Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanabek. We're here every day bringing
Speaker 1: you the latest news from the world's of business and finance,
Speaker 1: plus technology, politics, economics, all harnessing the power of Business
Speaker 1: Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and
Speaker 1: analyst in more than one and twenty countries. You can
Speaker 1: download Bloomberg Business Week on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 1: You can also listen to our radio show at two
Speaker 1: pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on
Speaker 1: YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. So a bunch of virus headlines.
Speaker 1: California lifting its regional stay at home orders. We talked
Speaker 1: about New York City postponing vaccations at large sites they
Speaker 1: don't have enough doses. Maderna beginning human studies of a
Speaker 1: booster shop for its vaccine to help protect against a
Speaker 1: more transmissible South Africa virus variant. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: things going on, and we also have a ranking on
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg about kind of whose or where are the
Speaker 1: best places to basically ride out the pandemic. Can I
Speaker 1: just tell you hint hint, us isn't near the top.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say the same thing um at some
Speaker 1: familiar names at the top. If you've been following the
Speaker 1: pandemic for the past ten months, ten months, right, unbelievable meantime,
Speaker 1: US infectious to seize Chief Dr Anthony Fauci. You just
Speaker 1: heard a little bit of him. He says he's worried
Speaker 1: about a push to delay administering the second dose of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. He talked at a Virtual World Economic Form panel.
Speaker 1: It was moderated by Bloomberg's editor chief John mccothwaite. Here's
Speaker 1: a little bit of that. You don't get full efficacy
Speaker 1: until you get that second dose, and if you allow
Speaker 1: some optimal efficacy, you can actually immunologically select more for
Speaker 1: mutations when you do that. So that's the reason why
Speaker 1: you know, it may not be the case, but it
Speaker 1: gets risky, and that's the reason why we prefer to
Speaker 1: keep it on the time that the clinical trials said, right,
Speaker 1: the protocol calls for two shots in terms of maximum efficacy.
Speaker 1: That's of course, Dr Anthony Faucci. Let's get to our
Speaker 1: own Bloomberg News Health Science and Medical Technology reporter Michelle Cortez.
Speaker 1: She is with Tim and me on the phone in Minneapolis. Michelle.
Speaker 1: Great to have you here. Uh. Dr Anthony Faucci talking
Speaker 1: about two shots, I do wonder the more that you read,
Speaker 1: the more you research, you know, is it better for
Speaker 1: us to get a vaccine out to more people at
Speaker 1: this point considering the slow rollout, or is it, like
Speaker 1: Dr Fauci says, we got to just make sure we
Speaker 1: kind of max out the efficacy of these vaccines and
Speaker 1: do two shots. It really does matter what the goal
Speaker 1: is for the vaccination effort. If you're really trying to
Speaker 1: protect the people who are the most at risk of
Speaker 1: dying from the virus or those who are most likely
Speaker 1: to contracted, like those who are caring for people with coronavirus,
Speaker 1: then you really need to give those doses because that's
Speaker 1: where the evidence is, that's what we know works, and
Speaker 1: if you start going away from what we know work,
Speaker 1: you run the risk of it not working. And so
Speaker 1: having vaccinating half the people is something that doesn't work
Speaker 1: get you in a worse position then actually just buckling
Speaker 1: down and giving the full vaccination to that smaller number
Speaker 1: of people. Of course, if you're just trying to get
Speaker 1: to hurt immunity. If you're just trying to get to
Speaker 1: if you're just trying to get to some measure of
Speaker 1: protection for the greatest number of people, then you might
Speaker 1: want to gamble. So it really is how much of
Speaker 1: a gambler are you? Michelle Carol, That's such a good
Speaker 1: question earlier that we don't know the answer to, which
Speaker 1: is where is this bottleneck when it comes to where
Speaker 1: the vaccines are? Is it manufacturing? Is a distribution? Because
Speaker 1: here in New York City, the city is postponing vaccinations,
Speaker 1: as Carol mentioned, at large sites because of a doze shortage.
Speaker 1: Where are they? I think at this point what we're
Speaker 1: seeing is just dislocation as a general rule. If we
Speaker 1: did have massive stockpiles of the actual vaccine itself, I
Speaker 1: think that we would be able to start seeing these
Speaker 1: facilities in sports stadiums and amphitheaters and can you city centers, schools,
Speaker 1: post office those sorts of things. We would be able
Speaker 1: to ramp that up. But it's really hard when all
Speaker 1: the pieces are moving at the same time. You know,
Speaker 1: if you can get all the people, if you can
Speaker 1: get the location and the vaccinators and the vaccinators and
Speaker 1: everything to a spot but you don't have the vaccine itself,
Speaker 1: then that's not going to do you very good. When
Speaker 1: you do have the vaccine, but you have fluctuating numbers,
Speaker 1: how do you set up for that. So it's all
Speaker 1: of the moving parts that are moving at the same
Speaker 1: time that is causing the problems. And we're seeing different points,
Speaker 1: different issues everywhere. So if it was all just a
Speaker 1: matter of we don't have enough vaccine, then we would
Speaker 1: know just what we have to fix, what we have
Speaker 1: to address to fix the problem. Does that mean that
Speaker 1: there are potentially enough vaccines out there, but there may
Speaker 1: be sitting somewhere at the wrong place and not where
Speaker 1: they're really needed. I'm just trying to understand, right. I
Speaker 1: think that there are certain cases where you can look.
Speaker 1: For example, we understand, you know, in Florida, for example,
Speaker 1: they've only given out about half of the vaccine that
Speaker 1: they have. Now, that's not because they are just you know,
Speaker 1: sitting in in a warehouse and it's in some freezer
Speaker 1: somewhere they don't need it. It's because it's just in
Speaker 1: the process of going from one place to another place,
Speaker 1: they don't know exactly how much they're going to get.
Speaker 1: It's it's the uncertainty of the process. So every place
Speaker 1: you look at, and not every state, but every hospital,
Speaker 1: every county, there's probably differences in every particular area. And
Speaker 1: of course the challenge with this vaccine itself, the fact
Speaker 1: that you have to take it out of the freezer
Speaker 1: thought we constituted and get ready to administer it, and
Speaker 1: then you have to give it all at once, makes
Speaker 1: it so that people are trying to be very careful
Speaker 1: with what they're giving, what they're pulling out of the freezer.
Speaker 1: So it's if you have a little bit in different places.
Speaker 1: Everywhere that you look, there isn't one consistent answer to
Speaker 1: that question. Well, I mean I wish there were, right.
Speaker 1: If there were, maybe it would be in a better spot. Um, Michelle,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of vaccine news this morning, though,
Speaker 1: I'm wondering about this news that Moderna is planning to
Speaker 1: do studies of a booster tell protect against a more
Speaker 1: transmissible virus variant, this one coming from South Africa. When
Speaker 1: you saw that news, what was your reaction? Well, that
Speaker 1: was actually really interesting stuff. There's good news and bad
Speaker 1: news in this particular set of information that's coming up
Speaker 1: from Maderna. The problematic piece was the fact that the
Speaker 1: vaccine itself generates a less robust response then against the
Speaker 1: new variant then against the old variant. So if you're
Speaker 1: getting madernat vaccine, you want to make sure that whatever
Speaker 1: virus actually you come into contact with, you're going to
Speaker 1: be better if you have the original, the wild type virus.
Speaker 1: That being said, the the vaccine actually is still very potent,
Speaker 1: in fact, generates a stronger immune response than even the
Speaker 1: natural infection. Michelle, I want to get your thoughts on
Speaker 1: that headline that that Charlie just read. Governor Cuomo says
Speaker 1: New York is ready to ease rules after holiday spike ends.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, um, whenever I see I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna put it out. The headline came across and I
Speaker 1: was like, Carol, did you see this, because it feels like,
Speaker 1: you know, when we are starting to do better, we
Speaker 1: we don't want to do something, uh that could potentially
Speaker 1: make us do worst. Same thought about California, Tim, You're
Speaker 1: exactly right, and to point out to California as well,
Speaker 1: they're still in the middle of a pretty bad outbreak
Speaker 1: at the moment. So it's getting better, but it's getting
Speaker 1: better from a really terrible position. It does make you
Speaker 1: wonder how we're going to handle this outbreak. We've seen
Speaker 1: it over and over again. It's this roller coaster, right,
Speaker 1: the cases go up, people get worried, they start staying
Speaker 1: in the numbers come down, so they ease back up
Speaker 1: and then and then it just happens all over again.
Speaker 1: So it is this tension between being able to get
Speaker 1: out there, having the social stimulations, seeing people in person,
Speaker 1: getting our economies back going again, versus keeping the virus
Speaker 1: under control. Like send this wing that's been happening, and
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine it's going to end, probably not
Speaker 1: for another year or longer. Well, it just makes me think.
Speaker 1: I was telling Carol about this. Over the weekend. The
Speaker 1: New York Times had this interactive chart that they published
Speaker 1: that that showed, based on speaking to experts, if restrictions
Speaker 1: are lifted in February, twenty nine million additional total infections
Speaker 1: could happen, versus if current restrictions remain in place until
Speaker 1: late July, we could actually see us in the pandemic sooner.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's surprising to me, I know, there
Speaker 1: is this tension between making sure that we are doing
Speaker 1: what we can do to keep the economy going. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, if the virus is not under control,
Speaker 1: the economy is not going to get going, right. If
Speaker 1: the virus is still hanging over people, then they're going
Speaker 1: to be reluctant to to do certain things. And I
Speaker 1: believe that you'll see that even in certain areas where
Speaker 1: things like gyms and hairdressers, those sort of movie theaters
Speaker 1: are open. If you go there, often you're the only
Speaker 1: person in the entire movie theater because people are still worried. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: hopefully it won't be a complete, you know, flooding back
Speaker 1: of you know, the the economic engine powering everything, empowering
Speaker 1: that virus level right back up to previous heights. MICHELLEO,
Speaker 1: do you have some hope faith in that because we
Speaker 1: at least have a vaccine, that that is going to
Speaker 1: be that is a game changer. We've said that a
Speaker 1: million times. But even as economies or markets or cities
Speaker 1: or states begin to open up, that because we are
Speaker 1: at the same time giving out the vaccine, it's not
Speaker 1: a case that we slipped back to where we were
Speaker 1: lass summer less spring, like we won't go back there
Speaker 1: is that kind of the game changer here, even though
Speaker 1: we've got to still be careful. But that's kind of
Speaker 1: something that provides a little bit of a safety net
Speaker 1: here for us. I think the safety net is going
Speaker 1: to be on the severe disease piece of it. And
Speaker 1: we have really worked very hard in the US to
Speaker 1: vaccinate all of our seniors who are in nursing homes.
Speaker 1: And I would say that's one area that it has
Speaker 1: gone really well when you look at what Walgreens and
Speaker 1: CBS have done, not necessarily if you look at how
Speaker 1: they've actually tracked all the numbers and and how they've
Speaker 1: you know, specifically given it to exactly the right people.
Speaker 1: But if you just look at the numbers of people
Speaker 1: that they have gotten to, most nursing homes have had
Speaker 1: folks come in from CBS and Walgreens. Most nursing home
Speaker 1: patients are getting these vaccines, many of them have gotten
Speaker 1: two of them. That's a reduction and serious disease. And
Speaker 1: that's the people who are going to die. So I
Speaker 1: would say we might see cases still high, but we're
Speaker 1: unlikely to see the deaths at the rates that we've
Speaker 1: been seeing. That's significant. I like this, Yeah, this is good.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm trying to understand like a right kind
Speaker 1: of just at least some progress moving forward. Michelle, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Michelle Corte, Senior Health Science and Medical
Speaker 1: Technology reporter at Bloomberg News, on the phone from Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovich from Bloomberg Radio. Well, the annual
Speaker 1: of the year I had issia of Bloomberg Business Week.
Speaker 1: It is on newsstands, now online and on the Bloomberg
Speaker 1: and in it a deep dive into batteries from Asian
Speaker 1: manufacturers in the global race, to batteries hidden in around
Speaker 1: New York City and the startups that are kind of
Speaker 1: blazing a new way forward. There's so many different angles.
Speaker 1: We want to cover some of them. Bloomberg News editor
Speaker 1: Demitri Cassoneds is with us on the phone in New
Speaker 1: York City, along with Bloomberg Business Week editor Joel Weber
Speaker 1: on the access line in Brooklyn. Batteries. Joel, you guys
Speaker 1: really kind of got into it. Yeah. I even did
Speaker 1: a cover line there's a great future and batteries. Think
Speaker 1: about it, which if you're if you remember the graduate
Speaker 1: U graduated but with plastic and now it's batteries but demitra.
Speaker 1: Why is this the year of the battery? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: the batteries are in everything, right, ideal a lot with
Speaker 1: electric automobiles and vehicles, but batteries power everything. And so
Speaker 1: we're seeing massive factories coming online around the world. The
Speaker 1: Asian companies have really dominated this in recent years, and
Speaker 1: they're making a very big play this year with battery
Speaker 1: factories that are going to open in Europe and even
Speaker 1: in the US. And finally, others are kind of opening
Speaker 1: their eyes to this out of necessity in many other reasons,
Speaker 1: and so we're starting to see more of a real
Speaker 1: heated competition that's going to emerge among European battery producers,
Speaker 1: Asian battery producers, and um, we think American battery producers
Speaker 1: as well. Well. That's interesting because the US is definitely
Speaker 1: not in the lead, and the you know, the Asian
Speaker 1: companies are the ones that we're kind of we think
Speaker 1: of first and foremost, like C A. T. L UM
Speaker 1: and they're eyeing Europe over US for expansion. What's that about. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, you see what's happening right with Volkswagen and
Speaker 1: all the European automakers who are coming out with new
Speaker 1: models of electric vehicles, and in check sales figures for
Speaker 1: autos in Europe last year, we're definitely down, but in
Speaker 1: the e V sector they were up quite a bit,
Speaker 1: and that's only a trend line that's going to keep
Speaker 1: going up, up, up, So that's a primary factor motivating it.
Speaker 1: You'll see partnerships that are struck between the carmakers and
Speaker 1: the battery makers. Um. Uh it's c A t L
Speaker 1: as we mentioned, LG is another one. LG is also
Speaker 1: one of our companies on the sixty Companies to Watch list, uh,
Speaker 1: Korean companies that are big in the game kind of
Speaker 1: sonic as well. UM. And so what you're seeing is
Speaker 1: that the automakers are going to start thinking about whether
Speaker 1: this is an area that they should be getting into,
Speaker 1: as Tesla does in terms of really developing things themselves.
Speaker 1: I mean, they partner certainly with companies, but there's so
Speaker 1: much opportunity because of where we're seeing electric vehicles going
Speaker 1: and also massive battery storage systems right to deal with UM,
Speaker 1: greater security in terms of grids and power lines. That's
Speaker 1: where we're seeing a lot of here in the United States,
Speaker 1: batteries systems are really going to be the key to
Speaker 1: help US deal with very weak and compromise grid systems
Speaker 1: across the country. Okay, so let's talk more about America,
Speaker 1: because distant third place in the in the global race
Speaker 1: goes to the US, but there is a chance that
Speaker 1: you know, America could catch up. What does that have
Speaker 1: to look like? Well, you know, I think that we
Speaker 1: just haven't thought about it as much, and because again
Speaker 1: we weren't really thinking about these as a way to
Speaker 1: both powered grid systems. But also if we're talking about
Speaker 1: e VS, the US market is really very far behind
Speaker 1: in this right. I mean, we're maybe two percent of
Speaker 1: auto sales in the US are electric vehicles, So batteries
Speaker 1: have not been front and center part of what we're doing.
Speaker 1: But we have the resources, we have the technology. You know,
Speaker 1: we have areas that are rich in lithium deposits, so
Speaker 1: we have the ability to develop a really strong industry
Speaker 1: in this and there have been a lot of reports
Speaker 1: in the last six to eight months that have indicated
Speaker 1: that we're competitiveness sake, this is going to be an
Speaker 1: area that the US is going to have to develop,
Speaker 1: not just jobs wise and economy wise, but again keeping
Speaker 1: the battery production close to where you're doing the other
Speaker 1: things that are going to need the batteries because all
Speaker 1: the trade issues and everything else are complicating to some
Speaker 1: degree the ability to effectively like source your batteries from
Speaker 1: you know, companies and countries that we're having a lot
Speaker 1: of trade issues with. For example, listen, I'm into local
Speaker 1: lettuce and I'm into local batteries. I'm just gonna put
Speaker 1: it out there. Um so, right right, So Dmitri talked
Speaker 1: to us. One of the stories I thought was really
Speaker 1: interesting was about all the batteries that are hidden across
Speaker 1: New York City. What's that about? So that's very much
Speaker 1: about um, you know, weak sort of grid and um
Speaker 1: a need to bolster what we have in the way
Speaker 1: of power supply, and those are battery systems that are
Speaker 1: going to becoming. What we show you online and in
Speaker 1: the magazine are photos of location that MG micro rig Networks,
Speaker 1: the company that's behind us, have actually secured and paid for,
Speaker 1: and between now and the end of the year, massive
Speaker 1: battery systems will be installed in those locations. And what
Speaker 1: they're doing is identifying locations that are like abandoned lock
Speaker 1: abandoned parking lots, rooftops that are massive enough, and in
Speaker 1: areas where again where the greatest compromised because they're in
Speaker 1: flood zones because they kept badly by storms. And so
Speaker 1: we're going to start to see and they're multi use
Speaker 1: kind of battery systems where you see a lot of
Speaker 1: batteries on the top level of something powering you know,
Speaker 1: our needs, and also like car chargers underneath, because we
Speaker 1: are expecting that more and more people are going to
Speaker 1: start to buy electric vehicles and need locations to power
Speaker 1: their cards exactly. One other interesting thing that is covered
Speaker 1: in this week's issue of Bloomberg Business Week when it
Speaker 1: comes to batteries is investors are seeing chip makers and
Speaker 1: battery makers is safer than investments in companies like Tesla
Speaker 1: and Neo. UM. So they're still seeing chip makers and
Speaker 1: battery makers specifically as a way to get exposure to
Speaker 1: electric vehicles without the volatility of Tesla. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think also without the volatility maybe of some of
Speaker 1: the companies where there have been valuations and a lot
Speaker 1: of activity um and and you know, there isn't something
Speaker 1: as let's say, really certain and stable that you're looking
Speaker 1: to invest in. I mean with batteries, there's an actual
Speaker 1: thing that's getting produced. Um. A lot of the ones
Speaker 1: that they're investing in already have operations set up, factories,
Speaker 1: created materials that they've sourced, the natural materials that are
Speaker 1: necessary and they're making the batteries. And again there is
Speaker 1: such a demand because we're not talking just about cars.
Speaker 1: We think about the war world and what around you
Speaker 1: was powered by a lithium ion battery, whether it's a phone,
Speaker 1: whether it's a computer, whether it's a lamp on your
Speaker 1: death that are now increasingly a fan. I mean, you
Speaker 1: know all the smart home stuff. I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: ton of stuff, and there's such a need and such
Speaker 1: a demand. Um. And I think that there's seeing what's
Speaker 1: happening with these companies and saying this is definitely something
Speaker 1: we want to invest in. So and you've gotta be
Speaker 1: quick here, demtro Is there anybody anybody who can make
Speaker 1: money on disassembling old batteries? Yet? That's a Kyle Stock
Speaker 1: story that I thought was really interesting. Well, if you
Speaker 1: believe the company that we one of the company's we
Speaker 1: profile is Redwood Materials. Sounded by a former Tesla executive,
Speaker 1: James strubble, and they would say, yeah, and we do
Speaker 1: believe that there is because we're not seeing just redwood
Speaker 1: in this. Several companies are actively developing the process for
Speaker 1: recycling batteries because all these electric vehicles, within ten years,
Speaker 1: their batteries are going to be dead, so we gotta
Speaker 1: do something with that. Yeah, this is going to be
Speaker 1: important part of the equation otherwise we're no better off. Um.
Speaker 1: Great stuff, guys, and it's such a must read all
Speaker 1: these different angles. Demetro Cassini's editor Bloomberg News, Joe Weber,
Speaker 1: editor Bloomberg Business Week. Go to the magazine check it out.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes. Tim's GENEVIEC on Bloomberg Radio. This is Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week gets brought to you by SEI Crises bring
Speaker 1: out the best in people, character, community, partnership together as one.
Speaker 1: Se I go to se i C dot com slash
Speaker 1: i m s for more information. So Tim, no doubt
Speaker 1: about it. Former President Trump and current President Buying two
Speaker 1: very different individuals. They're expected to lead pretty differently as well. However,
Speaker 1: when it comes to China, they might be a little
Speaker 1: bit more similar when it comes to policy, so says
Speaker 1: Andy Brown Bloomberg New Economy, saying that Biden is Trump
Speaker 1: two point oh when it comes to China. Andy joins
Speaker 1: us now on the phone from New York City. He's
Speaker 1: editorial director of Bloomberg New Economy. Um, So, Andy, why
Speaker 1: do you say that that Biden is looking like Trump
Speaker 1: two point oh when it comes at least relations to
Speaker 1: relations with China. So, of course it's been clear for
Speaker 1: a long time that China is now a bipod is
Speaker 1: an issue UM in the United States in Congress. But
Speaker 1: I think what really dramatically brought this to my attention
Speaker 1: was the way that on his way out the door,
Speaker 1: Mike Pompeio, the now former Secretary of State, designated China
Speaker 1: to be a perpetrator of genocide a genocidal state, and
Speaker 1: the incoming Biden administration UM, including Tony Lincoln his replacement,
Speaker 1: concurred with that assessment. This is pretty dramatic stuff, and
Speaker 1: nobody quite knows what it means for the United States
Speaker 1: to formally designate China as a genocidal regime, what it
Speaker 1: means to tie China with the same brush as for instance,
Speaker 1: Paul Potts Cambodia. But I'm sure that it has pretty
Speaker 1: far reaching consequences. I think we can be very sure
Speaker 1: of that. Well, Andy, what does it tell us then,
Speaker 1: potentially about how a Biden administration might approach its relationship
Speaker 1: to China more like what we saw with the Trump
Speaker 1: administration versus different So the first thing that has to
Speaker 1: be said is it's going to be a differentiated approach
Speaker 1: to the extent that the Biden administration is committed to
Speaker 1: working with allies. Not whether those allies are prepared to
Speaker 1: go along with the United States um A US that
Speaker 1: they still and will not trust, don't trust and will
Speaker 1: not trust perhaps for many years, is another question. But
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a smarter approach um
Speaker 1: that includes friends and allies. But the substance um of
Speaker 1: the Trump pushback against China, I think substantially remains the
Speaker 1: there is no going back to the former policy pursued
Speaker 1: by what administration after another, that policy of engagement with China,
Speaker 1: which failed to deliver on its promise, which was supposed
Speaker 1: to be a more open liberal economy um and A
Speaker 1: and a more democratic or representative political system. So what
Speaker 1: does this mean for for American business because what we've
Speaker 1: seen in the last few years, more than just the
Speaker 1: last few years, is the opportunity for American businesses, international
Speaker 1: businesses to a certain extent, some more successful than others,
Speaker 1: to actually operate and and grow in China. What does
Speaker 1: this mean for businesses moving forward? Okay, first of all
Speaker 1: has to be said that US businesses are not pulling
Speaker 1: out of China at all in response to UH Trump's
Speaker 1: hardline policies. Quite the opposite. Wool Street is piling in
Speaker 1: huge amounts of money going into UH, into China, UH,
Speaker 1: into Wealth Management UH and other areas, tracing chasing trillion
Speaker 1: dollar opportunities. But I think what it's going to mean
Speaker 1: is there is a I mean, there is a lot
Speaker 1: of nervousness that I've I've been hearing myself from businesses
Speaker 1: about what does it mean when the Biden administration takes
Speaker 1: over a policy condemning China UH for genocide. Look, companies
Speaker 1: like Apple, like Amazon are already scrambling to comply with
Speaker 1: sanctions regime against multiple Chinese entities and individuals linked to
Speaker 1: repression in in xin Jong. They're now going to be
Speaker 1: under added scrutiny. What about the Olympic Games. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, can the Olympic Games put pull off? We've
Speaker 1: heard we've heard already calls from human rights groups to
Speaker 1: abandon those But more generally, I think there's going to
Speaker 1: be an ethical issue here that businesses people are going
Speaker 1: to be greats groups are going to be questioning why
Speaker 1: are we doing business with this country. So it's so,
Speaker 1: you know, on the one hand, you have the poll
Speaker 1: of the Chinese market, it's the only major economy still growing.
Speaker 1: And then on the other hand, UM, you've got you know,
Speaker 1: the the the poll of of of all these groups
Speaker 1: who are questioning the fundamentals of US business engagement with
Speaker 1: the People's Republic of China. And it was also interesting
Speaker 1: and important that you pointed out that the Biden team
Speaker 1: UM invited Taiwan's to factor ambassador to attend the inauguration
Speaker 1: for the first time they had they actually gave an
Speaker 1: official invitation. And I do wonder to like another sign
Speaker 1: of or signal that the US administration, the new administrations
Speaker 1: may be sending to China. That's right on on Taiwan. UM.
Speaker 1: Of course, this was a highly opportunistic and and and
Speaker 1: as as as many of these decisions were by the
Speaker 1: out by the out by by Mike Pompeo on the
Speaker 1: way out rather self rather self serving. This one was
Speaker 1: particularly hamhanded. Nevertheless, Um, it is the case that the
Speaker 1: Biden administration formally invited to representative Taiwan to come to
Speaker 1: the inauguration. That is a big deal, and that of
Speaker 1: course is the hot issue, the hot button issue for
Speaker 1: the Chinese government. So you know, you're you're seeing we
Speaker 1: saw this speech by by Shijimping just today where you
Speaker 1: know he's not he's not indicating uh anything that looks like,
Speaker 1: you know, a softening or a sort of a warm
Speaker 1: outreach to the Biden administration. They're going to be watching
Speaker 1: and and and and waiting and testing him. So Andy,
Speaker 1: very briefly in just thirty seconds. Um, if we think
Speaker 1: about the legacy of the Trump administration when it comes
Speaker 1: to international relations, is pushing China, pushing the conversation in China?
Speaker 1: Is that what is he is going to be remembered for.
Speaker 1: He changed the conversation on China. I think that is
Speaker 1: that is very clear. As they say there is no
Speaker 1: going back to the former UH policy of engagement. Now,
Speaker 1: I think that's what he will be remembered for, but
Speaker 1: he will also be remembered for not delivering um on
Speaker 1: his on on on anything that looked like a coherent
Speaker 1: UH strategy in pushing back. That's what the Biden administration
Speaker 1: has to play for. All Right, We're gonna leave it
Speaker 1: on that note. Hey, Andy, thank you so much, really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Andy Brown, editorial director at Bomberg New Economy,
Speaker 1: on the phone from New York City. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud,
Speaker 1: or Bloomberg dot com, and you can also listen to
Speaker 1: our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio,
Speaker 1: or watch us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News