Leaders of the G7 rich nations might have gone into this month’s summit in France hoping for a united front against China. But, overshadowed by the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine and alienated by a mercurial US President Donald Trump, the lacklustre gathering came up short.

There was no public agreement on how to address the so-called China shock 2.0, the supposed overcapacity issues and currency manipulation that is considered to be the cause of Chinese exports flooding into Europe.

Instead of declaring a joint plan, as the French hosts had initially hoped, milder summit statements called for Group of Seven cooperation to reduce dependence on foreign supply of critical minerals and to support “balanced, durable and resilient growth’’ against “global imbalances”. China was not named, though it was clearly the target.