Odd Lots: What It Takes to Win a Trade War

The focus of President Trump’s trade policies is clearly China. There are tariffs on everyone, of course, but it’s the growing Chinese manufacturing might, and the various perceived risks associated with that, which have catalyzed this impulse to rethink how America trades with the rest of the world. But can the US actually move the manufacturing center of gravity?

On this episode, we welcome back Professor Ricardo Hausmann. We’ve had him on before to talk about the importance of economic complexity — the capacity to build complex things — in measuring the wealth of nations. On this episode we use that lens to discuss tariffs and the trade war, and the risks that the new administration’s policies will play in reducing our capacity to build the most advanced things.