The relationship between China and the United States is still deteriorating. President Donald Trump has still not retracted his statement that he might impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods as punishment for China’s role in the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Earlier today the Chinese government decried the measures, saying they are inappropriate, and that the US should not bully other countries with tariffs. Though the coronavirus first appeared in China, the country quickly imposed strict lockdowns and cooperated with the World Health Organization to limit the spread of the virus.
Political analysts have suggested that Donald Trump is merely trying to divert the criticism of his government’s poor handling of the virus and distract the public with accusations of China. It is unclear what import duties can achieve in this situation.
Regarding the pandemic, a quick update is in order. The number of Covid-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 3.7 million, with about 1.2 million of those being in the United States alone. The outbreak has slowed down in Europe where hardly any new cases are registered these days. Russia is the current epicenter of the pandemic with 165,000 cases. It is expected that by next week Russia will catch up to the UK, perhaps even Spain and Italy.
Today the European Commission released its economic projections for 2020 and 2021. Unsurprisingly, the report reveals an expectation of record drops in economic growth - 7.7% this year alone. The euro weakened due to the grim forecast.
The EU has been trying to promote inflation growth since the financial crisis of 2008 and even before the pandemic was still below its 2% goal, but the pandemic is expected to undo all of that progress and lower inflation to almost zero. All EU countries will also increase their debt beyond the healthy limits, which could haunt them for years to come.
