Global stocks lurched another notch lower after Donald Trump reignited fears of an imminent trade war by imposing huge tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US.

With markets already under pressure from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish lean in his first grilling in Congress this week, the US President insisted in a tweet that "trade wars are good and easy to win" as stocks tumbled across the globe.

The FTSE 100 extended its losing streak to a fourth day, slipping 1.5pc to its lowest level since December 2016, while the DAX in Frankfurt and CAC 40 in Paris shed 2.3pc and 2.4pc, respectively.

The last time the White House adopted protectionist steel tariffs in 2002 they were lifted after less than two years amid concerns that they had damaged economic growth and the labour market. Some £360m of Britain's yearly steel exports to America would be impacted by the new tariffs and Richard Warren, head of policy at UK Steel, has warned that the tariffs will have a "significant impact" on UK industry.