Shipping and the trade war torpedo

THE weekend's news that US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed to halt new trade tariffs for 90 days to allow for talks will be widely welcomed, and especially in the global shipping industry.

While the deal, agreed at a a post-G20 summit meeting in Buenos Aires, is a temporary one it appears that there is real hope that a long-term agreement can be thrashed out in the coming three months. If so, that will be even better news for the maritime sector.

The incipient US-China trade war is already affecting shipping. The latest …