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Back in July, we read an interview with Benn Steil in The Wire China, in which he talked about how the U.S. and China are together reshaping world trade. If you had to choose one subject that captures how much the global economy has changed, that would be it. So we emailed him and asked him to revisit what he discussed with The Wire China.
The result is this podcast. Benn walks us through the history of China’s emergence and how today’s China has re-ordered what was, for decades, the global order.
Making a complicated subject understandable is a gift. Benn has that gift.
Benn Steil is senior fellow and director of international economics, as well as the official historian in residence, at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is the lead writer of the Council’s Geo-Graphics economics blog, and the creator of nine web-based interactives tracking Global Monetary Policy, Global Inflation, Global Imbalances, Global Growth, Global Trade, Global Energy, Sovereign Risk, China’s Belt and Road, and Central Bank Currency Swaps. He’s written numerous books, to wide acclaim.
This episode was recorded on 15 September 2026.
