Ferdinand de Mateo, Mexico's World Trade Organisation ambassador, even brandished pictures of the pair at recent WTO talks. But those anxiously watching to see their modern equivalents emerge may be looking in the wrong place. Trade experts say that deals put in place since the 1930s have prevented traditional naked protectionism such as wholesale raising of tariffs.

Economic nationalism afoot in today's troubled times is more diverse and more subtle – and, accordingly, can slip more easily through holes in the web of international treaties. Gary Horlick, a trade lawyer in Washington, says: “We are about to see all the flaws in the WTO that people have known about for years but didn't have the guts to fix when the going was good.”

True, there has been a small flurry of old-fashioned tariff rises in recent months, despite the Group of 20's pledge in November to re- frain from doing so. But most of these, such as India's decision to raise import barriers to soyabean, iron and steel, are relatively small and well within ceilings agreed at the WTO.