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COV-19: China Leads Global Pandemic Containment – International Commerce Delayed
By: Kenneth D. Knight, Associate Editor On December 31, 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) was notified by the China Country Office that there were multiple cases of pneumonia with an unknown source, originating from Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. In their first situation report, dated January 20, 2020, 282 total cases had been reported, resulting in six deaths, spanning across seven countries and territories. Although these reports cover a short period of time to date, the results recorded have changed drastically over time. On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared COV-19, or informally referred to as Coronavirus, a global pandemic and announced a national state of emergency in…
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Brexit as Force Majeure – Boris Johnson’s Act of God?
By Audrey Fick, Associate Editor Britain must negotiate a trade deal with Europe regarding future commercial relations by the end of 2020, or face expensive disruption with its largest trading partner. That deadline may be impossible, however, considering that recent European trade deals with Canada and Japan took seven years, and only further complicated by Johnson’s intent to break from European regulatory rules concerning labor, environment, and product safety. In moving UK commitments to abide by EU standards regarding tax, labor rights, and environment out of the legally binding portion of the Brexit deal into a separate, non-binding political deal, Johnson arranged for increased freedom to diverge from EU norms…