Don’t count on suing China for coronavirus compensation

Members of Congress and the Trump administration have been outspoken in their calls to hold China accountable for the human and economic costs of the coronavirus – likely through lawsuits filed in U.S. courts. But is suing China for compensation legally viable? How would it affect other American interests around the world and the U.S.-China economic relationship? Robert Williams, the executive director of the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School and a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, joins David Dollar to explain the legal obstacles any case would face and why these plans could backfire. Dollar and Sense is a part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us at @policypodcasts on Twitter.