Soumaya Keynes: How to Win a Trade War — Tariffs, China and Industrial Policy

Soumaya Keynes joins Ben Yeoh to discuss How to Win a Trade War, co-written with Chad Bown, and what countries should do when economic conflict can no longer be avoided. They explore the weakening of the WTO system, supply-chain vulnerabilities, strategic stockpiles, tariffs, China’s economic power and the return of industrial policy. Soumaya also explains why defence should come before attack, what “winning” might mean for a country such as the UK, and why governments may need to tolerate some failures when building strategic industries. The conversation then turns to obesity, gender and income, the wider effects of GLP-1 medicines, writing in the age of AI, and Soumaya’s unexpected second career as an economics singer-songwriter.Highlights:Understand what tariffs really doMap vulnerabilities without overreactingRethink industrial policy and strategic resilienceExplore the wider effects of GLP-1 medicinesHear Soumaya’s trade-war songTranscript and video: https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2026/7/14/soumaya-keynes-how-to-win-a-trade-war-tariffs-china-and-industrial-policy