European bank bosses have warned that Donald Trump’s “America-first” approach risks creating a more fragmented global economy, while predicting that it is unlikely to trigger an all-out trade war between the US and China.

The heads of some of Europe’s biggest lenders told the Financial Times at the World Economic Forum on the day of Mr Trump’s arrival that the consequences of a tit-for-tat escalation of tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies would be so dire they did not believe it would happen.

This week the US imposed tariffs on imports of solar cells and washing machines and senior Trump administration officials warned that Washington was preparing to intensify its measures to prevent what it views as unfair trading practices around the world.