US-China trade war to narrow global GDP: Fitch

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The U.S.' additional 25% tariffs on $300 billion of imports from China will narrow global output by nearly 0.4 percentage points in 2020, warned Fitch on Wednesday.

The global rating agency revised its global GDP estimates downward from 2.8% to 2.7% for 2019 and from 2.7% to 2.4% for 2020, according to a press release.

Trade tensions in the global area will escalate rapidly due to the U.S. imposition of tariffs on Chinese imports, it predicted.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump decided to increase tariffs to 25% for $200 billion of imports from China.

Earlier this June, Trump also threatened China with a new tariff on $300 billion worth of imports.

Fitch data showed South Korea's GDP would see the biggest impact from the trade wars -- 1.29 percentage points -- in 2020.

China and Russia followed Korea with 0.77 percentage points and 0.54 percentage points, respectively.

Turkey's GDP will see a low impact from trade wars, with 0.10 percentage points, according to Fitch estimates.

Fitch's forecast for U.S. GDP in 2020 also narrowed 0.46 percentage points.