The continued Covid-19 disaster, together with the current passing of the nationwide safety regulation and troubled U.S.-China commerce relations, are among the many checklist of prime considerations for firms based mostly within the Asian monetary hub, Tara Joseph instructed CNBC’s “Road Indicators Asia” on Thursday.

“Hong Kong during the last two years has had a compounded new regular. We’re coping with Covid. We have got plenty of change within the phrases of Hong Kong being at an inflection level politically,” she stated, referring to the brand new nationwide safety regulation China handed for Hong Kong final 12 months and the overhaul to its electoral system final month. The adjustments may additional curtail town’s freedoms, critics say.

Joseph added these components have been additional difficult by the China-U.S. friction — by way of commerce and politics. “All of these objects are on the prime of the checklist for companies right here,” she stated.

The world’s two largest economies signed a section one commerce settlement in January, bringing some reprieve to the tensions of the final two years.

Whereas the Biden administration has vowed to make use of “all obtainable instruments” to counter China’s unfair commerce practices, it has but to clarify its place on the way it will deal with tariffs with China which have harm companies in each international locations.

“Let’s take sanctions, for instance, tit-for-tat between the U.S. and China. These add to dangers of being right here,” famous Joseph. She stated firms in Hong Kong are “rethinking, doubtlessly additionally re-rating and measuring threat right here now.”

Whereas Hong Kong has been in a position to include the Covid-19 pandemic, Joseph argued town’s restrictive journey and strict quarantine measures have triggered companies to re-evaluate their presence within the metropolis for the long-term.

“The Covid problem and the quarantines deliver it right down to a private stage,” she stated. These residing in Hong Kong haven’t been in a position to go to their households and “that begins to turn out to be a private concern.”

“That is the place we’re seeing folks begin to query how lengthy they will keep right here. And whether or not being right here goes to be efficient for them long run,” Joseph stated.

And that might harm Hong Kong’s fame as a worldwide monetary hub.

“Hong Kong can also be seen as a spot the place you connect with journey, the place you are in a position to have freedom of motion. And if we’re not ready to try this, it may have an effect on the competitiveness of town. So that could be a rising concern,” famous Joseph.