How the World Sees America, With Adam Tooze

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Jan 30, 2026

Adam Tooze, historian and Columbia professor known for chronicling economic crises, joins to discuss how global perceptions of America are shifting. He describes Davos reactions, Mark Carney’s “rupture” thesis, rival visions of power from Washington and Beijing, Europe’s dependencies on China, and why no neat new world order is guaranteed.

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INSIGHT

Davos As A Global Reality Check

Davos exposed how the Trump administration's global performance shattered assumptions of U.S. steadiness.
Adam Tooze says the administration's uninhibited lashing out left many foreign observers dismayed and shocked.

INSIGHT

Rupture Not Transition

Mark Carney argued we face a rupture, not a gradual transition, in global order.
Tooze says the rupture strips away the old culture of international restraint and hypocrisy.

INSIGHT

Biden's Limited Restoration

Tooze argues the Biden era tried to restore a rules-based Atlantic order but overpromised.
He says the administration couldn't deliver domestic bargains and strained allies with economic nationalism.

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The old world order is dying. What new world order — if any — is struggling to be born?

I can’t think of a week when it felt clearer that an era was coming to an end. Whatever people thought America was, at least for a couple of decades, it’s something else now. The killing of Alex Pretti and the fact that it was recorded on video that plainly contradicted the Trump administration’s initial narrative made that clear. Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, also drove home that point when he declared at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the world was in the midst of a “rupture.”

What do people think of America now in Europe? In China? And if American hegemony is coming to an end, what comes after that?

Adam Tooze is a historian at Columbia University and a chronicler of crises. The Guardian recently called him “the crisis whisperer.” He’s written a number of books about the times when systems fall apart and new orders emerge, including “Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World.” And on his Substack, Chartbook, he tracks the unfolding crises and power shifts, in particular the rise of China. He also had a front-row seat to the chaos of Davos last week, moderating a panel that included Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary.

I wanted to talk to Tooze about what he saw at the World Economic Forum, how the world’s understanding of the U.S. is changing and how he’s making sense of this moment.

Mentioned:

Crashed by Adam Tooze

“Chartbook” Substack by Adam Tooze

“The Empty Chamber” by George Packer

“The growing challenges for monetary policy in the current international monetary and financial system", speech by Mark Carney

Book Recommendations:

Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun

The Southern Tour by Jonathan Chatwin

Context Collapse by Ryan Ruby

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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