June 12, 2025· 44 min

Ricardo Hausmann on What it Takes to Win a Trade War

Orality
Model
62%
Mixed oral/literate (blogs, casual essays)

Speaker Breakdown

HostJoe Weisenthal(876 words)
M:29%
HostTracy Alloway(1,542 words)
M:29%
GuestRicardo Hausmann(4,649 words)
M:28%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic24%
literally, completely, very
Engagement64%
you, our, your
Memory Aids100%
listen, now, okay
Repetition100%
know (62x), like (62x), they (59x)
Parallelism81%
And I'm Tracy Alloway...., And this is how you can have a..., But when I think about, you kn...
Sound Patterns63%
53 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"
Formulaic Phrases2%
i mean

Literate Indicators

Hedging7%
may, maybe, might
Passive Voice6%
was embedded, being protected, is based
Abstract Nouns19%
investment, recommendation, business
Subordination6%
because, while, until
Sentence Length40%
Avg: 14.9 words/sentence
Word Complexity48%
investment, analyze, anticipate
Academic Markers7%
according to, the literature
Impersonal Style36%
537 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style61%
literally, completely, apply

Description

The focus of 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 Harvard 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. Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox now delivered every weekday plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.