Mercantilism appears in three episodes of The Bob Zadek Show as a recurring target of criticism, treated by guests as an economic doctrine that favors exports over imports and that has historically stunted development. The term is applied both to Latin America’s colonial legacy and to contemporary American trade policy under Donald Trump.
Mercantilism in Latin America’s Colonial History
In the April 23, 2017 episode on Venezuela, guest Fergus Hodgson argued that Spanish colonizers “infected the area from the get-go with a mercantilist and feudalist approach.” According to Hodgson, this common legal and governmental history, imposed by the Spanish across 18 countries plus Puerto Rico, contributed to Latin America’s failure to develop economically. He noted that on the Economic Freedom of the World Index, only Chile has ever cracked the top 10, while countries such as Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador are near the bottom. Hodgson contrasted this with Hong Kong, where the British “gave them British common law.” He also pointed to indigenous collectivism and tribalism as cultural barriers, and observed that protectionist rhetoric is “just par for the course in Latin America.” Bob Zadek framed the discussion by asking whether something in Latin America’s political traditions makes the region unable to adopt free-market and democratic principles, comparing the colonists’ relative freedom to conditions in Latin America Venezuela on the Brink with Fergus Hodgson (2017).
Trump as Mercantilist
In the September 6, 2019 episode “Trump’s War on Trade,” guest Don Boudreau stated plainly, “Trump is a mercantilist, which means he wants America to export as much as possible and to import as little as possible, which is just foolish.” Boudreau characterized this goal as “the way to make America poor and not to make America rich.” He also rejected the claim by Trump and his advisors that tariffs are a temporary tactic to open Chinese markets, arguing that history shows unilaterally raising tariffs causes retaliation rather than lower foreign tariffs. Bob Zadek framed tariffs as taxes on American buyers for exercising free choice, and he and Boudreau discussed currency manipulation as well. Boudreau argued that if China keeps its currency artificially low relative to the dollar, Americans get more for their dollars, which is good, and that for one government to accuse another of currency manipulation is hypocritical since all central banks manipulate money supply by nature. Bob Zadek compared Chinese currency manipulation to a “country-wide sale” on Chinese goods Trump’s War on Trade (2019).
Mercantilism as a Description of Trump’s Governing Style
In the August 30, 2022 episode on the 2022 and 2024 elections, guest John Giadjopoulos described Trump as “probably a populist, some weird mix of populism, nationalism, and mercantilism, to your earlier question.” He added that if Trump runs, he thinks he will win, citing the economy as the dominant factor and noting that inflation is the result of federal monetary policy. Bob Zadek’s question that prompted this response is not included in the excerpt, but Giadjopoulos’s answer explicitly labels Trump’s approach as containing mercantilism alongside populism and nationalism. The discussion in this episode shifted from trade policy specifics to political characterization, with Giadjopoulos offering a broader ideological label rather than an economic analysis Dick Morris on the 2022 and 2024 Elections (2022).
Across episodes
The treatment of mercantilism develops across the three episodes. In 2017, Hodgson used the term to describe a historical colonial legacy that hindered Latin American development. In 2019, Boudreau focused on contemporary trade policy, labeling Trump a mercantilist and explaining why tariffs and currency manipulation arguments fail on economic grounds. In 2022, Giadjopoulos applied the term as part of a broader ideological description of Trump, without elaborating on trade mechanics. The earlier episodes offer more detailed economic arguments; the later episode treats mercantilism as a descriptive label rather than a subject of analysis.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not define mercantilism formally as a historical school of thought, nor do they name its major theorists or periods. They do not discuss mercantilism outside the contexts of Latin American colonial history and Trump-era trade policy. The 2022 excerpt does not explain what Giadjopoulos means by mercantilism in that context. No excerpt gives a complete sentence from Bob Zadek on the defining features of mercantilism itself.