Until now, Wall Street investors and foreign leaders had given President Donald Trump's antitrade views the benefit of the doubt, dismissing some of Trump's louder threats to rip up global commercial agreements as mere bluster.
That perception changed significantly this weekend, when Trump's Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, seen as among the more moderate members of the administration, held his ground on weakening the Group of 20 nations' long-standing commitment to free trade.
During a meeting of financial officials from the 20 biggest world economies, Mnuchin defended the president's antitrade agenda with sufficient gusto to force a significant change in the language of the G-20's communique.
This year's statement says only that countries "are working to strengthen the contribution of trade" to their economies, a watering down of last year's commitment to combat "all forms" of protectionism.
Already, markets are being "impacted by the somewhat frosty summit between US President Trump and his German counterpart Angela Merkel while Trump's trade Secretary Mnuchin failed to allay fears of rising US protectionism at the G20 meeting in Merkel's homeland," Henry Croft, a research analyst at Accendo Markets, said in a research note to clients after the summit.
Indeed, Trump's gaffe-ridden meeting with Merkel came on the heels of unfounded attacks on Germany's economic policies.
Almost immediately, Reuters reported China had already begun looking for ways to retaliate against any potential US tariffs. This could be the quiet opening salvo to a trade war that many investors have feared but hoped could be avoided.
"Risk appetite absent after the G20 decided to drop a pledge to avoid trade protectionism," FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga wrote in his research.
The G-20's shift comes on the heels of strong protectionist hints from the administration, which has already jettisoned a hard-dough Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement among 12 nations, is threatening to rip up the North America Free Trade Agreement, and is even potentially considering ignoring rulings from the 164-member World Trade Organization.
