Forget Trump’s tariffs, the president’s bond market threat is worse | Heather Stewart

Donald Trump said he was 'looking at Treasuries' when he said some of the country's debt obligations were fraudulent.

The president was referring to other payments that the US Treasury had been making not its $ 36tn ( 28.6tn ) in debt obligations.

The idea that a US administration might decide that it could unilaterally default on even a small portion of its debts would be catastrophic.

In the short term, the most immediate impact of Trump ’s plans on the global economy is likely to be via his long-trailed tariffs plan, which will throw sand in the wheels of the international trading system.

But markets have so far been remarkably quiescent in the face of the wayward trade policy.