Global News Podcast - President Trump's planned tariffs on steel and aluminium imports widely condemned

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Governments in Europe and elsewhere express concern and vow countermeasures about President Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Also: US doubles down on Gaza plan, and sled dog championships in Sweden.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritzen and at 14 Hours GMT on Monday 10 February these are our main stories. There's been widespread condemnation of President Trump's proposal to slap tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports. A global summit on artificial intelligence has opened in France with politicians and executives seeking to safely exploit its potential without swamping firms in red tape. There's been a record drop in the number of marriages in China despite a government campaign. Also in this podcast, ahead of elections in Germany, how people are trying to counteract

the growing influence of the far-right on the young. For example when addressing conspiracy theories. When we talked about them in class someone denied the Holocaust and this is something that badly shakes the core of democracy. From the Americas to Asia and Europe world leaders are saying they will react to protect their business interests in the latest escalation in trade tensions. Speaking on Air Force One, President Trump said he would announce a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US. Mr Trump also said there would be an announcement later in the week about reciprocal tariffs

on all countries that tax imports from the US. The Vice President of the European Central Bank, Luis de Guindos, said the issue would only be resolved through dialogue. I think it is very important to avoid a trade war. I believe there should be talks on the approach the new American administration is taking. I believe it is using economic instruments to achieve political objectives and obviously this is a change in US policy." It was just last week that President Trump paused proposed tariffs on goods from Canada

and Mexico. Meanwhile, trade skirmishes between the US and China, the world's two biggest economies, are intensifying. A 10% duty is now in force on imports from China. Today, Beijing's retaliatory tariffs came into effect. I heard more from our international business correspondent Theo Leggert. It does feel like Groundhog Day. This is clearly something that President Trump thinks is important. And the first time round, when tariffs were introduced in 2018, there was a fall in the volume of

metals being exported from other countries into the United States. Now one of the objectives behind all this stated last time was to boost employment in the US steel sector. That didn't really happen. And then as countries reacted to those tariffs, what we saw was a network of retaliatory sanctions but also a network of exemptions. So a number of companies, for example, were able to continue exporting steel into the United States without any kind of duty because they were producing types of steel that weren't available in the United States.

So what you tend to find with these blanket announcements from Donald Trump, they look much bigger than they end up being because in a sense, it can be as full of holes as Swiss cheese. You get a lot of exemptions both in the tariffs that are imposed and in the retaliation that blocks like the European Union put in place. So how is the EU going to make Swiss cheese? Well the European Union does have products that it targets from the United States. So last time round, for example, agricultural products were targeted. Also quintessentially American products like bourbon whiskey or certain types of jeans. So we can assume that if these tariffs go ahead and they are not in place as yet, then

the EU and other trading blocs will find ways of replying in kind. Do we have any idea which countries will be hardest hit? Well in terms of steel, it's almost certain Canada is going to be out there, Mexico as well and these were the two countries that were due to have been hit of course by 25 percent tariffs across the board until a last-minute stay of execution happened and those tariffs were suspended for 30 days. So we know that Donald Trump likes to use the threat of tariffs as a negotiating tactic in order to obtain concessions that can be politically useful, it may be that this is what he's doing in this case.

And then China has imposed its own retaliatory tariffs on the US. Yes, what's interesting here is that these tariffs that have been imposed by China, they're on some 14 billion dollars worth of imports. But in the context of what China imports from the United States, that's a trade worth about 165 billion a year. So you can see it's a relatively small proportion of imports from the United States. And I think what China is doing here and what analysts say China is doing here is putting out a warning saying that we can and we will retaliate, but at the moment they don't want to antagonise President Trump too much, they don't want a full-blown trade war as it

were, so merely showing statement of potential intent. Our international business correspondent Theo Legert. And it wasn't just tariffs that Donald Trump turned his attention to on Air Force One when he spoke to reporters. He also doubled down on his idea that the United States would take control of Gaza. He repeated that the Palestinian population would be moved out of the territory to ensure that Hamas doesn't come back. It's a big mistake to allow people, the Palestinians or the people living in Gaza to go back yet another time and we don't want Hamas going back. And think of it as a big real estate site. And the United States is going to own it,

and we'll slowly, very slowly, we're in a rush, develop it. We're going to bring stability to the Middle East in a totally war-torn part of the Middle East. A part of the Middle East that has caused tremendous problem, tremendous problem. The Gaza Strip and Willow. It's totally demolished right now. It's a demolition site. It'll be reclaimed.

It'll be leveled out, fixed up. There won't be anybody there. Hamas won't be there. We'll be building through other of the very rich countries in the Middle East. They'll be building through other of the very rich countries in the Middle East, they'll be building some beautiful sites for the people, for the Palestinians to live in, they'll be living in harmony and peace probably for the first time in hundreds of years. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Yoland Nel, told us more about Mr. Trump's comments and the reaction in Israel.

He said the US was committed to buying or owning it without saying who it would be bought from and he made clear that he envisages all Palestinians living in this coastal strip and there are more than two million of them leaving or being forced away, not allowed to return there. He talked about how it could be developed, including by involving other Middle Eastern powers, but didn't sort of specify whom. Of course, we had the Saudi Arabian government again rejecting totally President Trump's plans, which Palestinians have said amounts to ethnic cleansing. Other Arab countries have previously rejected all of this.

It's only on the Israeli side where really looking across the political spectrum, you do have from Jewish Israeli politicians, those who fully endorse this idea, and others who have sort of suggested some openness to it. What's the reaction continue to be in Israel following the release of three more Israeli hostages over the weekend and a very concerned reaction to the way that they've

been treated in their appearance? Yeah, there's been a lot of picking over that. So it caused a lot of shock to see them looking so pale and thin. These men were released in exchange for some 183 Palestinian prisoners. We've had a lot of Palestinians pointing out that many of the prisoners who've been released as part of this exchange have also appeared to be in poor physical health. But President Trump did address the appearance of these three men. He said that they looked like Holocaust survivors. At the moment, you've got an Israeli delegation that has gone to Qatar, the regional mediator, ostensibly to take part in negotiations on

advancing to the second stage of this ceasefire deal. We're currently about halfway through the first six-week phase. There's a lot now of pressure on these talks. Israeli media wondering if anything can be achieved from them. What mandate has been given by the Israeli prime minister who said he wants to have meetings about President Trump's plans. There are many particularly on the Israeli right to feel that President Trump's comments about the future of Gaza have really changed the context here. They're very worried about the pictures that they're seeing with Hamas still trying to show it's firmly in control of parts of Gaza. This all causes a lot of worry for

the hostage families. Also that this could result in a return to fighting if the ceasefire is allowed to collapse. Jolande Nel talking to Samantha Simmons. A two-day global summit on artificial intelligence is getting underway in France, attended by leading politicians, tech bosses and academics. It comes as nations scramble to invest in its transformative potential, but amid concerns over its impact on society and the environment. The summit comes weeks after a seismic industry shift as China's DeepSeek unveiled a powerful

low-cost AI model challenging US dominance. President Macron's special envoy for the summit, Anne Bouvereau, told Amor Rajan it helped to highlight France and Europe's role in the sector and to promote using AI in the public interest in a shared sustainable way. This is exactly why we're having the conversation. It is true that a couple of companies in the US and China are clearly doing incredible things, huge investments on the one hand,

blitz progress on the other hand as well. We can be heartened by the fact that we're talking very different numbers, the DeepSeek announcement in China, although we don't know exactly where the numbers are, they're very low. And I think it shows that not all the cards have been dealt, that not everything is written. And there is an opportunity for the countries and actors who want to do things in AI, based on the fact that you have talent, that you have some computing capacity, data, the will to go ahead. There are still opportunities to do things, which is why I

think shared progress is a real possibility. Do you think that some kind of global regulator for AI is either necessary or desirable? It depends what you call a global regulator. We have the United Nations for the overall principles. Our philosophy for the AI Action Summit was to build coalitions of the willing. So we will be unveiling a coalition for a sustainable development of AI with some governments and some companies. We will be unveiling a foundation or a partnership for AI to be developed in the public interest with a number of actors. And that's a coalition of the willing when you say sort of sustainable development of

AI, what do you mean? Sorry, you don't mean sustainable in an environmental sense, do you mean sustainable? Yes, I do. You mean that and for the public good. Okay, what does what does sustainable AI mean then? It means having companies and governments that pledge to develop frugal models, more efficient hardware and use cases that take the environment into account and also to use AI to help with climate change.

So it means actors saying we are mindful of the climate crisis and we want to develop AI in the best way possible given this challenge. President Macron's special envoy for AI, Anne Bouvereau. Never in Super Bowl history has an American football team won three consecutive NFL championships. That was the dream for the Kansas City Chiefs and their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes coming into Super Bowl 59. On Sunday those dreams were dashed after a crushing defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles, the final score 40-22. The Super Bowl is one of the world's most watched sporting events and the halftime show did not disappoint. Kendrick Lamar headlined with appearances from singer

Scissor and even Samuel L Jackson. BBC Sports' Joel Hammer has been in New Orleans for the week for the build-up to the game. He told Chris Barrow that they were expecting a much closer game. The bookmakers had this down as a three-point game. They were calling it just about in favour for the Kansas City Chiefs. When these two teams met in the Super Bowl two years ago, it was a three-point game. So there's more than a little bit of revenge here for Philadelphia. But the margin of victory really, I mean, I know it ended what, 40-22, which is still obviously a great margin. But for a lot of the game, Kansas City Chiefs

just weren't on the scoreboard. And the Philadelphia players were celebrating with, you know, three or four minutes still left on the clock and they were dumping fizzy drinks on their coach. I mean, I think that the late scores that came for the Kansas City Chiefs were kind of because the Philadelphia Eagles weren't really playing anymore. It felt a little bit like. Yeah absolutely the the dumping of fizzy drinks over the coaches is normally done after the final whistle let alone with three minutes on the game clock but you know so confident were they that the victory had already been assured yes you're right it put a sheen on the score that perhaps Kansas City didn't deserve. What did you make of the half-time show? There was a lot of talk in the build-up about Kendrick

Lamar performing, potential unknown performers alongside him. We knew that SZA was very likely to appear and SZA did play. And the real surprise, I guess Samuel L Jackson made a little turn. Yes, absolutely. Samuel L Jackson we certainly weren't expecting. Cita was kind of rumoured to be and I guess it wasn't that much of a surprise. Actually, the real surprise came when I went back to the media room and we were talking about the half-time show and someone said to me, did you see Serena Williams? And I was like, you mean tennis star Serena Williams? And yet she was on stage as one of the dancers and so that was a real surprise and so somewhat relegating Samuel L Jackson and and scissor to

something not quite afterthought but certainly that's that's now the thought that I have in my mind that Serena Williams where I didn't even see her yeah well we were watching the coverage and we did all look at each other and go, was that really Serena Williams because she was dancing away? But apparently yes is the answer to that. And what do you think is next for the Kansas City Chiefs in particular? Because to have a poor showing, they're going to have to pick themselves up and I guess think about the next season. Yeah, absolutely.

And of course, the way that the system of American football works here, actually the draft system, which is coming in April, each team gets to pick the best college players. It rewards the worst teams. So because Kansas City have been so successful over the last few years, and because of course, although they haven't won today, this is a highly successful season, they won't get to be able to pick the very best cream of the crop coming through the game. So I think they will have to look at what comes next. There's been rumours that Travis Kelsey might hang up his cleats. But whilst Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback, they will be very dangerous and hard to beat next season.

Joel Hammer in New Orleans. Still to come, more than a thousand Arctic dogs have been vying for top spots in sledding championships in Sweden. It feels like she's been doing this her whole life. She's completely magical. She listens to all her vocal cues going left or right, and she's completely magical. She listens to all her vocal cues going left or right and she's super fast Most of the cocaine that leaves South America is shipped from the ports of Ecuador

And that's one of the reasons the country is facing a security crisis fueled by drugs violence Who will tackle it will be decided in a presidential runoff vote in April. Sunday's first round ended in a tight finish between the incumbent centre-right president, Danielle Nuboa, and a left-wing candidate, Luisa Gonzales. Our South America correspondent,

Iaini Wells, is in the capital, Quito, and gave us this update. It has been a bit of a shock result, particularly for the incumbent Daniel Nuboa because electoral authorities here in Ecuador have called this a technical tie after both Daniel Nuboa and his main challenger Luisa González received pretty much identical percentages of the vote. Now it was expected that it could go to a second round in April, but polls had suggested that Daniel Nuboa was significantly ahead. This result is more narrow than expected, indicating

that second round could be much harder to call. And certainly the result dashed the hopes of Nuboa's supporters, many of whom had been really buoyed by an early exit poll suggesting that he might even clinch victory outright. I spoke to some of the supporters of Daniel Nuboa, some of whom are frustrated that he hasn't won this outright, but hopeful that he may well clinch victory in the second round. He's really defined his presidency by this tough crack down on violent drug gangs and criminal activity in the country by militarizing the streets, militarizing prisons, giving security forces sweeping new powers to try and tackle violence. So when I spoke to some of his supporters they told me that their main hope is that they want his work in that field to continue. We have a lot of insecurity, we

have also drugs coming into the country, so we need to change that. And I really think that Noboa is the candidate to do that. So that was one supporter of the incumbent Daniel Noboa hoping that he might win in the second round in April. Certainly, as other Noboa supporters have said too, one of the reasons they want him to stay on is because he's only been in office for 15 months so far after his predecessor resigned. So they feel like he's only really just got started. As for the opposition, Luisa Gonzalez, her supporters are certainly very excited tonight, given that she seems to have performed better than opinion polls were suggesting. She went into this campaign heavily criticising Daniel Nabeau, and not only for, in her words, sort of not delivering on promises to tackle violent crime, given it is still such a big

issue in the country, but also not delivering on other issues like tackling unemployment and solving the country's energy crisis too. Her supporters as well felt that Nuboa was not doing enough to tackle some of the root causes of crime. Why is there crime? There is poverty. There is hunger. So there should be someone who is really aware of Ecuadorian workers so that the country moves forward. So that was one of the supporters of Luisa González hoping that she will be the one who is victorious come that run off in April. I think though why this election really matters is whoever is successful in April has a think though why this election really matters is whoever

is successful in April has a huge task ahead of them. Ecuador has gone from being one of the safest countries in the region to one of the most dangerous. In January this year alone there were 750 homicides in the country, kidnappings, murders, things that happen daily here. People are really, really worried about their security and want desperately for there to be solutions. Some people I've spoken to in the last week or two say that if there aren't, they simply feel there is no choice but to leave the country and flee to other places, whether that be to the US or other neighbouring countries in South America or to Europe, for example. So this is a country desperate for change and I think that is what is at stake for

whoever is victorious come April. Ione Wells. Let's stay with elections. In two weeks Germany will head to the polls once again in a vote triggered by the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition late last year. Immigration is a key issue with the far-right alternative for Germany, the AFD, polling strongly. While other parties say they won't allow the AfD into a future coalition, recent elections show their support rising, especially among young people. Jessica Parker has this report. A 25 year old woman dances in a video to a song in support of the far-right

Alternative for Deutschland. She's among a band of social media influencers aiding the party's relative dominance on TikTok. Selena wants the return of military service, more help for stay-at-home mums and tougher immigration rules. She's young, so are most of her followers. There are a lot of people who regard the AFD as an extremist, even a dangerous party. What do you say to those people? I don't think they're dangerous. I just think many people are afraid of change. The only thing that would make them dangerous is they can implement a lot of things, and radically. But I think this is exactly what Germany needs. The only thing that would make them dangerous is they can implement a lot of things and radically.

But I think this is exactly what Germany needs. Critics accuse the far right of long-standing anti-migrant rhetoric and of exploiting people's fears after attacks in Germany where the suspects were asylum seekers. But at last year's European elections, the AfD enjoyed a broad rise in support, the sharpest uptick under 24-year-olds. At a darts bar in Freiburg, Saxony, 19-year-old Nick and 30-year-old Dominik tell me that for their future, they're aiming for the past. My point is, I want us to go back to a Germany that we had before my time, a peaceful Germany

without attacks on innocent people, and I would vote for Alternative für Deutschland, the AfD. At the moment, this is the only salvation for Germany. Just to add to this, everyone has their own opinion. And we're driving to a vocational training centre. It's in the town of Fleur in Saxony. And we're gonna be in time for the first class of the day. In these halls, people speak of political and gender divides. 18-year-old Cora, who doesn't support the far right, tells me about the kind of misogynistic chatter she hears.

Like it was in old times, the women were home taking care of the children and the husband's food was on the table when he came home from work, like a twed wife. While teacher Diana Schwitala is alarmed when she sees right-wing support tip into extremism. For example when addressing conspiracy theories. When we talked about them in class someone denied the Holocaust. And this is something that badly shakes the core of democracy. The school's holding a mock election. Germany's actual election is just two weeks away. A firewall remains to keep the AfD out of power. But a strong showing in this small poll carries an echo.

The far-right's efforts to normalise itself appear to be working. Jessica Parker in Berlin. New figures on marriage rates in China make worrying reading for the Chinese Communist Party, which has long tried to reverse the country's declining and ageing population. Marriages fell by a fifth last year and new low divorces also saw a slight increase. To unpack this further, let's cross to our China media analyst, Kerry Allen. If there's one main cause in China for marriage rates being really, really quite small now, I mean, 6.1 million marriages were registered in 2024.

It's the one child policy, which was in place between the years 1979 and 2015. It's meant that it meant that parents could only have one child. And it means now that the younger demographic are much, much smaller than the older demographic. So there's simply fewer people who are young, who are able to get married. But that's just one reason. There have been a number of other factors in recent years

that have meant that marriage rates have dropped. The government's blamed the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that people have not been able to go out and meet potential partners. There are other reasons as well. China's young are working much more overtime nowadays due to a shrinking population. So they're not having time to go out and meet people. There are also social concerns, concerns about domestic violence, for example, that a lot

of young people, young women don't want to be trapped in an abusive relationship. And there are as a whole just changing social attitudes towards marriage. Some people want to pursue further education or climb the employment ladder and marriage is no longer a high priority. What's the government doing about it? Well it's tried to offer lots of different incentives, so in little villages you can buy a house for much cheaper if you're married, things like this are happening.

And the government's really tried to make it clear that this is a big priority. It wants people to get married in order to have more children so that there is a much bigger, younger demographic. But it's just something that young people are just not that interested in. I mean, young women are concerned that they might be forced back into traditional roles. You see a lot of comments on social media that young women are saying that they're concerned they're being turned back into baby-making machines. And young men as well, I mean, they think that weddings are expensive and there are these traditional expectations that you have to buy a house as a prerequisite for marriage if you're male.

And youth unemployment's been, well, it's sat at around 20% for the last few years. So a lot of young men are quite poor. And the idea that they need to save towards a marriage is, it's very low on their priority list. If this trendline continues though, it's pointing at a very scary future. It is, yes. There are a lot of concerns. I mean, this is why the government has really tried to ramp up this marriage message in recent years, because the older demographic, there's nobody to look after them.

So there's this concern that, you know, who's going to look after the population over the age of 60? And already now, over 21% of China's population is over 60. And not only that, there's a shrinking labor market because, yeah, you've got a situation where there are fewer young people to fill in behind the jobs left by the older demographics. So who's going to look after the older demographic and who's going to do the jobs? Kerry Allen, our China media analyst. Over the weekend, competitors from more than 20 countries gathered in northern Sweden for this year's Sled Dog World Championship. With the details, here's Stephanie Zackrassen.

With sub-zero temperatures and heaps of snow as far as the eye can see, this is as close as you can get to the natural habitat of Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes and other Arctic dog breeds. More than 1,000 of them have gathered in Östersund, taking on the challenge of pulling their sleds and drivers, or mushers, as quickly as they can on the Swedish trails. Julia Israrsson entered the race with her two dogs, one of which is a rescue that she's only been training for a year and a half. It feels like she's been doing this her whole life. She's completely magical. She listens to all her vocal cues going left or right and she's super fast. The sprint races range from roughly 5 kilometres in length up to 34 and drivers can enter into

heats where the sled is being pulled by two dogs up to the unlimited class that allows for 14 dogs. There's also Nordic style where the drivers are on skis. Within sled dog racing there are also long distance competitions going on for days, like the annual 1600km Idita Road Challenge in Alaska, taking the dogs and their drivers on a trail through forests, mountains and even across sea ice, sometimes through snow blizzards. Inspired by books like Call of the Wild, Matt Hodgson has loved arctic dogs since childhood and he became the UK's first ever on-snow world champion in 2023, winning again in the year after. So what's the secret to becoming really good at dogsledding?

Time and dedication and treating the dogs right and making it really good fun for them. I'm not the athlete, they are. It's really about looking after them and giving them exactly what they want and making it the best thing in the world, running and pulling. And for any skiers worried that 1,000 dogs would leave a bit of a mess behind on the snow, the competition managers in Östersund have been cleaning up and gathering any dog waste and it's been turned into biogas, a renewable energy source used to heat up homes and buildings. Stephanie Zakrassen. used to heat up homes and buildings. Stephanie Zakrassen.

And that's all from us for now. But there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk You can also find us on x.bbc World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was produced by Alice Adderley and was mixed by Annie Smith. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritz and until next time, goodbye.