Share
The David McWilliams Podcast
The Nike Economy: Why Vietnam Is America’s Hidden Factory Floor
Season 2025, Ep. 30
•
What do Nike runners, IKEA furniture, and half a million Vietnamese workers have in common? They’re all caught in the crossfire of Trump’s tariff tantrum. This week, we trace the hidden supply chains behind the global economy, from Vietnam’s rise as a manufacturing powerhouse to how a sneaker company now employs more people abroad than Ford and GM do at home. We break down how the MAGA tariff regime threatens to crater entire economies, sour U.S. relations in Asia, and hand China the long game. Plus, what it all means for Ireland, Africa, and the American empire itself. Are we witnessing a pivot, or a pullback from the world stage?
More episodes
View all episodes
50. The EU Is Cracking
40:04||Season 2026, Ep. 50Europe just got overtaken, and it knows it. From a bar in Brussels, we unpack the ancient fault line tearing the EU apart, why China's rise has spooked the continent more than anyone admits, and why the "European way of life" might already be slipping away.49. World Cup Series: Haiti
44:24||Season 2026, Ep. 49Haiti just qualified for its first World Cup in 50 years, and they come from the poorest country in the Americas, a place where gangs run the capital and the average person earns $45 a month. We trace how the world's first successful slave revolution ended up here: French gunboats, a 120-year debt, ecological collapse, and an island where one half (the Dominican Republic) is racing ahead while the other is forgotten.48. Could Canada Have A Brexit Moment?
42:35||Season 2026, Ep. 48Mark Carney is being hailed as the new leader of the free world. While he's facing down Trump abroad, his real headache is at home, Alberta, Canada's Texas, is gearing up for a referendum that could split the country in two.47. Inside the World Cup's Narco State
40:31||Season 2026, Ep. 47We head down Mexico way to unpack the country hosting the World Cup, a $1.8 trillion economy living side by side with one of the most powerful criminal networks on earth. Drugs, guns, avocados, and the politics tying Trump and Sheinbaum together whether they like it or not.46. Why Social Democracies Win World Cups
40:44||Season 2026, Ep. 46The FT's Simon Kuper joins us to kick off our World Cup series, on why tiny social democracies keep producing the best football teams, why FIFA is laundering reputations for dictators, and why this tournament will say more about geopolitics than any leaders' summit this year.45. The Coming Water Crisis
29:21||Season 2026, Ep. 45Forget oil. The real fight is over the world's most precious and least understood commodity; water. We're joined by Paul O'Callaghan of BlueTech Research to explain why two billion people still can't get safe drinking water, why Saudi Arabia is quietly draining Colorado, and why Ireland's biggest strategic advantage might just be the rain we love to complain about.44. Why Trump Is About to Come for Ireland
41:02||Season 2026, Ep. 44Made in Kinsale, sold in America, the Ozempic boom is making Ireland rich and dangerously exposed. We unpack how three companies now pay nearly half our corporate tax, and what happens when Trump finally notices.43. How Trump Could Kill the Dollar
48:29||Season 2026, Ep. 43Monetary historian Brendan Greeley explains why the dollar's power has nothing to do with the Fed, why crypto is just a bank in disguise, and why politicising the dollar might be the fastest way to end its reign as the world's reserve currency.42. Why Nobody's Having Babies Anymore
50:33||Season 2026, Ep. 42Birth rates are collapsing, not just in rich countries, but everywhere from Mexico to Tunisia. The FT's John Burn-Murdoch joins us to unpack the surprising culprit, why young people aren't just having fewer kids, they're not even coupling up, and what it means for the future of work, wealth,