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Scott Tong

Correspondent

Scott Tong is a former correspondent for Marketplace. He reported on sustainability issues (energy, climate, environment, resources) for Marketplace, as well as the U.S.-China technology relationship, frequently described as “fraught.” He is Marketplace’s former China bureau chief. What was your first job? English-language audiotape (yes, tape) voice-over work. Sixth grade.Taiwan. What advice do you wish someone had given you before you started this career? Show up an hour before the interview. Fill in the blank: Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you ______. Gas for kid carpools; Washington Capitals hockey tickets. What is something that everyone should own, no matter how much it costs? Smoker (plus wooden slotted spoon). What’s your most memorable Marketplace moment? Sneaking into Burma for twenty bucks.

Latest from Scott Tong

  • Mar 28, 2017

    Executive order will discount the cost of carbon pollution

    The White House says it will try to roll back a host of climate initiatives from the Obama administration. These are rules that apply to power plants and coal mines, for instance. But also look out for a sweeping attempt to undercut the government’s way of measuring climate pollution. Right now, federal agencies have to […]

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  • Mar 24, 2017

    Details on ‘astonishingly high’ pollution in Nigeria emerge nine years after spill

    Details on ‘astonishingly high’ pollution in Nigeria emerge nine years after spill
    Bruno Vincent/Getty Images

    A geologist says mangroves remain soaked in oil from a 2008 pipeline spill.

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  • Mar 24, 2017

    When it comes to NAFTA and autos, the parts are well traveled

    In the early NAFTA days of the 1990s, U.S. automakers were getting out of the business of parts-making. Over the next two decades, the supply chain exploded in every direction.
    Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

    The identity of your vehicle would be best described as a multicultural collaboration.

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  • Mar 23, 2017

    What if NAFTA was never created?

    U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement on December 8, 1993.
    PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

    U.S. manufacturing jobs would still be lost to technology and China, economists say.

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  • Mar 20, 2017

    Sunshine seems a better business bet to Nevada than coal

    Despite the Trump administration’s push for coal and other fossil energy, Nevada just went dramatically in the other way. On the day after it pulled the plug on a coal-fired power plant, it cut the ribbon on a new solar energy farm. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

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  • Mar 10, 2017

    Big oil is seeking public trust

    The corporate world seems on track to address the issue of climate change even as the Trump administration questions much of the research around its validity. Shell corporation says it’s not just boosting its renewable investments to $1 billion, it’s also tying board member pay to greenhouse gas emissions reductions. It’s not uncommon for fossil […]

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  • Mar 10, 2017

    EPA attacks harken back to Reagan era

    Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt holds up an an agency baseball hat as he addresses employees at the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters in February.
    Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

    1980s' push to deregulate the agency resembles the Trump administration's plans.

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  • Mar 7, 2017

    Permian Basin oil find cheers U.S. drillers

    Oil drilling and fracking are back in America — that’s the storyline out of the big annual oil industry confab in Houston this week. Crude oil prices have recovered from a two-year bust. The rigs are getting back to work. But a new location is the talk of the day. No, not Alberta, Canada, or […]

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  • Mar 1, 2017

    As Trump talks coal revival, China seeks props on the fuel’s decline

    We now have three years of data points on where China’s coal and carbon emissions are heading: downward. It may have to do with China’s economy becoming less energy-intensive as it moves away from infrastructure and heavy industry. It may also have something to do with policy. Beijing has shuttered coal plants already in construction. […]

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  • Feb 25, 2017

    Trump’s chief strategists touts sovereignty as America’s path forward

    If you’ve been paying attention the last couple days to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., you’ve heard a consistent thread of regaining economic control. From the president to his key strategist Steve Bannon on down, there’s talk of claiming once again what Bannon calls “sovereignty.” Which, of course, implies America had lost […]

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