Economic warfare is now prime international danger, warns Davos report… simply as Donald Trump prepares to jet in

A ‘new age of competition’ in which countries use economic policy as ‘weaponry’ is the biggest risk facing the world according to a survey of leaders and experts.

The report ahead of next week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos appear to be a thinly-veiled warning of the damage that could be posed by Donald Trump’s trade wars.

Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the WEF, said: ‘We have entered a new age of competition. We are seeing multiple global risks unfolding at the same time.’

The report identified ‘geoeconomic confrontation’ as the top global risk closely followed by ‘polarisation’ of views in society.

Donald Trump addresses the WEF in Davos in 2020

Security will be tight when global leaders including Trump gather in the Swiss resort next week

Only 1 per cent of those surveyed expect a ‘calm’ outlook in the next two years while half foresee a ‘turbulent or stormy world’.

Zahidi said the impact of geopolitical confrontation was already being seen in the shape of tariffs, sanctions and restrictions on investment from rival countries, as well as confrontation over critical minerals and other resources.

The report did not name Trump – who will return to Davos next week for his first in-person appearance there since being elected as president – though the themes raised clearly centred on his upending of global trade and political relationships.

Zahidi said however that ‘this is not just about one actor or two actors’ but the ‘overall shift’ that has resulted in the global economy.

She added: ‘If everybody starts doing the same thing then we really start moving into a very economically difficult situation because it is really not possible for each country to be economically nationalistic to rely only on itself.

‘When economic tools start becoming essentially weaponry instead of a basis for cooperation that’s where the overall risk becomes much higher for crises to unfold and for the lack of capacity to be able to deal with them.’