Wall Street bank chief executives said that Donald Trump’s trade war has led clients to “wait and see” on M&A, but have not conceded that another deal slump is on the cards as markets continue to whipsaw.

Top executives at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley said during their first quarter results that appetite for M&A deals remains strong this year, despite the uncertainty created by Trump’s move to impose steep tariffs on some of the US’s closest trading partners.