Escalating trade tensions--between the U.S. and China, in particular--are heightening the risks to the historic run of benign conditions that borrowers around the globe have enjoyed for nearly a decade. And, in fact, conditions have worsened marginally in some regions.
S&P Global Ratings' top global risks include the possible interruption of trade and investment as the U.S. escalates trade skirmishes on a number of fronts; increased asset-price volatility and the possibility of liquidity reversals; and the threats that a buildup in debt poses to the U.S. credit cycle.