In an effort to get a handle on the economic and financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first instinct is to search for precedents and remedies in earlier crises. Many have pointed to the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) as the most relevant example, especially in the aftermath of the extraordinary monetary-policy actions announced by the US Federal Reserve on March 15. That would be an unfortunate mistake.

It’s time for the world to pull together toward the same goal. Only that will get us through the coronavirus epidemic. Failing to cooperate risks a slide into even deeper crises.

Dismantling supply chains that took years, or even decades, to build is an expensive and time-consuming proposition. Many factors must be taken into account, including product quality, price and the reliability of prospective new channels.

In the midst of the new coronavirus, the world has much to lose from slowed production, closed borders and factories, and less trade.

The U.S. has long reigned supreme in global finance, but a new challenger to its hegemony has emerged. China’s attempts to lessen its and the world’s dependency on the dollar and especially America’s willingness to abuse its stewardship of the global financial system have influenced a dangerous weaponization of financial networks that promises a rocky road ahead for both countries.

COVID-19 bodes ill not only for the global economy, but for Donald Trump’s re-election and U.S.-China relations at large.

The outbreak has added new unknowns to the already uncertain phase-one trade agreement. If it leads to global recession and political unrest, the phase-one trade agreement may not mean much.

The novel coronavirus outbreak in the lead-up to the 2020 Chinese Spring Festival has inflicted great pain on tens of thousands of patients and their families, involving countless courageous Chinese citizens, who otherwise would have spent the holiday with their families and friends, in an unprecedented anti-virus war.

Cooperation is required if supply chain security is to be assured in the face of a worldwide health threat. No country can afford to be an outsider. Attempts by some to go it alone pose a huge challenge to the spirit needed to resolve the problem.

The world economy has clearly caught a cold. The outbreak of COVID-19 came at a particularly vulnerable point in the global business cycle. World output expanded by just 2.9% in 2019 – the slowest pace since the 2008-09 global financial crisis and just 0.4 percentage points above the 2.5% threshold typically associated with global recession.