The Global Story

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Can Trump win a trade war with China? Feb 05, 2025

Show notes

The long-running economic battle between the world's two biggest economies has escalated. This week US President Donald Trump brought tariffs against China in an effort to strongarm the growing superpower into submission and strengthen American markets. But Beijing hit back, raising its own tariffs, escalating a trade war that could have implications for both countries. Trump is betting that tariffs will make America, and American people, richer. But does anyone win in a trade war? On this episode, Lucy Hockings speaks to the BBC’s Asia Pacific editor Micky Bristow, and Ritika Gupta, a North America business correspondent, about why Trump loves tariffs and what impact a trade war between China and America could have on the global economy.

The Global Story brings you trusted insights from BBC journalists worldwide. We want your ideas, stories and experiences to help us understand and tell #TheGlobalStory. Email us at theglobalstory@bbc.com You can also message us or leave a voice note via WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480.

Producers: Alice Aylett Roberts, Mhairi MacKenzie and Eleanor Sly

Sound engineer: Stephen Bailey

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Syria's illegal drug empire Feb 04, 2025

Show notes

The deposed President Bashar al-Assad has been linked to the multi-billion dollar trade of a narcotic called Captagon. Syria's new rebel leaders have promised to stamp it out. So what will it take to end the country's association with the drug? Presenter Caitríona Perry speaks to the BBC's Emir Nader, who has been reporting on the drug trade in the Middle East.

Producers: Peter Goffin and Eleanor Sly

Sound engineers: Mike Regaard and Jonny Baker

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Will Germany lift the firewall around the AfD? Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

Since the end of World War Two and Nazi rule, Germany has been hyper-vigilant about keeping right-wing hardliners out of government. For decades, mainstream politicians have shunned parties like the AfD. But now, with a federal election just weeks away and the AfD rising in the polls, a frontrunner in the race for chancellor has accepted the party’s support on an immigration bill. It’s an unprecedented step. But does it mean the far-right is being normalised? On this episode, Jonny Dymond speaks to the BBC’s correspondents in Berlin, Damien McGuinness and Jess Parker, about the evolution of the AfD, and how the party’s growing popularity challenges the way Germans think about their own politics and history.

Producers: Peter Goffin, Laurie Kalus and Mhairi MacKenzie

Sound engineer: Mike Regaard and Jonny Baker

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Missing in Ukraine: Lyudmila’s search for her parents Jan 31, 2025

Show notes

Tetiana and Oleh Plachkov have spent their whole lives in Melitopol, a city in eastern Ukraine. They fell in love, married and had a daughter Lyudmila. They started a business, running two restaurants, popular with their neighbours for special occasions. But since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, their family has been torn apart like so many in Ukraine.

Jonny Dymond speaks to our eastern Europe correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, about one family among many whose loved ones have disappeared under the Russian occupation.

Producers: Richard Moran and Eleanor Sly

Sound engineer: Hannah Montgomery

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Gaza ceasefire: How does it feel to return home? Jan 30, 2025

Show notes

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are heading north to find out what is left of their homes after 15 months of war. On this episode, our host Jonny Dymond speaks to Farida Alghol, who has made the journey back to Gaza City and her parents. We also ask our correspondent Nick Beake what the future holds for the people and territory of Gaza.

Producers: Peter Goffin, Tom Kavanagh, Alice Aylett Roberts and Beth Timmins

Sound engineer: Hannah Montgomery and Mike Regaard

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

DeepSeek: AI revolution or just hype? Jan 29, 2025

Show notes

The speed at which the new Chinese chatbot app DeepSeek has risen to prominence has taken many by surprise. Now the most downloaded free app in the US, DeepSeek seems to require less powerful computer chips than its American tech rivals.

The release of this low-cost AI model sent shockwaves through US stock markets, with Nvidia - the company behind the high-tech chips powering many AI investments - being the hardest hit. On Monday, Nvidia’s share price dropped by 17%, wiping out around $600bn in market value. So, where has DeepSeek come from, and what’s behind its ability to spook investors? What could this mean for the future of chip manufacturing and the US's historic dominance in the world of AI?

Jonny Dymond speaks to Chris Miller, historian on semiconductor chips at Tufts University and author of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology. Jonny is also joined by the BBC’s North America business correspondent Ritika Gupta to discus the impact DeepSeek has had on the stock markets.

Sound engineer: Hannah Montgomery

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Why does Trump want the Panama Canal? Jan 28, 2025

Show notes

Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has made a string of expansionist foreign policy announcements, angering several of his international counterparts. After reiterating his ambitious intention to purchase Greenland, and renaming the Gulf of Mexico, the US president doubled down on his insistence that Washington should regain control of the Panama Canal, the essential shipping passage he claims has been commandeered by China. Built by the United States in the early twentieth century, the waterway transformed global trade and marked America’s emergence as a superpower on the world stage, before being transferred to Panamanian control via a 1977 treaty. So why has Donald Trump got it in his sights now?

On this episode Jonny Dymond speaks to Julie Greene, a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland, about the storied history of the Panama Canal. And the BBC’s North America business correspondent Michelle Fleury discusses the politics and economics behind the Trump administration's diplomatic pursuit of the trade route.

Producers: Laurie Kalus, Mhairi MacKenzie and Beth Timmins

Sound engineer: Annie Smith

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Return to Auschwitz: 'I want the world to remember us' Jan 27, 2025

Show notes

It’s 80 years since the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated. As we commemorate the memory of the six million Jews and other groups murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust, a survivor of Auschwitz tells us why it’s more important than ever to remember what happened there.

On today's episode Lucy Hockings speaks to Tova Friedman, an American author and therapist, and one of the youngest Auschwitz survivors. Tova arrived at the extermination camp at the age of just five years old. She now speaks to young people in person and via TikTok about how she survived a year in Auschwitz as a very young child.

Producers: Alice Aylett Roberts and Beth Timmins

Sound engineer: Dafydd Evans and Mike Regaard

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Thailand: The first same-sex marriages in Asia's LGBT haven Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

On Thursday, Thailand's long-awaited same-sex marriage law came into effect, with more than a thousand couples thought to have officially tied the knot already. The legislation comes after years of campaigning, and at a moment when a public yearning for change is being increasingly felt on the political stage. Characterised by its conservative establishment and royalist military, Thailand has nonetheless developed a reputation as a haven for LGBTQ+ people in Asia, and has now become the largest country on the continent to legally enshrine equal marriage rights.

On today's episode, Lucy Hockings is joined by Ruchaya 'Rayya' Nillakan, after she and her wife were officially married along with more than a hundred other couples at a mass celebration in a luxury Bangkok shopping mall. Also there was the BBC's South East Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, who explains how this landmark moment came about, and considers why the majority of Thailand's Asian neighbours are yet to follow suit.

Producers: Laurie Kalus, Tom Kavanagh, and Mhairi MacKenzie

Sound engineer: Dafydd Evans

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

Have we already found the fountain of youth? Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

For centuries, people have pursued the dream of eternal youth. It might seem like the stuff of myth or science fiction, but researchers have been making fascinating progress in understanding what happens in our bodies as we age. There’s optimism that we might soon be able to use drugs to slow down or even reverse how we age, extending the number of years we live healthy, productive lives. What’s more, some of us might be taking these drugs already.

On today’s episode, Lucy Hockings speaks to Dr Andrew Steele, author of ‘Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old’ to find out whether we might drink from the fountain of youth in our lifetime.

Producers: Richard Moran and Tom Kavanagh

Sound engineer: Annie Smith

Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

Senior news editor: China Collins

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