U.S. could cut ties with China over pandemic
#GS2 #Governance
Washington imposes additional punitive measures against Huawei
- U.S. President threatened to cut ties with China over its role in the spread of the coronavirus, as the global death toll from the disease topped 3,00,000.
- It would restrict the ability of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, which it considers a national security risk, to develop semiconductors abroad with U.S. technology.
- The narrowly and strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.
- Huawei has been under relentless pressure from the Washington, which has lobbied allies worldwide to avoid the company’s telecom gear over security concerns.
- Washington last year said it would blacklist Huawei from the U.S. market and from buying crucial American components, though it has extended a series of reprieves to allow U.S. businesses that work with Huawei time to adjust.
Refugees at risk
- Despite fears of a second wave of infections, national and local governments around the world are easing lockdown orders as they try to get stalled economies moving again.
- The nexus of poverty and risk was highlighted by the discovery of cases in the world’s biggest refugee camp, where upwards of a million Rohingya live in squalor.
- In the U.S., the man formerly charged with developing a vaccine told lawmakers the government in Washington has no “master plan” to fight the pandemic and is unprepared to distribute enough vaccines to immunise millions of Americans.
- We don’t have a single point of leadership right now for this response, who was removed from his job last month.
- The U.S. has registered almost 86,000 deaths linked to COVID-19 — the highest toll of any nation, with a third of all known global infections.
‘Very disappointed’
- The U.S. and China are the world’s two largest economies, doing hundreds of billions of dollars of mutually beneficial trade every year.
- New figures showed a further three million job losses, taking the newly unemployed to 36.5 million — more than 10% of the U.S. population.
- Germany’s treasury is also expecting a big hole in its budget, with around €100 billion euros wiped off the tax take in 2020.
- Europe’s biggest economy has already slipped into a recession, with GDP expected to shrink by 6.3% this year — the biggest contraction since 1949.
