We’re taking The Big Take to Asia. Each week, Bloomberg’s Oanh Ha tells a story from the home of the world's most dynamic economies - and the markets, tycoons and businesses that drive the ever-shifting region.
On Tuesday morning, in a series of posts celebrating the fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel, Donald Trump touched on one of Iran’s most significant economic relationships, writing, “China can now continue to purchase oil from Iran.” Today on Big Take Asia, host Oanh Ha is joined by John Liu, who oversees Bloomberg’s China coverage from Beijing, to discuss what’s at stake for China in Iran and how the conflict could change China’s game plan — not just in the Middle East, but on the global ...
Teams from China used to dominate international hacking competitions, until Beijing ordered them to stop attending and take part only in domestic tournaments. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Jamie Tarabay about how tournaments are helping boost China’s cyber-espionage capabilities and what that means for the world. Read more: Chinese Hacking Competitions Fuel the Country’s Broad Cyber Ambitions - Bloomberg Further listening: The ‘Everything, Everywhere, All...
President Donald Trump said a trade framework with China has been completed after two days of talks in London. He said Beijing would supply rare earths and magnets “UP FRONT” and the US would allow Chinese students into colleges and universities. On today’s episode, Big Take hosts Sarah Holder and K. Oanh Ha speak to Bloomberg’s Brendan Murray, who’s on the ground in London, and John Liu about how the two countries will hammer out a deal. This conversation was taped before Trump announced a deal...
Japan’s hottest banking talent is in high demand as Wall Street goes all out to woo new hires with fancy dinners, strong-arm tactics and higher salaries. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, Bloomberg’s Lisa Du talks to host K. Oanh Ha about why firms are resorting to extreme measures and the problems they face in hiring top talent. Read more: Global Banks Scramble to Hire Top Talent in Booming Japan Further listening: Can’t Get Enough of Matcha? Too Bad – Japan Is Running Low South Korea Has Plent...
The Nintendo Switch has generated some $100 billion in sales for the Japanese gaming giant since its launch in 2017, propelling the company’s shares to record highs. Now the game-maker is under pressure to do even better with the new Switch 2, out this week. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, Bloomberg Opinion’s Gearoid Reidy joins host K. Oanh Ha to talk about why the Switch 2 is so important to Nintendo’s business and whether it can live up to the hype. Read more: If the Switch 2 Stumbles, Nint...
A sudden surge in Taiwan's dollar highlighted a growing trend of de-dollarization in Asia. This episode explores how Asian nations, after decades of hoarding US assets post-1997, are now seeking alternatives amidst shifting US policies and trade dynamics. The discussion covers the impact on economies like Taiwan, the search for viable currency alternatives, and what this potential rewiring of global finance means for the region's future.
The trade war between the US and China is on pause, with both sides hoping to agree on a new trade deal by early August. But questions remain about how realistic that timetable could be, given the challenges facing the world’s two largest economies, who both collaborate and compete with one another. On today’s Big Take podcast, Former US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns joins host David Gura to discuss the trade war, the challenges facing his successor and what he’s telling foreign policy stud...
Despite the global hype around China’s DeepSeek, very little is known about the man behind it – Liang Wenfeng. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg's Saritha Rai about the tech founder who led DeepSeek to the frontline of AI advances and what the company’s rise tells us about the battle for AI dominance. Further listening: Why DeepSeek Sent Nvidia, Other Tech Stocks Tumbling Watch, from Originals: How China’s DeepSeek Came for Big AI See omnystudio.com/listener fo...
In a stunning turn of events, the US and China announced a dramatic reduction in tariffs, which President Trump portrayed as a “total reset” with China. Stocks rose following the news, but what lies ahead once the 90-day reprieve expires remains uncertain. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Treasury reporter Dan Flatley joins host David Gura to discuss the major takeaways from these latest negotiations and what they could mean for the world’s two largest economies. Read more: ‘Buy America’ S...
Last week, India and Pakistan saw the worst fighting in half a century — and came close to an all-out war. But the conflict came to an uneasy and sudden halt after Donald Trump declared the two countries reached a ceasefire. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg’s Dan Strumpf about how the deadly clashes and ceasefire unfolded and the implications of US mediation in the decades-old conflict. Read more: Trump Truce Leaves India Furious, Pakistan Elated as Ris...
In late 2018, five years after launching fish-feeding company eFishery, Gibran Huzaifah found himself all out of cash. To save his business, the CEO started plugging fake numbers into financial reports. The brighter picture drew hundreds of millions of investor dollars. But his house of cards was doomed to collapse. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg's David Ramli about the fall of eFishery and what it says about the risks of venture capital investing. Read more...
A new series from the Big Take podcast investigates the booming market for human eggs. In this episode, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg’s Jessica Brice focus on the Kemptons, an Australian couple who needed donor eggs to get pregnant. They wanted access to a market they felt offered transparency. They especially wanted information about potential donors. What followed was an around-the-world quest to create a family — filled with promise, gutting losses and extreme cost. Read more: The Egg Liste...
A new series from the Big Take podcast investigates the booming market for human eggs. It’s a global and opaque market where demand is so great, that even where regulations are in place, there are powerful incentives to evade them. In this episode, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg’s Vernon Silver focus on one fertility clinic in Greece that police say stole the eggs of as many as 75 women. It’s a story that shows how the actions of one clinic can have ripple effects around the world and reveals t...
A series from the Big Take podcast investigates the booming market for human eggs. It’s a global and opaque market where demand is so great, that even where regulations are in place, there are powerful incentives to evade them. In this episode, host Sarah Holder is joined by Bloomberg’s Natalie Obiko Pearson to unpack an investigation in India that revealed how far some people will go to get a cut of this trade, even if it means exploiting a child. Read more: The Egg Listen to the rest of the se...
The International Monetary Fund released a forecast this week projecting that global GDP will grow just 2.8% — down half a percentage point since US President Donald Trump unleashed a raft of tariffs on April 2. Their projection for US GDP growth was particularly grim: Down nearly an entire percentage point from expectations earlier this year. And they’re not alone. As economists try to measure the potential outcome from the current trade war and the whiplash of on-again-off-again tariffs, Bloom...
Chinese toy company Pop Mart is one of the hottest stocks this year thanks to the wild popularity of its Labubu dolls and other blind box toys. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg Opinion’s Shuli Ren about how the company’s business model could help it ride out the trade-war storm. Read more: China’s ‘Blind Box’ Magic Breeds Millions of Peter Pans Further listening: How China’s BYD Became King of the Affordable EV See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...
As the trade war between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping continues to escalate, economists around the world are asking who will blink first. On this episode of the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s John Liu and Jennifer Welch join host David Gura to discuss what it will take for both presidents to come to the negotiating table, how the current state of China’s economy impacts its positioning in the trade war and why hardball tactics are unlikely to work this time around. See omnystudio.com/listener for ...
For decades, Singapore’s Kwek family, owners of one of the city’s biggest developers, looked to be the model of a successful family-run business. But that image was shattered when the family patriarch filed a lawsuit against his son. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha sits down with Bloomberg’s Sheryl Lee and Dexter Low to examine what happened behind the boardroom doors of City Developments and how investors are navigating its fallout. Further listening: A New Breed of Scammer Is...
US President Donald Trump shocked the world -- and global markets -- with tariffs that exceeded expectations last week. But there was one region that was hit harder than most: Asia. Exporting powerhouses like China and Vietnam were slapped with some of the highest levies of any country, with China now facing an additional 50% tariff, bringing the total rate of its levies to more than 100%. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha sits down with Bloomberg's John Liu in Beijing and John B...
Trump announced the steepest American tariffs in more than a century, with a 10% tariff on all exporters to the US and even higher duties on some 60 nations. China now faces a tariff well above 50% on many goods. On today’s Big Take, Bloomberg reporter Josh Wingrove joins host David Gura to discuss Trump’s “huge” announcement, and how it will reshape global trade. Read more: Trump Tariffs Everyone, With Rate on China Set to Soar Above 50% Further listening: The World Is Paying for Trump’s China ...
India’s historic stock market surge sparked a retail-investing frenzy that minted millionaires. But the boom also became a breeding ground for financial scams. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Alex Gabriel Simon about the retail investors that have been cheated out of their life savings, and how this influx of scams could undermine Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to promote his nation’s stock market to global money managers. Read more: Scamsters Trick...
Trump's tariffs on China are causing a lot of pain around the world. Products that would've gone to the US are now pouring into other countries, leading to factory closures and layoffs. And this is likely to increase after April 2, when President Trump has promised to put in place a new set of tariffs. On today’s episode of the Big Take, Katia Dmitrieva joins David Gura to talk about the collateral damage from Trump’s trade war with China. Read more: A New ‘China Shock’ Is Destroying Jobs Around...
If US-China relations could be compared to a dish, what would it be? Sichuan hotpot? Sweet and sour pork? In a special episode of the Big Take Asia podcast, a panel of Bloomberg experts examines how the world's superpowers have been slugging it out since Donald Trump started his second stint as US president. Join host K. Oanh Ha as she sits down with Bloomberg’s John Liu and Nancy Cook, and Opinion’s Shuli Ren and Timothy O’Brien for a discussion recorded live in Singapore. Further listening: Xi...
Japan has a matcha shortage despite record levels of production. Shops are selling out of the green tea powder as soon as they hit the shelves. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg's Mia Glass about the world’s obsession with matcha – and why producers can’t keep up with the rising demand. Read more: The Global Matcha Boom Is Driving a Shortage in Japan Further listening: Japan’s Small Businesses Have a Problem. They Don’t Know How to Raise Prices See omnystudio.c...
Mauritius and neighboring islands in the Indian Ocean are at the center of a great-power chess match involving the US, China and India. All want to use them as bases to protect shipping lanes and project military might in the region. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha is joined by Bloomberg correspondent Peter Martin to discuss the power struggle, and the implications of China’s growing clout in the region. Further listening: The Shadowy Fleet of Tankers Moving Iranian Oil to Chin...
A crippling property crisis, mounting debt, weak consumer spending… and now a trade war. Despite the headwinds, China has set an ambitious economic growth goal of about 5% this year. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s John Liu about how Xi Jinping intends to meet the target, and how Trump’s tariff war might sabotage his plans. Read more: Trump’s Tariffs Push Xi to Overhaul China’s Ailing Growth Model Further listening: China’s New Game Plan For Dealing With T...
Four years after launching a regulatory crackdown that plunged the tech sector into turmoil, China’s President Xi Jinping sat down publicly with Alibaba Group’s co-founder Jack Ma, whose firm bore the brunt of that campaign, and a number of other tech titans. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Lucille Liu and Opinion columnist Catherine Thorbecke about Xi’s shifting stance and where the tech industry goes from here. Read more: Xi’s Embrace of China Tech CEOs S...
Since its US launch in 2022, Chinese marketplace Temu has rapidly risen to become America’s biggest e-commerce platform after Amazon, thanks to ultra-low prices on almost every product imaginable. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Spencer Soper and Rachel Chang about Donald Trump’s order to close a tariff loophole and what it means for American shoppers and the giants supplying them with goods direct from China. Further listening: The Tariff Wars Are Here — ...
Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriage last month. And to mark the occasion, nearly 2,000 couples tied the knot on the first day the law came into effect. In this bonus episode of the Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to a lesbian couple who were among the first in the country to get married that day and to Bloomberg reporter Patpicha Tanakasempipat on what the landmark law change means for equality in the country and the nation’s economic ...
As US President Donald Trump imposes new tariffs on China, Xi Jinping's government has had a far more muted response than it did during the trade war in Trump’s first term. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha is joined by Bloomberg editor Jenni Marsh and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Shuli Ren to unpack China’s response to Trump’s barrage of tariffs and discuss what’s at risk for both countries if they find themselves in another trade war. Read more: China’s Mr. Big Won’t Cave In to ...
