Coronavirus Eclipses Trade as Global Economy’s Biggest Threat
The health emergency will crimp growth in China and could prevent it from honoring commitments in the phase-one deal with the U.S.
A check-in counter for China Eastern Airlines is deserted at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Jan. 28.
Photographer: Yonhap News/Newscom/Zuma Press
Delegations of dark-suited trade negotiators shuttling back-and-forth between Washington and Beijing seemed to hold the world economy’s fate in their hands last year. So when the U.S.-China phase-one trade deal was signed in mid-January, the path finally seemed clear for an acceleration in investment, trade, and global economic growth.
But as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He were holding up signed copies of their accord for the world’s media, more and more people in the central Chinese city of Wuhan were coming down with a new pneumonia-like virus.