U.S. Weakness Spells Trouble For Asia

Global economies are interdependent now !!

The Hong Kong and Korean markets have been weak over the past two days, and with good reason. They are very dependent on the U.S. consumer's appetite for their exports.
According to Lombard Research, 8% of Korea's entire GDP depends on exports to the U.S. For China, 7.5% of their GDP is due to exports to the U.S.

The Koreans and Chinese are well aware of this dependency, and they have been trying to shift more exports to Europe, with some success. Nine percent of Korea's GDP consists of sales of goods to Europe; 7% in China's case, according to Lombard Research.

The worry here is that if the U.S.'s consumption of imports suddenly slows down, domestic consumption in Korea and China may not pick up the slack.
There are additional risks to these countries: a rising chorus of protectionist rhetoric in both the U.S. and Europe.

The implications are clear: a sluggish U.S. economy will adversely affect growth in key emerging markets. This highlights the interdependency of the global economy