Rising trade tensions are dragging down long-term cross-border investment by companies around the world, UN figures showed on Wednesday.
Global foreign direct investment fell by 23 per cent in 2017 and is expected to grow only modestly, if at all, this year, the UN said in its latest World Investment Report.
Threatening this year’s picture are the growing prospects of a trade war between the US and China and the EU. The US last week imposed steel and aluminium tariffs on the EU, Canada and Mexico. It is due to release lists of tariffs and investment restrictions against China by the end of this month and is also threatening to impose import taxes on the $190bn of cars brought into the US from overseas annually.