US President Donald Trump did the unthinkable last month by imposing trade restrictions on his closest allies on the basis that their exports posed a threat to America’s national security. The move triggered retaliatory action, along with outrage. Meanwhile, the main target of Trump’s ill-considered tariffs assault, China, has started to impose its own tit-for-tat restrictions on US exports. In the process, small countries such as South Africa are becoming collateral damage in what has all the makings of an economically destructive trade war.