meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Odd Lots

David Woo: What Trump Started is Worse Than a Trade War

Odd Lots

Bloomberg

News, Investing, Business, News Commentary, Business News

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For the most part, Americans haven't felt much pain yet from the tariffs that Donald Trump introduced (and then partially walked back) on April 2. The damage is highly visible in financial markets, but for the moment, shelves remain stocked, inflation measures have remained muted, and there hasn't been a significant wave of layoffs in official data. But according to our guest, real pain is coming. And what's going down is worse than a trade war. On this episode, we speak with the one and only David Woo, now the founder of David Woo Unbound. He also previously served as the Head of Global Rates, Foreign Exchange, and EM Fixed Income and Economics Research at Bank of America. He says that the administration has absolutely nothing to show for its initial months in office on any front. And he says this isn't a game of chicken, where one side can blink and avoid disaster. Instead, we're seeing a "war of attrition" where damage is being done to both the US and Chinese economies as we speak. As he sees it, the China hawks in the administration have been in control, and have the impulse to obliterate the Chinese economy, which makes the situation more than just a so-called trade war. He discusses the political, market, and real economy implications of this dramatic escalation.

Read more:
Trump U-Turns on Powell, China Follow Dire Economic Warnings
A Bad Peace in Ukraine Carries Global Risks

Only Bloomberg - Business News, Stock Markets, Finance, Breaking & World News subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

KPMG makes the difference by creating value, like developing strategic insights that help drive M&A success, or embedding AI solutions into your business to sustain competitive advantage.

0:13.4

KPMG, make the difference. Learn more at www.kpmg.us slash insights.

0:22.2

Is this a negotiation or the new rules at a game?

0:24.8

It could be either.

0:25.8

It is up to the president how he wants to negotiate.

0:28.7

A deal is going to be made with China.

0:30.4

Nothing's over yet.

0:31.4

There's been a lot of confusion up to now.

0:33.2

A 90-day pause is not an eradication.

0:35.8

Where is this leading to?

0:37.0

Trust Bloomberg Television for all the context and clarity you need as the tariff and global economy story evolves.

0:43.5

This year's bear case, very quickly, becoming the base case.

0:46.7

Nobody covers tariffs like Bloomberg Television.

0:50.0

Context changes everything.

0:54.7

Bloomberg Audio Studios,

0:57.2

Podcasts, Radio News.

1:10.2

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots podcast. I'm Joe Wisenthall.

1:16.6

And I'm Tracy Allaway.

1:17.8

Tracy, it is April 22nd. It is 1209 and 52 seconds as of the time that I am talking right now.

1:25.7

Soon we'll have to do fractions of a second.

1:27.8

Yeah, I know.

1:28.8

The market is actually up today.

...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 23 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bloomberg, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Bloomberg and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.