The world economy risks suffering a sharp slowdown in 2020 that would derail international efforts to tackle the mounting climate emergency and heightened poverty around the world, the United Nations has warned.

In a flagship report ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders in Davos next week, the international governmental organisation sounded the alarm that trade tensions between major countries threatened to serve as a brake on growth, with damaging consequences for sustainable development.

The UN said that rumbling trade tensions between the US and China had dragged down economic growth in 2019 to the lowest level in a decade, with the prospect that a renewed flareup, financial turmoil, or an escalation of geopolitical tensions could derail a recovery this year.

The warning comes after Donald Trump signed the first phase of a new trade deal with China on Tuesday, dialling-down the trade standoff between the world’s two biggest economic superpowers.

Although the UN said that easing trade tensions should help to propel global GDP growth to around 2.5% this year from a ten-year low of 2.3% in 2019, it warned the potential for relapse was high.

Failure to keep the risks in check would mean GDP growth in 2020 slumping to around 1.8%, with a knock-on consequences for government efforts to hit their sustainable development goals, it added.

António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, said: “These risks could inflict severe and long-lasting damage on development prospects. They also threaten to encourage a further rise in inward-looking policies, at a point when global cooperation is paramount.”