Former World Bank President David Malpass discusses how a second Trump term will reshape the global world order. He speaks with Bloomberg's Tom Keene and Paul Sweeney.
Good morning, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Thank you for listening on Applecarplay, Android Auto. When you're a young cherub and you go to Colorado College, you study physics, which is what David Malpass did joining as a former president of the World Bank. Iconic at bear Sterns years ago. David Malpast darkens the door this morning. Casey has yet to concede. In Pennsylvania. Tuberville, the football coach, dragged you into the Senate.
He said, we need Senate testimony from.
David Malpass on you know, global economics and all that. You're one of the few people I know that's actually been in the trenches in the United States Senate. Do you see with this new administration, David, with your affiliation with the Republicans, do you see a suddenness rapid movement between the executive and the legislative branch?
Or will it be slower and more iterative? And that's a great question and issue. I think it'll be pretty fast because there really is a mandate from the country to bring change.
Then, how do you see a mandate?
I've got Vice President Harrison narrow it down to fifty forty. It's something like two hundred and thirty eight thousand votes and three swing states. I got a guy in a San Joaquin Valley right now, Republican winning by under.
Three hundred votes.
If the Democrats take west of Fresno, it's one more Democrat in the House.
It's not a mandate, David, I beg to differ. So it means all seven of the swing states were one. And if you look at all the demographics, in other words, each but if you parse it by age, if you parsh it by skills, you get people wanting change. And so that means the Senate is going to come let's come to your question. There's a turnover, a very important turnover of the majority leader, and you know, the staff on all the committees turns over, and so there will be people whose lifeblood is not regulating, and so that means a big change in how the Senate operates. Of course, it's the deliberative body, and it will take time to get some stuff done. But I'd imagine there's going to be a tax movement on the tax front very quickly, of course, on energy and on on on trade where the system is broken. So you'll see all of that moving, you know, month by month pretty rapidly.
What do you think of some of the president's cabinet nominations to date?
What is it?
What have you kind of sensed?
He's well, I think they're great. But what you see is him wanting change, change, change, And so that to me is the signal coming out of each area. Put strong people in that want change. Look at the energy pick so Chris, Chris right, Bergham are really strong, Lee Zelden, and these are these are the energy side that can make you know, if you think about how do you make America strong again? And this is peace through strength? Where do you get the strength from production? How do you do that? You get the energy sector going so that you can build all the other things that go into an economy.
Yeah, but we're like, aren't we like the number one energy power in the world now bigger than Saudi Arabia.
There's an oversupply.
McGlone says, a barrel of oil is going to twelve bucks a barrel.
I'm kidding, well, stranger, you remember when to ten dollars a barrel in the year two nineteen ninety nine and two thousand, when the dollar was super strong, overly strong. So I don't know that we want it that low, but it would be good if it comes down. And the bigger thing is the US could be doing so much more. You just named parts of the world that are plentifully supplied, but there are huge parts of the world that don't have enough energy. And think of the craziness that we've got because of the lack of pipelines. We've got the energy. The LNG goes through the Panama Canal. Such a wasteful use of the water. You know, Panama Canal is driven by free flowing water that comes from rain, and you wash the ships down both sides of the canal, and you're doing it to get LNG to Asia from the unit from the east coast.
Build the harbor overlooking they're already San Francisco Giants Stadium.
That there needs to be some way to get energy onto the west coast of either the US or Canada. They're building one into Mexico, But how does that really help the US if you have to go down through Mexico to get your energy out of the out of the hymns, it's too much geography.
With David milpensins, I'll save the conversation.
Speaking of down in that part of the world. The G twenty is just finishing up down in Rio here. How do you think President elect Trump views the entities organizations like the G twenty and that try to think about things on a global basis. How do you think he anticipates engaging.
I don't know how he thinks about it, but it should be clear to everyone that that the globalism isn't working. This is the giant conferences. Think of that ten literally tens of thousands of people. I've had to go to these conferences. We recently saw the one in Baku. Think of the absurdity of having the climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is the conduit for Russian oil coming under the sanctions out into the rest of the world.
So you've got this and.
Literally it's ten thousand people from that are all trying to get government contracts. So it's a climate industrial complex, just like the military industrial complex that's so expensive. You need to have strong defense for the US, but you need to have it in a way that's competitive in the world.
Dato malpess with the former president of the World Bank. I'm thrilled that he could join us this morning.
We welcome all of you on.
Your commute across nation and of course on YouTube subscribe to Bloomberg Podcast. I have literally on the desk at home, No Trade is Free. I'm going to read it cover to cover just to get an understanding of Lightheiser economics. You're at Colorado College lecturing EC one O two macroeconomics. David Malpass discussed the efficacy of tariffs.
The system is broken in the world. It was set up at a time before China was the number.
Two world power.
You had a concept in the sixties and seventies that somehow there could be kumbaya that everybody could cover together. Everyone formed a deal, and everybody lower.
Vice President Harris would agree with you.
And it's completely broken down because you have this giantly aggressive commercial power that's not playing by the rules on intellectual property, on their overcapacity of manufactured goods.
So it's a it's a.
You know, taking away marks from the rest of it.
Do we need tariffs?
Did are gradual and marginal or do we need the jump condition that the President elect talks about a magnitude of tariffs that haven't seen in generations.
You need to get the world's attention that what they're doing is broken. I don't know if you saw, but President she was in South America last week and he was making the case to all the other world leaders to go gradual. And so China is kind of bidding for time. They're saying, oh, this is gonna you know, we're moving in your direction. And so whether the rest of the world buys that, and you know, China often pays for it with contracts, with gifts, gifts that can be shared in families, and so how do you stop that and really get onto a new wavelength with China and with the rest of the world.
In fairness, should the US approach to China be one of engagement or one of you know, just trying to really step back from China.
How do you think the approach would be?
I think there has so for too many years now, China's been getting what it wants. I saw that in the World conferences. They really are winning on the on the soft power. And so you have to take that back because the US has all the all the ability to do this, it just has been choosing not to do it. You know, we've been trying to get peace through weakness, and so if you switch to peace through strength, China is going to change its side of the of the discussion as well. They're not. I mean, they've followed very closely what's going on in the US, and we'll be responding to it. So then you've got to say, Okay, we've got a bunch of problems. Here's our list of problems. You're producing too much steal with too much coal, with and claiming and then pushing climate agenda through the Paris Agreement that you're not complying with. We don't like that intellectual property you're stealing. You've never let down on stealing the intellectual property.
David, I got one final question, with great respect Tom Nichols the Death of Expertise Profound book. I interviewed him when it came out. We're trying to get mister Nichols on again to talk about it. This is an administration. David Malpass has the best English skills of anyone I've ever known on Wall Street. You and John Writing were prodigious in your economic output for Alan Schwartz at Bear Sterns, your physics Colorado collegey You're the real deal on a conservative tone. Some of these people have zero expertise. What would you say to the President elect right now, if these people are pushed aside by Senator.
Well, I don't think that'll happen.
But what I think what the president can see is that he's clearly on the He's got a powerful path that's taxes, energy, that's making Why is he running.
Then from expertise because there are conservatives like you that have their head screwed.
On a problem is expertise often has meant your inside the belt Way with their models, and so if we really have to have an upheaval where you shake it up with people that have views from outside, I got to.
Make some news today.
Have you been called by the president by Susan Are you going to serve within the Trump administration?
Come on news? Okay.
David Malpass, thank you so much. Formerly with the World Bank, and of course running within public office within New York State for the Senate.
I believe it was Did I do that? Okay? You have to pick up truck and everything right winter all around you survived, Okay.
It's a great state.
David Malpass, thank you.