Trump dig at China rattles markets as India extends lockdown
US president Donald Trump’s new threat of tariffs against China over the coronavirus sent a shudder through global markets on Friday, as India warned the world’s biggest lockdown would continue for two more weeks.
European countries and some parts of the United States have begun to ease the social and economic restrictions that have shut in half the world, joining those Asian countries that feel they have already turned a corner.
But giant India, where stringent restrictions on 1.3 billion people have been credited with keeping virus cases low at the cost of hardship for millions, said it would renew the lockdown in many regions for two more weeks.
The home ministry said there would be “considerable relaxations” in some areas but that at-risk zones will have intensified contact tracing, house-to-house surveillance and no movement except for medical emergencies and essential goods and services.
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In New York, Wall Street opened sharply down after Trump alleged on Thursday that the virus might have come from a Chinese lab and raised the prospect of more US trade tariffs.
The markets have also been following the global economic impact of the epidemic, and tech giants Apple and Amazon became the latest firms to announce worrying results as corporations around the world shed staff and slash profit forecasts.
The economic mood darkened further with the release of a manufacturing survey that pointed to a historic decline in US output in April. The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) index is now at its lowest level since 2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Trump’s unproven claim — which followed stern Chinese denials — appeared at odds with statements by his intelligence chief and top diplomat Mike Pompeo, who said: “We don’t know precisely where it began.”
His taunt will nevertheless stir tensions even as the World Health Organization (WHO) asked to be allowed to take part in a Chinese investigation into the “animal origins” of the pandemic.
In more positive signs, South Africa and Austria were allowing some businesses to reopen from Friday, and hard-hit Spain’s latest daily death toll confirmed that the pandemic there was slowing.
“The road ahead will be long and hard, and we will make mistakes,” warned South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.
But despite his caution, compatriots like Johannesburg construction company owner and jogger Sean Lawrenson woke up at the crack of dawn for his first run in weeks.
“Gosh I forgot how beautiful it was, how much I missed it. It felt great,” Lawrenson said, wearing a protective black face mask and beanie.
For the 50-year old cyclist Paul Kapelus, “the most important thing is that my wife is happy that I’m out of the house”.
While death rates are slowing in most of Europe, the global toll from the pandemic has now topped 233,000, according to an AFP tally of official sources.
More than 3.2 million infections have been recorded globally, likely a gross underestimate with many countries only testing the most serious cases.
