The trade war between the United States and China, coupled with warning signs of a potential slowdown in the global economy, have sharply increased the chances that the world will fall into recession. While nearly every country will be impacted, longstanding economic weakness and the fragile state of its political institutions mean that a potential downturn will disproportionately batter Latin America.

The world’s largest economies should work together to coordinate policies before the storm breaks. President Trump’s conflict with Beijing should be resolved, shelved or postponed to prevent needlessly intensifying a downturn.

Here’s what the region is facing.

Venezuela’s economy imploded long before any signs of a potential recession in the United States surfaced, but lower oil prices will make matters worse. More than four million Venezuelans have fled the country. The number could rise to six million if economic conditions worsen.

An international downturn could also exacerbate Argentina’s current economic crisis and lead to another default, as in 2001. Inflation has soared to 54 percent, interest rates even higher , and the peso has depreciated 30 percent since last month’s primary election almost guaranteed a win for the center-left, Peronist candidate in the presidential elections in October. The price of soybeans — the country’s main export — has dropped to half its mid-2012 peak . Support from the International Monetary Fund, or I.M.F., and the markets could be much more complicated to secure under this backdrop.