consumer

Mr Niccol was brought into Starbucks last year tasked with turning the business around as it struggles with rising prices and consumers cut back spending.

But the damage to house prices and, in turn, consumer confidence in China, has been done and analysts have projected a 2.5% decline in home prices this year, according to a Reuters poll in February.

Inflation, energy prices and mortgage rates have fallen since Trump took office, although unemployment has risen slightly, consumer sentiment has sagged and the stock market was plunged into turmoil by the tariffs.

Campaigners estimate more than 300,000 homes could lose heating - or have it stuck on constantly - in what energy regulator Ofgem has called "an urgent consumer welfare issue".

Underpinning this approach is absolute conviction that the US is making a mistake that will primarily and visibly backfire on itself, its companies, and its consumers.