The global trade status quo is shifting. Will the U.S. be left out?
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After decades of globalization, the U.S. may be paying a political price: International leaders are forging new trade agreements independent of American influence. In this episode, as some countries no longer see the U.S. as a reliable trade partner, will the global economy leave America behind? Plus: Sellers outnumber buyers in parts of the housing market, Georgetown’s Dorothy Brown discusses her new book about reparations, and we preview Fed governor Lisa Cook’s upcoming Supreme Court hearing.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Oh, you were looking for macroeconomic stability, were you? |
| 0:06.6 | Huh. |
| 0:07.9 | From American public media. |
| 0:10.4 | This is Marketplace. |
| 0:17.4 | In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizdahl. It is Tuesday, today the 20th of January. Good as always to have you along, everybody. |
| 0:27.4 | One does not have to be a trained observer of the international order to know that something is up. You can kind of feel things changing under your feet, right? Canadian Prime Minister |
| 0:40.4 | Mark Carney said in a speech today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and this is a quote, |
| 0:45.0 | we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. The old order he went on is not coming back. |
| 0:52.6 | Canada, in fact, made a big trade deal with China the other day. |
| 0:56.7 | The European Union and the South American trading block Mercosur finally signed a free trade agreement |
| 1:01.5 | that has been years in the making. And as President Trump threatens tariffs and more to take |
| 1:07.7 | Greenland, traditional American allies are having an economic moment. Marketplace's |
| 1:14.0 | Elizabeth Troval has more on how the tectonic plates of geo-economics are shifting. |
| 1:19.6 | Today, the U.S. is paying the political price after decades of globalization. This didn't |
| 1:26.2 | happen out of a vacuum, says Rice University's David Gantz. |
| 1:29.8 | A lot of people have been left behind, and governments have not done a very good job of |
| 1:35.0 | dealing with the people left behind from the shift in manufacturing elsewhere. |
| 1:40.9 | But as Bill Reinch with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, points out, |
| 1:46.5 | President Trump's protectionism isn't stopping globalism. |
| 1:50.8 | Trade is increasing, but it's rearranging or realigning. |
| 1:55.7 | And what's happening is basically countries are moving on without the United States. |
| 2:01.2 | Look at the EU in South America, China and Canada, the UK and India. |
... |
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