Coronavirus and Trade: US Perspective; What Comes Next?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has caused severe, but widely varying, disruptions across the US economy, including increased consumer demand of particular goods, reduced production due to lack of key inputs from abroad or quarantined employees, and dramatic US stock market drops responding to unprecedented levels of uncertainty. Global supply chain disruptions began earlier this year, as China imposed travel and other restrictions that shuttered manufacturing facilities in an effort to contain the virus, which in turn affected American companies operating in country or reliant on components shipped from China.