Christine Lagarde has warned that rising tariffs between the world’s two largest economies were “self-inflicted wounds” that would hit the already precarious global recovery, calling on both Washington and Beijing to immediately remove the levies.

The International Monetary Fund chief said the group’s economists believe the recently-imposed tariffs by the US and China would cut global growth by 0.3 per cent next year. When earlier tariffs are added, the IMF sees a 0.5 per cent hit to growth — or about $455bn, “l(fā)arger than the size of South Africa’s economy”.

The report, published ahead of this weekend’s meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrial powers in Japan, came amid renewed signs that the US economy could be losing momentum.