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...
Mar 11, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast It has been a wild few weeks in markets. By last week, the S&P 500 had wiped out all its gains since Election Day – $3.4 trillion in value. When Trump was asked about the possibility of a recession over the weekend, he said the US was in a “period of transition.” Then on Monday, the Nasdaq 100 saw its worst day since 2022, tumbling 3.8% and extending a selloff that has put it into correction territory. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Charlie Well...
Mar 10, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Mar 07, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since taking office in January, President Trump has set in motion a series of sweeping rollbacks on US climate policy. This comes at a time when governments around the world have lagged behind their stated environmental goals. On today’s episode of the Big Take, host Sarah Holder is joined by Akshat Rathi, host of the Zero podcast, to talk through the Trump administration’s key climate actions, how they could impact investment in green energy, and what it all means for the global fig...
Mar 06, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump appeared before a joint session of Congress for the first time since the start of his second term. It was his fifth such appearance, and he celebrated what he saw as early wins in his first 43 days back in office — and spoke about what’s next on his agenda. Bloomberg Businessweek national correspondent Josh Green and Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin explore what the speech reveals about Trump’s vision for trade, the US economy and America&...
Mar 05, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast The data is in: The number of Black first-year students at Harvard Law fell dramatically after the Supreme Court’s decision to ban the consideration of race in admissions. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg higher education reporter Janet Lorin shares what she’s learned about how Harvard has changed its application process and what the institution has historically meant for generations of Black leaders. Plus, we hear from a Harvard Law student who’s involved in effort...
Mar 04, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast In January 2024, the US Embassy issued a warning to all American travelers: Be careful using dating apps in Colombia. Eight men had been killed in two months — several of them after traveling to Medellin and using apps to connect with women online. Bloomberg’s Natalie Lung and Antonia Mufarech investigated and found an even darker situation. On today’s Big Take podcast, they join host Sarah Holder to explain how apps from US-based tech companies are being used for sex tra...
Mar 03, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the last few months, a spate of high-profile air travel incidents in North America have captured public attention. And it’s raised concerns about whether air travel is as safe as it used to be. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s global aviation editor Benedikt Kammel joins host David Gura to discuss how recent accidents — especially the fatal collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a military helicopter and, weeks later, the crash landing of Delta F...
Feb 28, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Hopeful Primitive Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Georgia, has been standing for two hundred years. Now, with a huge, private equity-backed data center coming to town, it will soon be surrounded by towering power poles — and power lines will run through the yards of more than a hundred homes and private properties. Today on the show, energy reporter Josh Saul reports on the AI boom, the demand it’s creating for data centers, and what it looks like on the ground in the communities...
Feb 27, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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’...
Feb 26, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast More than half of Americans enrolled in Medicare receive their coverage from a private insurer through a program called Medicare Advantage. But according to whistleblowers, some of those companies may be overcharging the government and getting billions of taxpayer dollars in the process. Several Justice Department investigations have followed those claims. On today’s Big Take podcast, we hear from one of those whistleblowers and Bloomberg health-care reporter John Tozzi about how Medicare ...
Feb 25, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Doug McMillon has been running Walmart since 2014. He’s credited with pushing the company into the digital age and successfully steering it through the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, he’s turning his attention to the company's next chapter and new challenges ahead. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Jaewon Kang and Devin Leonard travel to Bentonville, Arkansas, to interview McMillon about navigating a second Trump presidency, appealing to higher-end shoppers and the comp...
Feb 24, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The price of eggs was up 15% in January, driving overall inflation higher. The cause? Bird flu. We’re joined by farmer Jim Hayes, as well as the hosts of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, to talk about how bird flu threatens the chicken supply chain and public health — and what, if anything, can be done to lower egg prices. Listen to Beak Capitalism from Odd Lots . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 21, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Monday marks the three year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And over the last few days, Trump has revealed his approach to ending the conflict. It would reverse years of US foreign policy in the region and has, so far, left Ukraine out of direct conversations with Russia. On today’s Big Take DC podcast, Bloomberg reporter Iain Marlow takes us inside the historic US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia and explains what Trump’s pivot in policy and alliances could...
Feb 20, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the last four-and-a-half years, the footprint of Elon Musk’s Texas business empire has undergone rapid expansion. It now includes SpaceX facilities and a sprawling Tesla gigafactory outside the state capital. New Bloomberg reporting shows that undocumented workers helped to build some facilities — even as Musk ratcheted up his anti-immigration rhetoric and advocated for a border crackdown. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Julia Love investigated how undocumen...
Feb 19, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Feb 18, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Prospera is a city-state operated by a private company on the Honduran island of Roatan. It offers businesses single-digit tax rates and the ability to choose their own regulations. Its proponents have touted it as a poverty relief initiative for the country and as the most ambitious experiment in self-governance ever undertaken. But that dream is now facing an existential crisis. A little more than a decade after Honduras changed its constitution to allow for places like Prospera, a new politic...
Feb 17, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This Valentine’s Day, as many as 13 million more Americans are single than before the pandemic. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Ben Steverman shares what he’s learned about the cause of this love slump and how it’s taking a toll on Americans’ hearts and on the US economy. And host Sarah Holder meets a group of singles taking matters into their own hands. Read more: The Covid Pandemic Left an Extra 13 Million Americans Single See omnystudio.com/...
Feb 14, 2025•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Trump’s attacks on a key international aid agency, USAID, has left its work frozen and kicked off a fierce legal battle between his administration and US courts over its future. On today’s Big Take DC podcast, we hear from Bloomberg’s Simon Marks and health care workers on the ground in Nairobi about how the fight playing out more than 7,000 miles away is affecting HIV treatment there. And national security editor Nick Wadhams explains why Trump has taken aim at...
Feb 13, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Intel invented computer processors and was a dominant supplier of chips for decades. Now AI is fuelling record demand for next-generation chips. But Bloomberg’s Ian King says Intel is no longer the go-to partner for the global tech industry, and the company is at risk of disappearing. What went wrong? Today on the show: The rise and fall of Intel, and where it could go from here. Read Ian King’s coverage of Intel. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 12, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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:&nbs...
Feb 11, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Financial markets in Europe have long been fragmented and constrained, driving home-grown startups to list and raise capital in the US. Now, Europe is trying to reverse the trend. Can it hold onto innovative firms — and talent? Today on the show, host Sarah Holder talks to Bloomberg’s Sagarika Jaisinghani about why location matters so much for startups and what Europe’s challenges mean for the region’s economic outlook. Read more: Broken Markets Hold Back Europe as ...
Feb 10, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s bonus season on Wall Street. But if you work for a bank, you know that the number you’re quoted is almost never the number you get when it comes time for that bonus to pay out. On today’s Big Take podcast, global finance reporter Laura Noonan shares what she learned by crunching the numbers on which banks deliver more or less than they promised. Read more: How Much Your Wall Street Bonus Is Really Worth See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 07, 2025•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nine days after his swearing in, Scott Bessent sat down with Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin at the US Treasury Department. They discussed topics in his purview dominating the headlines — Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts, tariffs — and his plans for taxes, trade, the Fed and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 06, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Silicon Valley tech leaders have been brimming with optimism in recent years about the future of artificial intelligence — and investors have bet big on the transformational power of the technology. Then last week, China’s DeepSeek emerged as a disruptive force and the value of Nvidia Corp. fell by half a trillion dollars. More than ever, investors are wondering about whether big bets on AI will pay off in the long run. Bloomberg Economics Chief Economist Tom Orlik sees three c...
Feb 05, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trump says the president should be able to decide how to spend taxpayer money – not Congress. Part of his plan? Impoundment: A controversial maneuver that could wrest control of trillions of dollars in federal spending away from Congress. Bloomberg politics reporter Gregory Korte joins Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin to explain what impoundment is, the pushback against Trump’s efforts and how the battle over its legality could play out. Is there an idea in the news that you want expla...
Feb 04, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is it a trade war or is it whiplash? On Saturday, President Trump announced new 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods. On Sunday, he said tariffs were coming for the European Union, too. The tariffs were initially supposed to take effect at 12:01 am Tuesday morning eastern time, but since that weekend announcement, the tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods have been delayed for one month. Meanwhile, the tariffs on Chinese goods are pro...
Feb 03, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shuibei, in southern China, is home to one of the world's biggest retail markets for gold. Over the past year, it's seen a boom in demand for the jewelry, sold by thousands of stallholders, as the Chinese property crisis and slowing economy spurred a flight into gold. So much so that Chinese consumers helped propel the global gold price to record highs in 2024. On today's Big Take Asia podcast, K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg's Chongjing Li about the enduring appeal of the precious metal in China,...
Jan 31, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Wednesday, the Navajo Nation and the mining company, Energy Fuels Inc., announced a new agreement detailing how uranium could be transported through tribal lands. The agreement ends a stalemate between the two parties. And it comes at a time when interest in nuclear energy — and the cost of the uranium that fuels it — is surging. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Jacob Lorinc joins host Sarah Holder to break down the painful history of uranium mining...
Jan 30, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been a tough stretch for Boeing. Its new CEO Kelly Ortberg is trying to rebuild public trust and turn the company’s finances around, all while navigating pressure from President Trump to deliver new Air Force One jets and working with the founder of one of Boeing’s chief rivals, Elon Musk. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg senior aerospace reporter Julie Johnsson joins host David Gura to explain the turbulent road ahead for the US planemaker. Read More: El...
Jan 29, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
