Japan and Europe are not used to thinking of themselves as collateral damage in other countries’ trade wars. The EU in particular, the largest trading bloc by the amount of exports and imports for goods and services, is more used to dictating terms than to obeying them. So it is something of a comedown for Tokyo and Brussels to find their main role in the continuing US-China trade conflict is to try to duck out of the way and attempt to channel the torrents of American anger at Beijing down the canals of multilateralism.

Last week in Paris, the EU and Japan met with the US as part of a trilateral initiative first launched in 2017 when Donald Trump was ramping up trade tensions with China. Their aim is to persuade the US to create alliances rather than fight all-comers. They are offering Mr Trump a coalition to push for reform of China’s trade-distorting economic model rather than hammering away alone with punishing tariffs on Chinese exports or disruptive bans on doing business with Huawei.

The EU and Japan have plenty at stake. Both have been hit directly by tariffs on their own steel and aluminium exports to the US, a measure Mr Trump threatens to extend to cars. European automakers with US plants exporting to China, and Japanese electronics companies which rely on Chinese companies to assemble their products for sales to the US, have also suffered in the Washington-Beijing crossfire.