Big Take

The conventional wisdom used to be that war in the Middle East would send oil prices soaring. Not anymore. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Opinion’s Javier Blas and host Sarah Holder talk about the emergence of the US as the world’s largest oil producer — and how that new power dynamic is playing out in the war in Iran. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The United States conducted airstrikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend, marking a dramatic escalation of the US’s involvement in Israel’s deepening war with Tehran. On today’s Big Take Podcast, Bloomberg national security and intelligence reporter Natalia Drozdiak and Israel Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner join host Sarah Holder to talk through what led to President Trump’s decision to strike, how the surprise attack happened and what comes next. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Global tariff wars, multi-country travel bans, detentions and phone-seizures at the border. President Trump’s “America first” policies create a grim picture for one group in particular: international tourists. Foreign visitors to the US have been on the rise since the pandemic, with analysts previously expecting 2025 to be a bumper year for tourism. That is, until President Trump’s second term began. This drop in tourism is forecasted to cost the American economy $12.5 billion this year. On Today’s episode of the Big Take, host David Gura sits down with Bloomberg reporter and Big Take Asia host K. Oanh Ha to look at the state of the tourism industry in the US, and where in the world tourists are going instead. Read more: Trump’s $12 Billion Tourism WipeoutThe US Is on Track to Lose $12 Billion in Travel Revenue in 2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the debate about President Trump’s tax bill — known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — plays out among lawmakers in Washington, there’s been increasingly heated criticism of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. It calculates the costs and savings from the bill — including from the White House. On today’s episode of the Big Take, host Saleha Mohsin sits down with CBO director Phillip Swagel to hear how his agency churns out economic forecasts from inside the center of a political storm. Further listening: Stephen Miran Explains Why There’s No Secret Dollar Pact See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Teams from China used to dominate international hacking competitions, until Beijing ordered them to stop attending and take part only in domestic tournaments. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Jamie Tarabay about how tournaments are helping boost China’s cyber-espionage capabilities and what that means for the world. Read more: Chinese Hacking Competitions Fuel the Country’s Broad Cyber Ambitions - Bloomberg See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump was in Canada this week for the Group of Seven summit. But after dinner on Monday night, Trump left early, citing the conflict in the Middle East. On today’s Big Take podcast, host David Gura speaks with Bloomberg’s Nick Wadhams in Calgary to unpack what Trump’s move could mean for Ukraine, the Middle East, trade — and for G-7 summits going forward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Conflict between Iran and Israel has been simmering for decades — but escalated rapidly in the last few days after Israel bombed key nuclear facilities in Iran. As world leaders convene for the G-7 in Canada this week — many are concerned about the prospect of continued fighting and a broader regional conflict. Today on the Big Take podcast, Golnar Motevalli, who covers Iran for Bloomberg, joins host Sarah Holder to discuss the on-the-ground reality in both countries, the choices facing their heads of state and what other world leaders might do to encourage a deescalation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the Big Take, we bring you a new episode of Trumponomics, straight from the live stage at Bloomberg’s Hong Kong Invest conference. Stephanie Flanders leads a panel from the Hong Kong Invest conference to unpack the latest round of high-stakes trade talks between the US and China, exploring why Beijing may still have the upper hand and how far any decoupling of the two economies will go. She's joined by Robin Xing, Chief China Economist at Morgan Stanley, Lotus Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Hao Hong, and Bloomberg reporter Rebecca Choong Wilkins. Further reading: Why China Can Afford to Wait for a Deal, and the US Can’t See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahead of next week’s G-7 Summit in Calgary, Canada, Bloomberg Weekend Editor-at-Large Mishal Husain sat down for an exclusive interview with British Prime Minister Kier Starmer. The wide-ranging conversation touched on Israel’s ongoing strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the US-UK trade agreement, defense spending and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Moments after taking off, an Air India flight bound for London from an airport in Western India crashed with over 200 passengers on board. Hundreds have died and a search for survivors is ongoing. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Benedikt Kammel joins host Sarah Holder on what the crash of Boeing’s marquee 787 Dreamliner means for the company and the commercial aviation industry at large. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump says his decision on who will succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell “is coming out very soon.” And according to new reporting from Bloomberg’s Nancy Cook and Saleha Mohsin, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a contender for the job. On today’s Big Take podcast, Nancy and Saleha join host David Gura to discuss the president’s Apprentice-style approach to selecting a Fed Chair, what he wants in Powell’s replacement and how that might impact Fed independence. Read more: Bessent Emerging as a Contender to Succeed Fed’s Powell See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Representatives for the US and China are in London this week trying to hammer out a potential trade deal. But with US access to China’s rare-earth minerals and China’s access to US semiconductor chips on the table, common ground has been hard to come by. On today’s episode, Big Take host Sarah Holder speaks to Bloomberg’s Brendan Murray, who’s on the ground in London. And Big Take Asia host K Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s John Liu about China’s thinking and what a deal could mean for both countries. Read more: China, US Haggle Over Details as Trade Talks Stretch On See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the Big Take, Bloomberg national immigration reporter Alicia Caldwell joins host David Gura from Los Angeles to discuss the protests over ICE immigration raids, the clash between California and the federal government and how this fight could play out in other cities and in the courts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the Big Take, we hear from the hosts of Everybody's Business, Stacey Vanek Smith and Max Chafkin, who dive into the latest news on President Trump's tax bill, Taylor Swift buying back her first six albums, and Gen Z bar culture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Broadway has always been a high-risk, high-reward kind of business — but with costs to mount a production higher than ever, producers are leaning into new strategies to try to recoup investments. Now, as Broadway wraps its highest-grossing season on record, the hottest tickets to celebrity-studded shows are going for upwards of $800. On today’s Big Take podcast, we speak with two Tony Award-winning producers, Daryl Roth and Lucas Katler, about what it takes to succeed these days in show business, and we hear from Bloomberg Pursuits’ Chris Rovzar about what Broadway’s new economic reality means for tourism, for art and for what audiences pay at the box office. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a vital puzzle piece missing as rich nations aim to transform their electricity grids for the AI age: millions of skilled engineers. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Akshat Rathi joins host Sarah Holder to break down how labor shortages in the electrification industry are slowing down the green energy transition and what it would take to turn things around. Plus, the one country bucking the trend. Read more: The Missing Engineers Listen more: A skilled worker shortage is becoming an ‘existential’ problem for the energy transition: Bottleneck Series See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Poland’s election of a Trump-backed conservative nationalist president early this week is part of a larger shift to the right across the European continent: Much like in the US, conservative, nationalist and right-wing parties are gaining traction. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Rodney Jefferson and David Gura discuss the growing cultural divide behind Europe’s rising conservative movements and what their growth could mean for migration, climate policy and the future of the EU. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nintendo Switch has generated some $100 billion in sales for the Japanese gaming giant since its launch in 2017, propelling the company’s shares to record highs. Now the game-maker is under pressure to do even better with the new Switch 2, out this week. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, Bloomberg Opinion’s Gearoid Reidy joins host K. Oanh Ha to talk about why the Switch 2 is so important to Nintendo’s business and whether it can live up to the hype. Read more: If the Switch 2 Stumbles, Nintendo Has No Plan B Further listening: A Turning Point in Trump’s Trade War See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re more than halfway through the 90-day pause on President Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs. That three-month delay was supposed to give the US time to negotiate trade deals with countries around the world. And while talks are ongoing, many deals still seem out of reach. Now, legal challenges to Trump’s tariff strategy have thrown another wrench in the administration’s plans. On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder sits down with Bloomberg’s Brendan Murray to hear a status report on the latest steel tariff hikes and trade negotiations, and with legal reporter Erik Larson to explore how the courts could upend Trump’s agenda. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US has a new federal law protecting victims of nonconsensual deepfake pornography. It puts new pressure on perpetrators of online sexual harassment, and on the social media networks where they can flourish. Today on the Big Take, we hear from the hosts of the Levittown podcast, Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy, in conversation with two mothers whose children had very different experiences in the dark online world that this legislation aims to regulate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.