Barclays boss hits out at Trump and Clinton on trade

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the candidates in the US presidential election, could both have a “substantial effect” on the global economy given their tough stances on free trade agreements, according to Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays.

The American banker who became boss of Barclays last year did not name either Trump or Clinton but warned against moves to halt globalisation.

“Some of the narrative of the election in the United States is very much around questioning the vision of globalisation and free trade as instruments of global policy,” Staley said at a banking conference in New York.

“You see the position of both candidates with respect to the free-trade agreements, and that could have a very significant and substantial impact long-term on the global economy.’’

Trump has attacked China regularly for what he describes as its unfair trading regime while Clinton has vowed to stand up to the Chinese and said she would not back the Trans-Pacific Partnership between the US and Asia.

“As a geopolitical matter, at least in my lifetime, the developed world has seen free trade and globalisation and the integration of the global economy as a worthwhile endeavor to try to seek global peace and global cooperation,” Staley said.

He added that Brexit “was the first major move by a developed nation to pull back.”

But he praised Bank of England Governor Mark Carney for his clear and quick response to the Brexit vote and said that he now expected a “shallow, limited” slowdown as result.

Meanwhile Staley’s predecessor but one Bob Diamond has suffered a setback in his ambitions to buy all or parts of Barclays’ African operations.

Private equity giant Carlyle is reported to have pulled out of a joint bid for the business with Diamond’s Atlas Merchant Capital vehicle.