A Chinese worker at a steel plant in Shandong province. The US will impose tariffs on the metal AFP/GETTY IMAGESA further escalation in protectionism by President Trump’s White House could dent global growth, drive up inflation and blow the Bank of England’s economic forecasts for the UK off course, its rate setters warned yesterday. The Bank’s monetary policy committee, the nine experts who set interest rates, used the minutes to its latest meeting to respond to punitive tariffs imposed by the US on steel and aluminium from the UK and the European Union this month. The US has hit China with tariffs on solar panels and washing machines and has threatened to step up its trade war by tackling intellectual property infringements. As it left interest rates unchanged at 0.5 per cent this month, the Bank said: “A major increase in protectionism worldwide could…

Source: The Times March 23, 2018 00:01 UTC