It is Hong Kong's biggest question for 2020: when will things return to normal? But it is a trick question. There is now no normal to which the city can return.
The collateral damage from seven months of giant protests drove Hong Kong into recession and made it an outlier among developed economies. While the trade war did not help, lost tourism, flatlining retail sales and cratering business confidence are more about placards and tear gas than U.S. tariffs on China.
