The boom in global trade seen throughout 2017 slowed markedly in December. Global airfreight growth slowed to 5.7% in December, the slowest since August 2016. Panjiva analysis shows containerized sea-freight handling in ports in nine countries increased by just 2% in December, down from 10% in September. That was driven by a slowdown to 2% growth in China vs. 9% for the year as a whole, and was only partly offset by sustained high growth in North America. Taken in isolation the slowdown at the end of a year that saw sea-freight handling grow 8% wouldn’t be a concern. However, a sudden...