IV.

THE INFLUENCE OF COVID-19

ON THE US-CHINA TRADE WAR?
THE TRADE WAR BOOM
• The China-US trade war started on March 22, 2018, the course of the
war was a situation where the two biggest economies in the world
continuously applied tariffs and retaliation measures on a series of
goods of the enemy.
• Tough war lasted for nearly 2 years, on January 15, 2020, the "first
phase" trade agreement of the US and China was signed and started to
negotiate a second stage trade agreement - before the coronavirus
slammed the world economy and relations between the two economic
powers took a turn for the worse.
THE INFLUENCE OF COVID-19
• The comity of the deal's signing in Washington has been
overshadowed in recent months as Washington and Beijing have
traded barbs over who is to blame for the coronavirus, which first
surfaced in China.
THE INFLUENCE OF COVID-19
• Also worsening tensions are China’s crackdown on Hong Kong, which
Washington has responded to with sanctions, and the Trump
administration’s order to bar Chinese internet giants TikTok and WeChat
from operating in the US.
THE INFLUENCE OF COVID-19
Nearly three million more American
people filed for unemployment benefits
in the week ending May 9, according to
the U.S. Department of Labor as the
COVID-19 pandemic continues to batter
the labor market.
Due to the spreading coronavirus
pandemic. China's economy posted its
first contraction in decades, contracting
6.8 percent year-on-year at 20.65 trillion
yuan (about 2.91 trillion U.S. dollars) in
the first quarter of 2020.
THE INFLUENCE OF COVID-19
• Earlier May, Trump
hinted that the United
States could impose
more tariffs on China
as punishment for the
spread of the
pandemic, without
providing any
authentic evidence that
a Wuhan lab was the
virus' origin.