Walmart is among the retailers warning Donald Trump’s trade war will cause shortages - JOHN G MABANGLO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

American shoppers face empty shelves by the summer unless Donald Trump secures a trade deal with China, the boss of one of the world’s largest shipping companies has said.

Vincent Clerc, the chief executive of Maersk, said on Thursday that if no solution is found to the US president’s trade war, major retailers could soon find themselves grappling with shortages.

He said: “Pictures of empty shelves in big box retailers in the US is maybe not around the corner, but let’s be clear, if we don’t find something before the summer, it’s going to start to to hurt quite a lot across the board.

“There are certain commodities and certain things where you can’t really substitute some of these imports freely.”

With US-China talks scheduled to take place this weekend, retail bosses are hoping for a sign of improving relations between Washington and Beijing following months of uncertainty.

The chief executives of Walmart and Target have both privately warned Mr Trump that his decision to hit Chinese imports with 145pc tariffs could cause chaos for shoppers, according to reports. Beijing has imposed retaliatory 125pc levies in response.

It comes as Maersk, which ships goods to companies including Walmart, Target and Nike, said container volumes between the US and China dropped by up to 40pc in April. Mr Trump set out his tariffs announcement on April 2.

Mr Clerc said: “Our customers are drawing on inventory and are trying to wait and see as long as possible what is going to happen. They’re drawing not only on their own inventory, but they’re drawing on the inventories that they have in Canada ... in Mexico.

“For some products, [there is] some make-up capacity elsewhere to source your goods. But there are also certain goods where this is either non-existent or fairly limited, and therefore there is a strong dependency on getting these goods from China, whether it is semiconductors, whether it is something as simple as snowboard boots.”

Mr Trump has attempted to justify his trade war as a painful but necessary measure designed to reduce American reliance on cheap Chinese goods and encourage investment within the US.

However, Mr Clerc cast doubt on this strategy, warning it could cause inflation in the price of everyday goods.

He said: “The dream of being able to produce locally, with all you’ll need for your supply chain, is not possible. Unemployment is at a historic low in the United States, and they are deporting hundreds of thousands of people. Where is the labour going to come from?

“If we have to pay US labour, then no T-shirt will be sold for less than $150.”

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Ahead of the US-China talks, Mr Clerc said that if tariffs become “entrenched”, then “in certain cases, that will have quite significant impact with respect to risk of recession in the US”.

Shares in Maersk rose by around 1pc as markets opened on Thursday as the company said revenues came in at $13.3bn (£10bn) in the first quarter compared with $12.4bn over the same period last year.

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