One of the top threats was actually the possible election of Donald Trump as president.

They predict that his opposition to free trade

and criticism of China and Mexico, which are massive trade partners, poses significant risk to the economy.

But Trump is only sixth on the list, so we wanted to know

what are the world’s biggest economic threats?

Well, the health of the economy is crucial to stability around the world.

Several leading threats are centered around the European Union.

The EIU notes that Greece’s ongoing debt crisis might be stemmed by the latest austerity measures and bailout.

The risk of Greece refusing to abide by the restrictions however, and eventually leaving the EU could

create a world of trouble for the international markets.

This “Grexit” is especially feared because it would destabilize the surrounding countries

leading to the third biggest threat: a breakup of the EU.

In recent years, the EU has been struggling to maintain cohesion.

With more than a million migrants arriving in Europe, a continued recession following the 2008 global banking crisis,

and terror attacks in Paris, and Brussel. The EU is in trouble.

Many parties calling for a breakup of the EU, or stricter borders in the “free travel Schengen zone”. This idea have been seeing increased popularity.

Even the United Kingdom is gearing up for a referendum to leave the European Union

sparking fears that other countries may follow.

A breakup of the EU would be disastrous for a huge number of trade agreements and established economic treaties.

This could possibly plunge Europe into an even deeper financial crisis, thus destabilizing global markets.

The second biggest threat to the economy isn’t actually economic at all.

Russia’s military intervention in Syria and the annexation of Crimea has many worried about a new Cold War

between The US and Russia. This competitive political fight complicates a number of existing

organizations like NATO and the G7, and implies an increase in defense spending on all sides.

This takes away from goals like fighting ISIS and global warming

and could easily destabilize the world economy.

But according to the EIU, the single biggest threat to the global economy is China.

China has been growing at a massive and rapid pace, but in recent years the level of growth has

been called clearly unsustainable. Despite efforts to manipulate their currency and markets,

the renminbi currency is still relatively weak, and their economy has a huge amount

of unrecoverable debt. China’s role as a manufacturing and commodity trading leader

means that a slump for them is a slump for consumers and businesses worldwide.

Although there are a lot of things to be afraid of, the EU, China, and Russia pose the biggest threats to the stability of the global economy.

What’s worse is that all of these scenarios are ranked highly because they are also the most likely to occur.

By comparison, a Trump presidency is only rated as “moderately probable”.

But if the EU falls apart, China’s economy keeps dropping, and a new Cold War emerges,

Trump may just be the least of anyone’s problems.

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