Global News Podcast - Global stock markets plunge amid Trump tariff turmoil

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Asian and European stocks drop as investors across the globe react to US president Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. Also: a BBC investigation into claims Palestinian prisoners were tortured in Israeli jails.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Unless you've been hiding under a very large pixelated rock, you've probably heard of Minecraft. It's the best selling video game of all time and the franchise's first feature film is in cinemas now. But how much do you know about the game's creator, software developer Marcus Persson? Find out about the man behind Minecraft on Good Bad Billionaire, This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson at 1330HR's GMT. On Monday, the 7th of April, these are our main stories. All eyes turn to Wall Street as stock markets in Asia and Europe plunge.

Carsten Brzezewski is chief economist for Germany at the bank ING. We see that financial markets are currently completely repricing their view on the global economy, namely that they are now expecting a recession coming in the US and they also see the threat of a global recession this year. We hear about the allegations of mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. They cuffed me and beat me so much that blood was pouring down my arms and legs. I went three days without a single drop of water. We would get tortured on the way from the barracks to the doctor's room. As efforts continue to restore a ceasefire in Gaza.

Also in this podcast, the Dominican Republic cracks down on migration from neighbouring Haiti which is being ravaged by gang violence. And the new technology that could save honeybees in Europe from aggressive Asian hornets. We start with the global stock market turmoil as investors react to US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs. European exchanges have plunged, following heavy falls on the Asian stock markets as concerns grow over a global recession. Markets in Europe's big

three economies, France, Germany and the UK, have recovered slightly but were down 3 to 4% at the time of recording this podcast. EU ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to discuss countermeasures to the US tariffs. Carsten Brzeski, chief economist for Germany at the Bank ING, says markets fear a global downturn. We see that financial markets are currently completely repricing their view on the global economy, namely that they are now expecting a recession coming in the US and they also see the threat of a global recession this year. Markets are not finally understanding that these tariff threats are not short-lived

or half-baked. This is really for real. They are here to stay, and it really will require big trade deals in order to see a reduction in tariffs again. And I cannot see how bigger countries like the EU, like China will be able to deliver these great trade deals that Donald Trump is expecting. Asian markets are now closed after heavy falls. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed with its steepest decline since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Here's our business reporter Mariko Oye in Singapore. I've been covering the stock market, especially here in Asia, for about 20 years now and this

is probably one of the biggest and continuous sell-off that Asian markets have suffered. The last time was during the pandemic and before that was the global financial crisis and that was when the global economy fell into a recession and it usually takes an enormous shock like those events to trigger something like that but now analysts think that these tariffs may actually be just as big to push the world economy into a recession and that's why we're seeing the sell-off to continue as European markets reopen for trade. And how are Asian governments reacting? Are some of them trying to do a deal with

President Trump? Well, the White House says that more than 50 governments, global leaders, are in touch with Washington to negotiate a deal. So I would assume that many of them are Asian governments because as we were talking about it last week, Asian countries have actually been hit some of the hardest, some of the highest tariffs by the United States. Of course, China is a key target, but of course, other governments have also been hit hard by those high tariffs. So I'm sure they are negotiating.

It is interesting, though, to see somewhat of mixed reaction from Asian governments. So Beijing was one of the first and strongest to respond to those tariffs last week, announcing those territory tariffs. But for example, the Taiwanese government said that they're not going to retaliate, they're going to lower import duties on American products. And Vietnam was doing that even before the announcements of the tariffs were made last week. And other governments are also scrambling to offer support for businesses that are directly

affected by these tariffs. So we've so far heard from the South Korean government, the Indian government as well as Taiwanese governments offering some kind of help to those businesses. So a lot of negotiating I'm sure are taking place behind closed doors but also those talks of offering support to their businesses that's continuing as well. Our business reporter Peter Ruddock is following European market reaction. There are usually winners and losers when you have sort of stock market declines. Every one of the 100 stocks in the FTSE 100 is in

decline today. Some of the big names that are particularly suffering banks, oil and gas companies, we've seen the oil price falling today as well, so potentially that's one of the reasons they're falling by so much. British Airways, IAG, that airline firm. I think if we talk about Friday's big move, that was driven by a very clear moment, China's retaliation to the original tariffs.

Today it's not as clear there is a specific market reason. It appears to be real shifting expectations that these tariffs are not going anywhere. Perhaps even that the initial market moves we saw in the hours after Donald Trump's Rose Garden address perhaps were a bit understated. If this last possibly represents the fear we could be on the verge of a global recession, that appears to be what's going on in the markets today. And I think we should make it clear, I mean the tariffs haven't actually come in yet,

have they? No, absolutely. The sort of largest ones of those are not coming in until sort of just gone midnight US time on Wednesday. Worth saying of course that, as I mentioned, the big move on Friday appeared to be China's retaliation. We still haven't had the EU response yet so we know that European trade ministers are meeting right now. Their response, if it is a retaliation, well that could move things as well. This is quite a sort of a serious situation on the stock markets now. In a way, if you're sort of invested in the stock market, you're probably concerned, but actually the likelihood is you've got sort of a longer term investment,

especially if it's pensions. If you're not invested, I think potentially there's the suggestion that you could be more concerned that you might be because this might well signal, as I say, that we could be on the verge of a sort of much larger economic slowdown. You called it serious, some have called it carnage. I mean, is this a crash? Which word, which word do we use? Yes, which word? Tell us. Well, look, I mean, look, crash is quite a specific term which we use for when a sort of stock market falls by about 10% in a day or sort of 20% over the period of a couple of days. The FTSE is obviously down and it's been down over two or three days.

We're nowhere near that kind of level yet. If you compare it to a year ago, the level of the FTSE 100 in the UK here is sort of down about two or three percent. It's still long term as sort of a sort of doing pretty well. So we're not in crash territory yet. A couple of people I've spoken to have said it's it's a bit crashy, crash-like, but not quite a crash. Peter Roddick. Palestinians arrested in Gaza in the months after the 7th of October 2023 Hamas attacks, who were released in the

ceasefire earlier this year, have told the BBC that they were subjected to mistreatment and torture in Israeli custody. Their accounts add to mounting reports of abuse within Israeli barracks and jails. Israel says they did not engage in systematic abuse of detainees. Alice Cuddy reports about what the prisoners say happened to them. Mohammed Abdule used to be a mechanic. That was before he was arrested by Israeli forces last year. He says the torture began almost immediately. They dunked my head in a bucket of chemicals.

They hit me on the head and on the eye. Now his body bears the scars of a year in detention. The skin around his eyes is badly damaged. He's lost a lot of weight. But most shocking is his back and arms, now covered in thick red welts. He said Israeli soldiers poured chemicals on him, beat him and set his back alight in the days after his arrest. In detention, he says, the mistreatment continued. There was no comfort. We would get tortured on the way when they would take us from the barracks to the doctor's room or to the interrogation room.

We would get beaten up, they'd unleash the dogs at us, tied in the cuffs. This is how we were tortured." Mohammed was one of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza released in the ceasefire earlier this year in exchange for Israeli hostages. During their time in detention, they were questioned about links with Hamas and the whereabouts of the hostages. But in the end, Israel said none of those released were found to have participated in the October 7 attacks. Despite this, many prisoners say they endured hostility and hardship throughout their time. many prisoners say they endured hostility and hardship throughout their time.

The rice we got was uncooked. It was just soaked in water and they bring it to us. It caused us stomach cramps, diarrhea and constipation. Abdul Karim Mishra used to work at a slaughterhouse in Gaza. He said he was arrested by Israeli soldiers while he tried to cross a checkpoint with his family. What followed, he says, was more than a year of torture and humiliation. They cuffed me and beat me so much that blood was pouring down my arms and legs. My legs swelled up, bruising, swelling, and they began to smell. He says he was denied water and soap, leading to skin blisters and infections. I went three days without a single drop of water. When we asked for medical treatment, they said as long as you have a pulse, you are

okay. The BBC spoke to several other gars and men after their release. They all said they were stripped, blindfolded, cuffed and beaten during their time in detention. Some said they were denied access to medical care. Others said they witnessed the deaths of fellow detainees. The allegations are in line with reports by the UN and human rights groups of mistreatment of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli military barracks and prisons. We shared the allegations with Professor Lawrence Hill Cawthon, an expert

in international law from the University of Bristol. The alleged conduct absolutely would violate international and Israeli law. The law of armed conflict requires you to treat all detainees humanely. There's an absolute prohibition of torture, another inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. And there's obligations relating to meeting the basic needs of detainees, including medical care, for example. We put our allegations in detail to the IDF. They said, the IDF detains individuals in the Gaza Strip who are suspected of being involved in terrorist activities. They also said the IDF completely rejects accusations of systematic abuse of

detainees, but that claims will be examined by the relevant authorities. Shortly after the men we spoke to were freed, the ceasefire collapsed after Israel renewed its offensive. Mohammed Abu Tawili says the injuries he sustained during detention have been life-changing. The thing I suffer from most is that I'm unable to do anything because of my injury. Because my eye hurts and it tears and it feels itchy and all the burns on my body feel itchy. It's bothering me a lot, unfortunately. I'm unable to do anything in my life. That report from Alice Cuddy and you can read the full investigation on the BBC News website.

Efforts are continuing to try to restore a ceasefire in Gaza. Overnight Israel launched airstrikes following a barrage of rockets fired at southern Israel by Hamas. Later, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding talks with US President Donald Trump in Washington. I got the latest on the moves to restore a ceasefire from our Middle East correspondent Yuland Nel, who's in Jerusalem. Well, there have been ongoing attempts by Egypt and Qatar in the region as mediators along with the US as well. And so we do expect that when Israel's prime minister meets Mr. Trump, they've said that they're planning

to discuss the tariff issue, as you'd expect, but also efforts to return Israeli hostages. It's thought there are 24 still alive in Gaza, as well as other regional issues. You also have France's President Macron, who's in Egypt meeting both Egypt's President Sisi and King Abdullah of Jordan, really talking about ceasefire efforts as well. Where things have got stuck in recent days is that Hamas had agreed to an Egyptian plan,

which we understand would involve freeing five hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire. Israel wants more hostages freed and really has been trying to kind of limit the length of the ceasefire as much as possible. And ultimately the big sticking point when it comes to kind of moving on to what was supposed to be the second stage of the original ceasefire deal back in January that lasted for two months, Israel really has now resumed its military offensive in Gaza, saying it wants to defeat Hamas completely. It's talking about sending its leaders into exile,

continuing fighting until that goal is achieved, saying it's also putting pressure on Hamas to bring its hostages back. But Hamas has been consistently saying that it wants to move to the second stage of this original ceasefire deal where the war would end and Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza. And meanwhile we've had these Israeli airstrikes on Gaza overnight and indeed Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. Yes, so what we've seen is these 10 rockets fired from the center of Gaza at southern Israel, five of those intercepted, five landed in open areas, the Israeli military

says. That really being seen as a sort of message from Hamas that it does still have some fighting power. But on the ground, Israel is the side which has the overwhelming military strength of course. It's been saying that it has now retaken 40% of the Gaza Strip and we've seen more than a dozen people killed in the latest airstrikes in Gaza since midnight last night. Yolanel in Jerusalem. And in a news conference in Cairo, the French president Emmanuel Macron said that France and Egypt condemn Israel's resumption of strikes on the Gaza Strip. At a joint press conference with the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Mr Macron called for an immediate return to the ceasefire and the

release of hostages still being held by Hamas. Mr Sisi said they'd agreed to reject the displacement of Palestinians from the territory. Heavy rains and extreme heat are complicating relief efforts in Myanmar, which is trying to cope with the aftermath of an earthquake on March the 28th. The UN says the extreme weather conditions have affected the distribution of aid and increased the risk of disease such as cholera. Temperatures are expected to hit 37 degrees Celsius and possibly higher this week. State media say the number of dead from the devastating earthquake has now risen to nearly 3,500 people. Sarah Netzer is the country director of UN Ops,

the UN's Office for Project Services and has just returned from Napidaw, one of the worst hit areas. Here she describes what she saw. On the road to Napidaw there were numerous cars and trucks loaded with supplies where people in Myanmar are coming together to respond to those who've been affected. And then as you near Napidaw, you start to see the road has buckled, bridges are cracked, huge openings in the earth just gaping open. And as you get into Napidaw, you see people camping outside of what was their home. As you mentioned, the heat is extremely hot. It's going into the hot season. It's very humid, which makes it feel even hotter.

And they're outside and there's no access to running water, to toilets, kitchens, anything like that. Many are under tents. So we've also distributed what we call temporary shelter, which are tents. But the thunderstorm Saturday night in Mandalay, the temporary shelters aren't always going to be able to hold up for that. So one of the things that we're looking at now is this race against the clock to the monsoon season, which starts in June when the rains will become very heavy.

And we really need to get people out from underneath the tents and into some temporary shelter before them. Food distributions are underway by a range of partners, including UNOPS, as well as the World Food Program. And there are so many local groups on the ground. Our teams in Mandalay saw a bonfire where two young women were cooking 600 eggs to distribute with rice and a few other things and plastic baggies for people that don't have a way to cook for themselves. We definitely need to have continued access

to all the areas that are affected so that we can continue to provide assistance to those that need it most. Sarah Netzer, the country director of UNOPS, the UN's office for project services. Still to come on this Global News Podcast... How scientists in Europe have harnessed the sound of Asian hornets to protect native bees. Unless you've been hiding under a very large pixelated rock, you've probably heard of Minecraft. It's the best-selling video game of all time, and the franchise's first feature film is

in cinemas now. But how much do you know about the game's creator, software developer Marcus Persson? Find out about the man behind Minecraft on Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the minds, motives and money of some of the world's richest individuals. Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. The president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abineder, has announced a crackdown on migration from Haiti as the neighbouring country struggles with gang violence and a breakdown of law and order. Haiti's national police and a UN-backed security force have failed to stop

a year-long criminal uprising. Stephanie Prentiss told me more. It's been really challenging to report from Haiti. It's just not safe there and the situation is really the worst in the capital Port-au-Prince. The last estimate we had from the UN was that gangs control around 85% of the city. That's led naturally to a collapse of basic systems people need to live like healthcare, food distribution, as well as widespread reports of violence, sexual violence, kidnappings and even children being recruited as soldiers. We also know gangs recently stormed a prison in Mirbelay, that's a nearby town, and

released around 500 prisoners. And overall more than 5,600 people were killed in that gang violence last year. So many people have fled, especially those gang-controlled areas. In the UN estimate more than a million people are internally displaced and a huge amount of them are just living in makeshift camps. So the Dominican Republic borders Haiti. They're now cracking down on people trying to cross the border. Yes, the president of the Dominican Republic has just announced a wave of measures to tighten up the border they have with Haiti.

He did run on an anti-immigration ticket back in 2020. Of course, the situation has become a lot worse since then. So when he was speaking at a press conference, he did appear to sympathise with the struggles of civilians there, but said action was needed urgently. Today we are called to an unavoidable duty, a challenge we didn't choose, but one we must face with courage and determination, the challenge of the irregular migration of Haitians whose streets are overtaken by violence,

abandoned to despair, where order has succumbed to chaos. So now 15 new measures we'll see an acceleration of the construction of a border wall that was already being built and that's going to separate the two countries. He's also said he'll add 1,500 soldiers to these border surveillance teams he already has in place and he said there will be harsh penalties and that's for anyone who may help someone so taking people in with what he called a regular immigration status so that counts for renting them properties, take them into their homes or just helping them get into the country in any way. Stephanie Prentice, the US Health Secretary Robert F

Kennedy Jr who's previously been considered to be a vaccine skeptic now says the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine. His comments posted on X came after a second child died of measles in the US. Dr George Benjamin is executive director of the American Public Health Association and said a lack of consistent messaging has fuelled the current outbreak in the US. We're seeing this enormous epidemic of measles this year because it's initiated in a community that was unvaccinated and it's a community that has had a lot of misinformation about the risk of vaccinations as this continues to grow and when you get behind on these kinds of outbreaks

with measles because it's so infectious. It really takes you a while to catch up. Unfortunately, we have an anti-vaccine secretary as the Secretary of Health and Human Services who not only has not been very supportive of vaccines, has actually been someone who has been a person who has spread misinformation and disinformation around vaccines. But even worse, he's also advocated for alternative prevention therapies, such as promoting vitamin A, which we know does not work to prevent measles. And that's been a real challenge here.

The CDC, America's disease prevention agency, has recorded around 650 cases stretching from Alaska to Florida. So what threat does measles pose now? Dr. Peter Hotez is a paediatrician and co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. The measles virus is a good exploiter of children who are not vaccinated. It's one of the most contagious viruses we know about. It has a reproductive number of 12 to 18. What that means is if you have a measles exposure, on average, 12 to 18 non-vaccinated children will become infected. So this is a really a monster epidemic at this point. Back in the 1980s, measles was a single leading killer of children

globally. Two to three million children lost their lives because of measles and then through the good work of the the GAVI Alliance, the Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunizations, over the last 20 years we've brought that number down to around a hundred thousand. And the reason is the virus, after it causes, sets up infection, it gains access to the bloodstream, spreads to the lungs and causes a serious giant cell pneumonia, which is life threatening. In the past, you could have a discussion with a parent and explain the devastating effects

of the measles virus versus the high level of safety of the MMR vaccine. It's become more complicated now, particularly in our state of Texas, because we have a very aggressive anti-vaccine movement and now having the Health and Human Services Secretary publicly make reckless statements about the MMR vaccine, it's gotten all that more complicated. Dr Peter Hotez. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Spain this weekend to protest against the high cost of housing in what is Europe's fastest growing economy. Soaring rents, flats bought by foreigners, which are turned into holiday rentals, and few affordable homes being built has caused anger across the country.

The problem is especially acute in the capital Madrid, from where Guy Hedgeco reports. Blanca Castro has to wash her dishes in the bathtub. That's because her kitchen is dangerous and unusable, with a large hole in the ceiling which leaks water from above. Blanca believes that the company which owns her flat and others in the building has deliberately halted all maintenance work in order to encourage the tenants to leave. The current rental bubble is encouraging a lot of big owners to do what they are doing here, which is to get rid of the tenant who have been here a long time in order to have short-term tourist flats or simply to hike up the rent.

Blanca is just one of millions of Spaniards who are worried about the cost of housing. Over the last decade, salaries in Spain have increased by around 20 percent. But during the same period, the cost of an average rental has doubled. I'm next to a group of workmen and some cranes where a block of flats is being built just on the outskirts of Madrid. This kind of site is much less common now than in 2007 at the height of Spain's property boom when more than 600,000 homes were built in just one year. Last year by contrast only a sixth of that number of homes were completed. High building costs, lack of available land and the shortage of manpower have all been factors

in restricting construction in recent years. The socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, says he's now making it easier for cheap housing to be built. His coalition government is also taking more interventionist measures. Spaniards want the housing market to operate according to the law of reason, of social justice, not the law of the jungle. They want us to ensure that vulture funds and speculators are not doing whatever they like. The government has introduced a housing law which puts a cap on rentals in some urban areas. So far it's only been implemented in a handful of regions such as Catalonia and the Basque

Country. The government has also proposed a tax of up to 100% on the purchase of property by non-residents from outside the EU, which could affect British buyers in particular. Critics say this kind of interventionism scares owners and investors, causing properties to be taken off the rental market and making the situation worse. However, lower-income Spaniards are calling for more drastic measures to be taken as anger over the housing crisis builds. Guy Hedgeco in Madrid in Spain.

Scientists in Europe have found a way of remotely detecting invasive Asian hornets hovering outside beehives. A single Asian hornet can kill up to 50 honeybees a day and their presence deters the insects from venturing out to forage. The hornet is native to South East Asia and is believed to have travelled to France in a cargo of pottery from China about 20 years ago. Researchers have now identified the hornet's hovering flight sounds. First, here's the sound of honey bees.

And this is the sound of hornets. Now can you tell the difference? Well Professor Martin Benchick was involved in the study and he explained how the sound of the hornets compare to honeybees. It's a lower pitch so this is one of the features we're using to discriminate the hornet from the bee and the recording also demonstrates another feature which we've highlighted. It also has some kind of vibrato, you know, like a musician playing a note. The musician or the singer, they can wobble the frequency of the notes that they're producing.

It's called the vibrato in music. And the hornet also has got that vibrato, the honeybee hasn't got it usually. The Asian hornet is localizedised somewhere in a woodland and it might be near your bees or it might not be near your bees. So one way this might help the beekeepers first of all is to flag up to them those colonies that are under threat and those that are not under threat you can leave them there's no need to act and those that are under threat you act can leave them, there's no need to act. And those that are under threat, you act on them. So I guess it's an economy of means for the beekeeper. Professor Martin Bencik. And that's it from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered

in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Jack Wilfen and the producer was Isabella Jewell. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye bye.