Apr 17, 2020

China and the U.S. are growing (or not growing) apart

Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

China’s first quarter GDP contracts for the first time since 1992. Plus: what it’s like to run an unemployment insurance program right now.

Segments From this episode

COVID-19

Prospect of U.S.-China "decoupling" grows amid shortages of medical goods

by Scott Tong

Apr 17, 2020

Shortages of medical goods change executives’ views of ties between giant trading partners

Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

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A small Chinese business survives COVID-19 shutdown. Now what?

by Jennifer Pak

Apr 17, 2020

The Chinese economy virtually stopped for nearly two months. One clothier is barely hanging on while life slowly returns to normal.

Small shops shuttered in a main shopping area in Shanghai's Fengxian suburbs.

Charles Zhang/Marketplace

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COVID-19

Supply chains are being pulled to the limit

by Sabri Ben-Achour

Apr 17, 2020

Many companies are taking a hard look at their tattered supply chains.

Cranes stand idle at the Port of Los Angeles — the nation's busiest container port — as supply chains shift during COVID-19.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

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COVID-19

What it's like to run a state unemployment office right now

by Andie Corban and Kai Ryssdal

Apr 17, 2020

"Nothing has been as challenging, as nerve-wracking, as stressful as this," said Ed Serna, Executive Director of the Texas Workforce Commission.

Workers at a pandemic flu service call center in London in 2009.

Richard Pohle/Getty Images

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Music from the episode

Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi Radiohead

Hands of Time Kraak & Smaak, Alxndr London

Night Falls Booka Shade

Time Is the Enemy Quantic

Passin' Me By The Pharcyde

The team

Nancy Farghalli Executive Producer

Maria Hollenhorst Producer II

Sean McHenry Director & Associate Producer II

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