President Trump’s fury with China shows no sign of abating. High tariffs - first imposed by the US but now on both sides - are giving way to a very real trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. China’s President Xi Jinping is refusing to blink - so far - and in the past week he's been on the road in South East Asia, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Where this goes now depends in large part on China's calculations about the capacity and determination of both sides to endure a trade war. So what cards does China hold ? And what are the implications for China's own economy and for the rest of us?Guests:
Damien Ma, Economist, Kellogg School of Management, Chicago
Rana Mitter, ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School
Isabel Hilton, visiting Professor at the Lau China Institute, King's College, London
David Henig, Director of the UK Trade Policy ProjectPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Lucy Pawle
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Max Deveson
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28:48
What's Trump's tariff hokey cokey all about?
Rarely has it been so difficult to see the wood for the trees. The trees being Donald Trump’s new tariffs announced on what he called Liberation Day and which took effect this week, plus the immediate responses to them. And the wood being the economic strategy that lies behind it all.
That strategy seems to evolve on a daily basis. Having vowed to ‘stay the course’ on tariffs earlier this week, yesterday saw Trump issue a change that ‘came from the heart’ - that change being a 90 day pause for everyone except China. It’s hard to keep up with the plot changes and in this programme we’re not going to try. Instead we’re going to step back and explore the origin’s of Trump’s love of tariffs, find out what history tells us about their effectiveness and we’ll ask whether Trump does actually have a grand plan.
If he does, what is it and can it succeed?Guests:Douglas Irwin, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
Meredith Crowley, Professor of Economics the University of Cambridge
Duncan Weldon, economist and author of "Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through"
Mehreen Khan, economics editor of The TimesPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight and Beth Ashmead Latham
Sound engineers: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Editor: Richard Vadon
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28:47
What's happening in Turkey?
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Turkey in the past two weeks in protest at the arrest and jailing of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu. He’s seen as one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strongest political rivals and since his arrest he’s been voted as the opposition party’s presidential candidate in the next elections. He’s been accused of corruption, which he strongly denies and his supporters see his detainment as a political move by the Government. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss whether we’re witnessing the end of democracy in Turkey.Guests:
Mark Lowen, BBC Correspondent and former BBC Istanbul Correspondent
Dr Ziya Meral, Lecturer in International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS
Firdevs Robinson, Turkish journalist and broadcaster
Monica Marks, Assistant Professor Middle East Politics , NYU in Abu Dhabi Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Beth Ashmead Latham
Sound engineers: Dave O’Neill and James Beard
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Vadon(Image: Demonstration organised by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) against the detention of Istanbul’s mayor, in Istanbul, Turkey - 29 March 2025. Credit: Tolga Bozoglu/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
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28:46
What is Putin's bottom line?
Securing peace in Ukraine is proving harder than President Trump first thought. Separate talks between US officials and Ukrainian and Russian representatives were held in Saudi Arabia a few days ago. But the tentative ceasefire they reached just for shipping in the Black Sea has already hit problems with Moscow demanding certain sanctions are lifted if it’s to comply. And achieving a full ceasefire that Russia will accept still seems as elusive as ever. David Aaronovitch and guests ask what Putin’s bottom line on Ukraine really is? Have his long term aims changed and what might he accept? Guests:
Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia Editor for BBC Monitoring
Sir Laurie Bristow, President of Hughes Hall at Cambridge University and the former U.K. ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020.
Angela Stent, Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former US National Intelligence Officer for Russia.
Mark Galeotti, writer on Russian security affairs and director of the consultancy Mayak Intelligence.Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Bethan Ashmead Latham
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Vadon
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28:54
What's the government trying to do to the NHS?
The Government is reorganising the way the NHS is run in England by scrapping the body that’s been in charge and giving direct control to the Department of Health and Social Care. Jobs will go and the country’s biggest quango will be dismantled. But what is the government actually trying to do to the NHS? What are its aims and how does the restructure fit into the government’s big picture for the health service in the UK?Guests:
Hugh Pym, BBC Health Editor
Siva Anandaciva, Director of Policy, King’s Fund
Dame Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation
Dame Carol Propper, Professor of Economics Imperial College in the Department of Economics and Public PolicyPresenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Beth Ashmead Latham, Kirsteen Knight, Caroline Bayley
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Vadon
Ireland