After attacks on U.S., world counts costs

LONDON -- Shipping fresh fish to the United States is an even trickier business than usual after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

After U.S. airports closed last week, icy boxes of Shetland Islands salmon sat idle at London's Heathrow Airport as their shippers waited anxiously for flights to resume.

The stench of rotten fish offered just a hint of the potential problems ahead for companies across the world that do business with the United States.

As jitters from Tuesday's attack set in, fears are growing that the world's already weakening economy could skid into a recession. And in an increasingly globalized market, the ties of trade and finance binding companies and countries could transmit the economic pain more widely than ever before.

"We are already feeling the effects," said Marcelo Faria de Lima, a partner in the Brazilian advertising agency EugenioMFL. "We've had no cancellations yet but clients are stopping to think, to reflect, to analyze the impact the attacks in the United States will have."

The pain could spread if U.S. consumer confidence collapses.

Economies in danger

Companies and nations that could be hurt include those that trade in commodities such as wheat from Canada, oil from Nigeria and tulip bulbs from the Netherlands.

Manufacturers of finished goods such as Taiwanese VCRs and German cars might take a hit, as could international banks, travel agencies and other service companies.

If consumer spending and trade dry up, Russia, Argentina and other precarious economies will find it harder to raise international loans they need to pay for imports and to create jobs for their unemployed.

Michael Saunders, an economist at Salomon Smith Barney in London, thinks globalization has boosted the odds that a U.S. downturn will hurt Europe.

Closer trading and financial links between American and European businesses could spread.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, is mired in a recession stemming largely from domestic problems and might not be dragged down as quickly as Europe by a U.S. slowdown.

Still, globalization has created a host of potential losers.

Trade-dependent countries of Southeast Asia are already reeling from pinched demand for their manufactured goods in the United States and Japan.