in a globalised economy. Hence, Donald Trump’s rhetoric on tariffs have always made trading nations nervous. Afterall, US purchases more than USD 3 trillion worth of goods and services from the rest of world every year, accounting for more than 13% of all global imports. Consider his previous presidency. The fact that Trump was serious about his views on protectionism was proven when the US administration started to raise tariffs from January 2018. This was the start of one of the most ruthless trade wars the world saw. These actions rolled back years of hard work put in by free trade champions like Peter Sutherland, ex Director General of World Trade Organisation, also known as the father of globalisation. Incidentally Mr Sutherland died in 2018.