BRUSSELS — A planned EU-China investment agreement looks unlikely to be struck by September as planned because of the coronavirus outbreak, European Union trade chief Phil Hogan said, while also casting doubt on deals with other Asian countries. The European Commission chief and other senior EU officials are set to meet Chinese counterparts in Beijing in late March before an EU-Chinese summit to be held in Leipzig, Germany, in September - ideally to sign a deal. EU Trade Commissioner Hogan told the international trade committee of the European Parliament on Wednesday that the March meeting would now probably not happen, and that he was not optimistic of a deal by the Leipzig summit. "There's a lot of time lost now and going to be lost because of the coronavirus. "If we were going to get a deal by the Leipzig summit we would have to largely have it completed by July."

Source: International New York Times February 19, 2020 17:37 UTC