Nikhil KamathThey Called The Trade Wars & China's Housing Crash | Nikhil Kamath | WTF is Finance Ep 4
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- July 28, 2026
- Duration
- 59m
- Channel
- Nikhil Kamath
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
I sat down with two economists in China — Matthew Klein, who co-wrote the book on why trade wars are really class wars, and Ning Zhu, the professor who predicted China's housing collapse years before it happened — and asked them everything I've never had answers to: what actually happens if trade surpluses and deficits continue for decades, why China consumes so much less of what it produces than India does, why the world keeps parking trillions in American debt, and whether de-dollarization is a real shift or just a story we like telling ourselves. Ning made the case that prolonged imbalances have historically been settled by war, Matthew argued that Korea's most traumatic financial moment — not its miracle — is what turned it into a surplus nation, and both agreed on the one thing every real estate developer in India refuses to believe: land prices do fall, and the moment everyone's convinced they can't is exactly when they do. 00:00 Introduction 06:29 Why trade surpluses and deficits can persist for decades 11:42 What actually signals a healthy economy, and Korea's shift from deficits to surpluses 17:46 Whether tariffs can correct an undervalued currency 23:12 Why the world keeps funding American debt so cheaply 29:49 Where American long-term yields go from here 35:36 Whether dedollarisation is actually happening 41:35 Why unsustainable arrangements outlast the arguments against them 46:37 How China's state guaranteed its housing bubble 52:25 Building an economy from scratch: efficiency against fairness Zhu Ning- Deputy Dean and Professor of Finance, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance Matthew C. Klein-Founder, The Overshoot | Co-author, Trade Wars Are Class Wars LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewcklein/ Footage Courtesy: World Economic Forum (WEF) CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Source: https://www.weforum.org/videos/amnc26_summer_davos_highlights/ #Nikhilkamath-Co-founder of Zerodha and Gruhas Host of 'WTF is' & 'People By WTF' Podcast Twitter: https://x.com/nikhilkamathcio/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikhilkamathcio/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilkamathcio?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikhilkamathcio/ Watch 'WTF is' Podcast on Spotify https://tinyurl.com/4nsm4ezn Watch 'People by WTF' Podcast on Spotify https://tinyurl.com/yme92c59 Watch 'WTF Online' on Spotify https://tinyurl.com/4tjua4th #WTFiswithnikhilkamath #PeopleByWTF #WTFOnline
SPEAKERS
Nikhil Kamath
hostIndian entrepreneur and investor who runs a fund and hosts the show.
Matthew C. Klein
guestEconomics and finance writer, author of The Overshoot and co-author of "Trade Wars Are Class Wars".
Ning Zhu
guestProfessor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University focused on China macroeconomy and housing bubbles.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Nikhil Kamath, featuring Nikhil Kamath and Matthew C. Klein, They Called The Trade Wars & China's Housing Crash | Nikhil Kamath | WTF is Finance Ep 4 explores why trade imbalances endure, Treasuries stay dominant, and China’s housing turned The discussion explains why global trade imbalances can persist for long periods, emphasizing that capital flows, safe-asset demand, and institutional trust often dominate textbook adjustment mechanisms.
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