After a week of market chaos, President Trump pulled back from the brink. But he didn’t pull that far back. He left a 10 percent tariff on most of the world and launched a trade war with China. It’s unclear what he will do after this 90-day pause or what countries need to do to satisfy him. But one thing that is very clear now is that our economy is subject to one man’s whims.How are businesses supposed to adapt to this new reality? What is this new reality?Peter R. Orszag is the chief executive and chairman of Lazard, one of the world’s largest asset management and global financial advisory firms. He also served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama, so was a policymaker during a financial crisis. And over the past few months, he’s been talking to lots of C.E.O.s and corporate board members as they try to process these changing policies. I wanted to ask him what he’s been hearing and how he sees the volatility of this moment.Mentioned:“<a href="https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/research/638199_A_Users_Guide_to_Restructuring_the_Global_Trading_System.pdf" target="_blank">A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System</a>” by Stephen Miran“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-paul-krugman.html" target="_blank">Paul Krugman on the ‘Biggest Trade Shock in History’</a>” by The Ezra Klein Show<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300261448/trade-wars-are-class-wars/">Trade Wars Are Class Wars</a> by Matthew C. Klein and Michael PettisBook Recommendations:<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250840554/undergroundempire/" target="_blank">Underground Empire</a> by Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726149/chokepoints-by-edward-fishman/" target="_blank">Chokepoints</a> by Edward Fishman<a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/smart-money-9781526678515/" target="_blank">Smart Money</a> by Brunello Rosa and Casey Larsen<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324050681" target="_blank">The Catalyst</a> by Thomas R. Cech<a href="https://swiftpress.com/book/kaput/" target="_blank">Kaput</a> by Wolfgang MünchauThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank">nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</a>. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs</a>.This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Isaac Jones, with Aman Sahota and Efim Shapiro. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Marina King, Jan Kobal and Kristin Lin. 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. Special thanks to Matt Klein.
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