ANNUAL FORECASTS

2018 Annual Forecast

Dec 26, 2017 | 11:57 GMT

Though the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula can't be ruled out, the United States will probably try to avoid a costly preventive strike against the North's nuclear weapons program that would plunge the global economy back into recession.

As the specter of war looms in the Asia-Pacific, global alliances will form and transform, and the United States will crack down even harder on Iran -- as well as its own trade partners.

(FAYEZ NURELDINE/LINTAO ZHANG/SEAN GALLUP/ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/SERTS/PINGEBAT/MHNEWMEDIA/IIAP/AFP/iStock/Getty Images)

Overview

North Korea's likely achievement of a viable nuclear deterrent next year will give rise to a new and more unstable era of containment. As the specter of war looms in the Asia-Pacific, China and Russia will band together while the United States cracks down even harder on Iran -- as well as its own trade partners. ...

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