Shedonomics: Can Europe Survive China’s Manufacturing Machine?
The David McWilliams Podcast
David McWilliams
4.5 • 692 Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, we unpack the new China shock, as exports to Europe surge nearly 30% in just two months and a €359 billion trade deficit keeps widening. From electric cars to fast fashion, Chinese firms are flooding markets with cheaper, faster, and increasingly better products, and Europe is struggling to respond. The real story is actually stranger. We dive into the rise of the “parcel economy,” where billions of low-value packages bypass traditional retail, and the even more surreal “shed economy,” where informal logistics networks are quietly distributing Chinese goods across Europe. Can Europe still produce anything at all? If one country can make everything cheaper, what’s left for everyone else? And if trade stops being two-way, does free trade itself break down? Was Trump right all along?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | To understand the economy, you have to understand human nature. |
| 0:07.1 | This podcast is powered by ACAST. |
| 0:13.0 | How are you doing there? |
| 0:14.1 | It is time for the podcast, and we have a fantastic podcast for you today. |
| 0:19.5 | As always. |
| 0:20.6 | Well, I think as always, as always, but we're going to talk, John, about China, your favorite |
| 0:28.1 | subject and your favorite person subject, Donald Trump. |
| 0:31.5 | Yes. |
| 0:32.0 | And we're going to conclude that maybe Donald Trump is right about China. |
| 0:37.3 | But that's yes. is right about China. |
| 0:39.0 | But that's, yes. |
| 0:40.7 | Oh, my God. |
| 0:44.6 | After many years of lampooning him, we're going to talk about China. |
| 0:47.5 | We're going to talk about the China shock. |
| 0:50.5 | I mean, John, you know everyone's talking about the oil shock at the moment. |
| 0:51.5 | Yes, yeah. |
| 0:58.6 | And of course, the oil shock is a serious, serious dilemma. But the interesting thing about the oil shock is that it ain't going to be permanent in the sense that at |
| 1:05.3 | certain stages, oil prices will come back down, peace will be declared at some stage, prices will come back down, Peace will be declared at some stage. |
| 1:12.3 | Prices will come back down. |
| 1:16.9 | And oil prices are usually demand-driven at the end of the day, right? |
| 1:20.8 | But the China shock is a very different shock. |
| 1:24.4 | Now, you might, you've got four girls living under one roof. |
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