Question

Appraise in today’s world of trade and non-trade concerns, why issues in health, environment and safety (HES) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards are rising again. Is China in particular, emerging as a challenge to the US after displacing Japan by GDP size contributory to this new international economic development?

Answer 1

The issues in health, environment and safety standards have risen significantly in recent times. If we examine the situation in the last 1 month then we would realize that if something goes wrong in one part of the world, almost everybody on the planet is affected. The intensity of that can be different but they are affected for sure. One Corona virus that many people say started with one individual in China and spread in less than few weeks throughout the world and in such a way that every country has to lockdown and people are being forced to stay inside the house. They are quarantined within their house. A significant number of people died in Italy and in a single day a record number of people died in US. The health and safety standards are also important because the markets are connected, export of goods and services, the infection can spread through goods or people in coming in contact with each other and spread across the world because of the movement of human labor across the world. The China has become a dominant economic power in the world but this has to come to it at a high cost, significant damage to the environment. If the economy of China is affected then that impact will also be felt in the US because many major companies have their manufacturing plant there. China have become a dominant economic power but it has also become a serious concern for its flout of international norms.