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Certainly recent events share some hallmarks with the “Nixon shock”, which occurred when the then president took the dollar off the gold standard, implemented a 10 per cent import tariff and introduced temporary price controls. This de-anchoring of the regime resulted in a period of global economic instability and uncertainty. It not only caused a loss in business confidence but led to stagflation. Nixon’s price and wage controls spectacularly backfired, triggering product shortages and helping to fuel a wage-price spiral. The whole episode was a pivotal contributor to the huge inflation of the ’70s. As with Trump’s tariffs, Nixon’s were introduced to cudgel countries into changing the terms of trade to help reduce the US trade deficit. His biggest concerns were Japan and Germany. “My philosophy, Mr President, is that all foreigners are out to screw us and it’s our job to screw them first,” Treasury secretary John Connally had said to him.