European business leaders expect governments to tighten control over a growing number of sectors in the name of national security, as the world divides into competing economic blocs.

Roughly 80 per cent of those running Europe’s biggest industrial companies believe more sectors will be identified as national security priorities in the coming years, according to a survey carried out last month by the big-business lobby group, European Round Table for Industry, and The Conference Board, a US think-tank.

Ilaria Maselli, senior economist with the Conference Board, said supply chain disruptions because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s zero-Covid policy were fuelling protectionist tendencies globally. With China, Europe and the US all aiming to reduce their reliance on others for strategic imports, and trade sanctions increasingly used as a foreign policy tool, “protectionism is becoming a fact”, she added.