Washington is playing the waiting game as Feb. 1 nears. By our complex calculations, that’s Saturday, and it’s the date Trump has teased for when Mexico and Canada – two of America’s largest trading partners – will be slapped with 25% tariffs. (China, meanwhile, could get a 10% levy.)

US President Donald Trump has said he will follow through with his threat to hit imports from Canada and Mexico with 25% border taxes, known as tariffs, on 1 February. But he added that a decision about whether this would include oil from those countries has not yet been made.