Trump's trade war triggers $2 trillion losses for world's super-rich as stock markets tumble

Number of high-net-worth individuals drops by 100,000 in a year as tariffs and fears of higher interest rates bite

Donald Trump’s trade war with China has helped trigger losses of $2 trillion (£1.6 trillion) for the world’s super-rich, analysis suggests.

Higher US tariffs imposed on China and fears of rising interest rates sent stock markets tumbling last year, leading to a 3 per cent slide in wealth for the world's richest people, according to consultancy firm Capgemini.

The number of high-net-worth individuals dropped by 100,000 last year to stand at 18 million. A high-net-worth individual is defined as having over $1m in “investable assets”, which excludes a main home and certain other assets.

The group now has a collective wealth of $68 trillion after experiencing the first annual fall in the value of their assets for eight years.

Mr Trump has slashed taxes for the very richest individuals in America; yet their wealth dropped by 1 per cent as share prices fell.

Latin America’s wealthiest saw a decline of 4 per cent and Europe’s took a 3 per cent hit. Overall, wealth fell in every region of the world except the Middle East where it grew 4 per cent.

The report will again call into question Mr Trump’s economic policies. Ignoring economists’ advice, the US president has slapped tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports and threatened other trading partners including the EU. This year, he blacklisted firms including China’s Huawei, and on Monday the US announced new levies on Mexican steel imports.

In one sense, his intended target has been hit: Asia’s super-rich have taken half of the damage, with $1 trillion knocked off their wealth in a year. Chinese wealthiest accounted for $580bn of that fall as the country's Shanghai Shenzhen index plummeted 25 per cent.

But the trade war has prompted uncertainty for companies who fear they may be affected by new tariffs. As share prices have been hurt around the world, so have individuals and companies in the president’s own country.

Stock markets have experienced an upturn in 2019; however, this is primarily because central banks have responded to renewed economic uncertainty and poorer growth prospects by signalling that interest rates are less likely to rise.

Despite the dent to their wealth, UNHW individuals still enjoy an outsized share of the economic pie. Inequality of incomes also remains high with the lowest 20 per cent of earners globally collecting just 1 per cent of total pay according to a report from the International Labour Organisation.