One of Europe’s top state-pension investors has warned the world may be entering a period of “radical uncertainty”, with rising tensions between the US and China threatening to reverse what investors had assumed was the inevitable march of globalisation.

Olivier Rousseau, an executive director at France’s €33bn Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites, said investors now have to be alert to possible new risks that may emerge, such as companies suddenly being subjected to restrictions or product bans in certain parts of the world.