US trade war with China

[Jaysen]

Good article from the BBC: "Who loses out in the US-China trade war?": https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48256535

 

[Alice G]

@D.Cole my story will be live as of tomorrow and I struggled to write up about impacts myself a bit really! But stocks slumped pretty badly yesterday in light of China’s announcement to retaliate with their own tariffs on American goods. Analysts have been quick to opine that market volatility will last a few weeks until talks become closer to a resolution and some have warned about a possible recession. Market volatility and uncertainty are the antithesis to corporate activity. Businesses do not want to invest and engage in deals when the future is so uncertain and when projections of success are difficult to ascertain.
Some businesses will also have to absorb the costs of the tariffs on goods. Many will put the burden into their consumers but some businesses will probably have to share some portion of the burden if they hope to still be profitable. I remember Coca Cola being an example of a brand with such strength that they can pass the burden to the consumer but others do not have the same market strength and consumer loyalty.
For law firms, though M&A activity will probably be down, it is possible to see opportunity out of this. Some businesses will look to move their supply chains and relocate or seek to source their materials from elsewhere which will require the help of lawyers. Lawyers may we’ll be instructed to do due diligence to look at viable ways that businesses can mitigate the impact of the trade war for this own financial benefit and stability.
This is quite brief and I hope it is clear but this might give you a bit of food for thought. Sorry it’s later than expected!! I ended up rewriting my entire story because of yesterday’s developments on this topic

 

[D.Cole]

Thanks so much Alice! this is really helpful!

 

[Alice G]

Thanks so much Alice! this is really helpful!

I’m glad!

 

[Zain97]

Hi all!

An interesting piece I should imagine on the effect on law-firms: https://www.law.com/legal-week/2019/05/17/global-lawyers-discouraged-by-trade-war/

Does anyone have access to Legal Week that perhaps could explain the effect on law-firms?