Global News Podcast - Trump pauses tariffs on Canada and Mexico

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

The US President Donald Trump agrees to postpone the imposition of 25% import tariffs on Canada and Mexico for thirty days, after they agree to strengthen borders. Also: the asteroid that could collide with the Earth.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Available now on the documentary from the BBC World Service. Spain's the world's largest producer of olive oil, but successive brutal droughts have meant plummeting production whilst prices of this liquid gold have rocketed. I'm Linda Presley. Join me in Esperanza Escribano in the Olive Groves of Spain. Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard and in the early hours of Tuesday, the 4th of February, these are our main stories. President Trump has agreed to pause the imposition of tariffs on Mexico and Canada by a month. The US Secretary of State is taking over the running of the main foreign aid agency, USAID, saying he's determined to end its refusal to follow Mr. Trump's agenda. And Rwandan-backed rebels in eastern Congo say they're declaring a ceasefire from Tuesday. Also in this podcast... Imagine the level of commitment to the art form that he must have had.

The earliest known full-length opera by a black American composer comes to the stage after 138 years. At the weekend, President Trump announced sweeping US tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. Just before we recorded this podcast, President Trump agreed to delay the imposition of tariffs on Canada for a month in exchange for it taking action to combat illegal migration and the trafficking of fentanyl. Hours earlier, the US President had confirmed there'd also be a one-month pause on their imposition on Mexico after President Claudia Schoenbaum announced an additional 10,000

troops to police its northern borders against drug smugglers. President Trump asked me how long I wanted to pause tariffs. I said forever. He asked me how much time. I told him a month. I'm sure that during this month we'll be able to deliver good results for his people and the people of Mexico. We also discussed our common interest in reducing fentanyl trafficking from Mexico to the United States and other drugs as well, not just fentanyl. Our Mexico correspondent, Will Grant, told us what President Shane Baum had to say about her conversation with Donald Trump. As we heard a bit in that snippet there, she pointed out that they discussed the areas

of mutual interest that we know President Trump is focused on, namely undocumented immigration into the United States that passes through Mexico or indeed is including Mexicans heading into the United States without the right papers and of course fentanyl, the synthetic opioid which has caused so many thousands of overdose deaths a year. What she laid out was that she had agreed to send 10,000 troops from the National Guard to the border with the United States to focus on fentanyl trafficking. She agreed or got an agreement from Donald Trump that the US would do more to clamp down on the flow of guns south into Mexico which arm the cartels. A very important point I think for her and all of that led essentially

to the conclusion that these tariffs as we've been saying have been suspended for another month. And during that month what will be going on? Well as you can imagine there'll be meetings at a pretty high level. That will include the Secretary of State Marco Rubio coming to Mexico, we suspect. Certainly another element that was mentioned would be working, a sort of working group between the two nations on the issue of fentanyl involving public health and security officials. So that gives them chance to basically show the Trump administration, look we are trying to move in the same direction as you, not a different direction. And then essentially, you know, from the Claudia

Schoenbaum point of view, say well we've done our part, let's extend this stay as it were, this pause on tariffs for many more months. And what does all of this mean for the Mexican economy? Well I think given that there's potential for this situation to become very, very sticky on a kind of global scale, that this could become essentially a global trade war with China, Canada, the European Union, the United States, all at loggerheads over it. The fact that Mexico has been able to step out of that situation, at least for the next few weeks, is very beneficial. We saw the peso rise on the announcement. There is a lot of cross-border trade involved.

Mexico is the United States' biggest trading partner. It's worth about $500 billion worth of goods a year to Mexico, about $300 billion in the other direction. So to sort of stave off that looming trade war is of obviously real importance to the Mexican economy and to Claudia Sheinbaum personally. That was Will Grant and staying on the theme President Trump also had this message for the countries of Europe. You know we have over a 300 billion dollar deficit. They don't take our cars, they don't take our farm products, they take almost nothing and we take everything from them. Millions of cars, tremendous amounts of food and farm products. So the UK is way out of line and we'll say the UK but European Union

is really out of line. UK is out of line but I'm sure that one, I think that one can be worked out. But the European Union is an atrocity. So how do tariffs work? A question for our chief economics correspondent, Darshini David. Really good question. A tariff is basically a tax on goods that you import. And the way it works is that whoever is doing the importing actually faces that tax.

So it can be a wholesaler, a business, it can be a person, a consumer. Ultimately, how those tariffs actually show up does vary because sometimes they are absorbed along the supply chain and sometimes it is the final consumer who sees it. So when we're talking about the impact on prices, for example, it can really vary depending on the type of good it is the final consumer who sees it. So when we're talking about the impact on prices, for example, it can really vary depending on the type of good it is and how much demand there is for it and how much competition there is from other types of goods. So there's not one hard and fast rule, but ultimately there are two aims behind tariffs, particularly the type that President Trump has introduced.

Firstly to try and protect your domestic business from competition from abroad, but also President Trump thinks that this would be a good way of raising tax money from another source by putting these taxes on imports. So if it's protecting your local industry, it still means that customers, consumers, are going to end up paying more, doesn't it? Ultimately, quite possibly. It's not always the case. What we've sometimes seen in the past is these things do get absorbed in the supply chain, particularly at times when consumers are feeling a little bit uncertain and businesses are a little bit concerned about the impact

that could have. However, having said all that, if you look at the scale of the tariffs that President Trump is talking about this time, 25%, for example, is quite a lot to absorb and you would expect that to be passed on. Having said that, when you look at the makeup of what American consumers buy and if you look at what is being proposed for Mexico, for Canada, and for China as well, that adds up to, on average, an increase in the price level for American consumers of say 1 to 1.5%. So it's not disastrous, but it's certainly unwelcome. So in this case, does it look like tariffs are being used more as a negotiating tool

than an actual way of raising revenue? It certainly looks, as we look at the movements that we've seen over the past 24 hours, I think frankly commentators and observers are in danger of getting whiplash here because we've seen this sort of to-ing and fro-ing haven't we for President Trump and one minute he's unleashing what actually many people in the markets didn't think he would was that announcement about 25% on Canada, on Mexico and an additional 10% on China. And now we've heard news of a pause in Mexico and who knows what might follow. So yes, there is a sense that perhaps this is a bargaining chip and he's trying to see

how far he can go. But as anybody who knows that sort of story, that fairy tale, the boy who cried wolf knows, there's only so many times you can actually do that before people think you're not being serious. That was Darshini David. The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's taken over as acting administrator of USAID. He said he was determined to end what he called its refusal to follow President Trump's agenda. USAID is one of the biggest aid agencies in the world, projecting US influence with a budget of

tens of billions of dollars. Democrats and other critics argue that the administration lacks the constitutional authority to close USAID without congressional approval. The agency employs more than 10,000 people globally and is based in more than 60 countries. Speaking during a visit to a factory in El Salvador, Mr Rubio told reporters that the agency was failing to act in the country's interests. I'm the acting director of USAID. I've delegated that authority to someone but I stay in touch with him. And again, our goal was to go in and align our foreign aid to the national interest.

But if you go to mission after mission and embassy after embassy around the world, you will often find that in many cases USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we're trying to do in our national strategy with that country or with that region. That cannot continue. Our correspondent in Washington, Merlin Thomas, was listening to what Mr. Rubio had to say. He's now essentially in charge of the agency,

and he also said that it's reported that the Trump administration intends to merge the agency with the State Department. Now this will involve a significant reduction in USAID funding as well as an impact on its workforce. And just to give you a brief overview, you know, Elon Musk, the unelected advisor by Mr. Trump to improve government efficiency, called USAID a bowl of worms, not just an apple with a worm in it, but a ball of worms. You've got to get rid of the whole thing and it's beyond repair. So it's part of his wider ideological plan to reform the federal agencies. So what sort of reaction has there been to this news?

Well, right now there are hundreds of protesters and USAID employees who are outside the headquarters in Washington, D.C. And they're out in an emotional show of force. They are holding signs saying democracy died in complacency. Today USAID. What's next? This is one of the first kind of sparks of resistance that we're seeing in this city to the huge reforms that President Donald Trump has planned. And besides that, we've also heard from lawmakers, we've heard from Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who said that this effort by Elon Musk and Doge,

as Department of Government Efficiency is known, he said it's an absolute gift for our adversaries. And he said it was nothing to do with making the government more efficient, but said it would make our adversaries stronger, saying that Russian leaders would call it a smart move to shut it down. Just very briefly Merlin, we know that funding was frozen. What sort of impact has that already had? It's felt almost immediately in countries like Afghanistan where humanitarian aid underpins

most of the services there and it also affects HIV and AIDS testing for almost 80 million people. This will affect countless refugees and other displaced people too. And you know, this is a global agency, it's the biggest agency in the world, so it will have huge impact. That was Merlin Thomas. China's envoy to the United Nations, Fu Chong, has said that his country regrets Panama's decision to leave its Belt and Road Initiative, a multi-billion dollar global infrastructure project. Mr Fu attributed the decision to a smear campaign launched by the United States. He said China had never interfered in Panamanian affairs, including in matters relating to the canal.

President José Raúl Molino's announcement followed talks with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday. The Trump administration has accused the Chinese government of effectively managing the canal. Tom Bateman reports from Panama City on the sentiments regarding the recent visit by Mr. Rubio. Marco Rubio, out of Panama, out! One territory, one flag. With a chance in Panama, one territory, one flag. Earlier, protesters in Panama City burned effigies of Donald Trump and Marco Rubio.

Riot police moved in on a crowd firing tear gas and pulling demonstrators away. The clashes ahead of Mr. Rubio's visit were small in scale, but the anger triggered by Donald Trump's vow to retake the canal here is broad. Before travelling, the Secretary of State explained why the waterway is in the administration's sights. He was speaking to the Megyn Kelly Show. If China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal,

they could, that's a fact. And it's my view that's a violation of the treaty agreement. And that's what President Trump is raising. And we're going to address that topic. That can't happen. There we go. He's saying hello to us. That's brilliant.

Donald Trump's sudden policy pronouncement has hit Panama like the bulk carriers that blast their way up the canal. So they're coming just to watch the boats coming to and fro? Oh yes, yes. This is number one attraction in Panama. We're on the locks of the Pacific side entrance, hearing from workers, where Mr. Trump has claimed the canal is being run by China. The waterway is in fact owned and run by the Panamanian government under a neutrality treaty signed with the US decades ago

But Chinese companies have invested heavily in two of the five ports nearby Next to the canal I meet Edwin Cabrera a former Panama congressman He's worried have you ever seen any Chinese soldiers He's worried. Have you ever seen any Chinese soldiers? Never, never. The problem is Trump confuses the operation of the canal with the operation of the ports, says Mr Cabrera. There are no Chinese soldiers here, he says.

The two-hour meeting with President Molino didn't call attention. Afterwards, the Secretary of State issued an ultimatum, saying if Panama didn't take immediate action to end Chinese control of the canal, the US would take measures to protect its rights. That was Tom Bateman in Panama. The rebel group, which has been capturing swathes of territory in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has declared a ceasefire starting on Tuesday. The M23 rebels said it was for humanitarian reasons. The G7 group of countries and the European Union have strongly

condemned the Rwandan-backed offensive, describing it as a flagrant disregard for Congo's sovereignty. Our Africa regional editor, Will Ross, told us more. This is the Alliance Fleur-of-Congo, which includes the M23 rebel group, declaring a ceasefire to begin on Tuesday. But we've heard nothing from the Congolese military yet. But they're saying that this ceasefire is for humanitarian reasons. And they put out a statement blaming the Kinshasa government for the humanitarian crisis, which some people will say is a little odd, given that it's a rebel offensive that's gone on for three years or so, that caused so many hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. But in this statement, they interestingly say we have

no intention of capturing Bukavu or other areas. But then they go on to say we reiterate our commitment to protecting and defending the civilian population and our positions. And that to me sounds like we'll fight to keep the territory that we've just captured, which may not go down well with the Kinshasa government. There's also a call for southern African troops to leave

the country. At least six African countries, as I understand it, actually have troops in the east of Congo, don't they? Why is this region so important? Well, some people will point to the vast mineral wealth and say that's why so many countries are interested in the east of Congo. Kinshasa's long accused Rwanda of trying to carve out territory and steal the mineral wealth. Kigali's denied that and has talked about the need

to protect its country from rebels in Eastern Congo. But I mean, the humanitarian disaster that's come about because of all the fighting that's gone on. I mean, the UN has just said that 900 bodies have been collected from the streets of Goma in recent days. And now we're supposed to be having talks taking place on Friday and Saturday in Tanzania. So we wait to see if they'll take off at all. But it's possible that there is some pressure now mounting on

Rwanda and the M23 because the international criticism is getting louder and kind of more joined up. That was Will Ross. Still to come, the asteroid was only discovered at the end of December and scientists have been attempting to accurately map its orbit. The asteroid dubbed 2024YR that's hurtling towards Earth. A two-year-old girl from Gaza who suffers from what doctors say is a life-threatening illness has been brought out so she can get medical treatment. Habiba Alaskari has a rare disease that's cut off the blood supply to her limbs. Negotiations with Israel to allow her, accompanied by her mother, to be evacuated to Jordan were finalised on Sunday night.

Our special correspondent Fergal Keen has travelled with Habiba on the last stage of her journey to a hospital in Jordan. And I should warn you, you might find parts of his report distressing. It had taken difficult negotiations with Israel to reach this point. A seriously ill two-and-a-half-year-old girl and her mother being taken by Jordanian military helicopter for urgent medical treatment here in Amman. Habiba Alaskari is suffering from

a rare blood condition which has caused her to lose movement in three of her limbs. Two legs and an arm have gone black with a type of gangrene. Doctors treating her in Gaza's Nasser Hospital said she would die if she wasn't evacuated. Her mother Rana described Habiba's suffering. If she asked me for a biscuit, I cannot give it to her. If I hand it over to her, she gives me a look. I can't describe to you the look that she gives me. I can only pray to God to heal Habiba

and make me a miracle on earth in healing her. Habiba is now in the King Hussein Medical Center where doctors are working to establish an exact diagnosis. Her evacuation was postponed on several occasions. At one point Israel approved Habiba's transfer but refused to allow her mother travel with her. Fergal Kean in Jordan to Paris now. Cheering there as former actress Adele Anel left a court after the film director she had accused of assaulting her was found guilty. Judith Godrèche, an actress and leading supporter of the MeToo movement in France, was in court for the verdict and gave her reaction to reporters. and gave her reaction to reporters. It was a very moving and important moment that reminded me of things that for my part may go unpunished. Christophe Rougard was convicted of the assaults which happened in the early 2000s,

when Adèle Annelle was between 12 and 14 years old. Our Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield has been following the case. She was just 12 at the time of the making of this film, Lady Abed in 2001. The abuse there wasn't at the time of the making of the film, it was after the making of the film. And what she says happened was that there was a terribly dysfunctional and unhealthy relationship was developed between her and the director, Christopoph Ruggia, who was obsessed with her and who would invite her to his home after the making of the film

during the period in which she was being promoted and so on. And in these meetings at his flat would touch her in various sexual ways. And she didn't come public with this for many, many years, but evidently she felt in later life that this had been a traumatic experience that needed to come out and when she came out with the accusation about what has happened in 2019 it was at the time when you know the world was focused very much on allegations of

abuse in cinema in general and this is France's sort of moment and she really could have kick-started the MeToo movement in France when she came public with the allegation of what Roger had done. And Roger has been sentenced to four years, two suspended. He's not going to spend actually any time in prison, is he? What sort of reaction has there been in France? He's going to be, what's that, under home confinement with this electric bracelet and so on. You know, I think a lot of people are looking on and saying well well done Adèle Anel

having the courage to say what you did and go public and we had Judith Godrej you know another of the activists on this score and saying that it was Anel's courage that precipitated others to make similar declarations about the way they felt they'd been amused in the cinema. I think more generally there are questions though maybe more globally about some aspects of French cinema. I mean I think you've got to also look at the fact that there are questions about why a 12 year old girl was allowed to be in a film like Les Diables back then. That was Hugh Schofield in Paris.

Scientists are meeting to discuss one of the most dangerous asteroids ever detected which could collide with Earth in seven years time. Dubbed 2024YR, the huge space rock could cause an explosion big enough to level cities and trigger tsunamis. But as our science editor Rebecca Morell reports, experts aren't too worried even though the asteroid is believed to be between 39 and 91 metres wide. If something of that size were to strike a city, it would cause catastrophic damage. But that if is a big if. The asteroid was only discovered at the end of December and scientists have been attempting

to accurately map its orbit. At the moment, its chance of colliding with the Earth is just over 1% and the date that could happen is the 22nd of December 2032 but that probability is likely to change. Telescopes on Earth and in space are being trained on the asteroid to gather as much data as possible while it's visible over the next few weeks. Professor Colin Snodgrass is from the University of Edinburgh. So it has maybe a 1% chance of hitting us, but the way to think of this is a 99% chance

that it is not going to hit us. As with all things in science, it's all about how precisely you can measure something. And so we can measure where an asteroid's going by measuring where it is now and then extrapolating forward. The hope is the risk will be downgraded to a near miss. That's happened before with other asteroids. But if that's not the case, one option would be to send a spacecraft to knock the asteroid

off course. While that sounds more like the plot of a Hollywood film, a NASA test mission in 2022 successfully changed the orbit of a similar-sized space rock, showing that this approach could work if we ever need it. If. That was Rebecca Morrell. Now, when it comes to opera, the time between composition and a work's premiere can vary, but few take more than a century before they're seen on stage.

Morgéan is the earliest known full-length opera by a Black American composer. It was believed to be lost before a chance discovery in Harvard University's archive. On Monday an all-black cast brought it to life for its world premiere in Washington DC. Ella Bicknell reports. After 139 years, Edmond Dede's four-part masterpiece will finally be heard by American audiences. Born in New Orleans in 1827, Dede was a fourth-generation free person of colour of a French-speaking Creole family. The Jim Crow era and the looming civil war forced Dede, like many black artists, to flee for Europe, settling in Bordeaux, France.

There he had a successful career, writing nearly 100 works for the French stage, and as a member of the Institut d'Afrique, he spoke out against slavery. Morgiane carries a similar message, telling the story of a young woman kidnapped and forced to marry a Sultan and her mother's efforts to rescue her. But the sole surviving manuscript was believed to be lost until it emerged from an antique music shop in Paris in 1999, winding up in the vast archives of Harvard University eight years later. Long before New Orleans became the birthplace of jazz, the city was considered America's beating heart of opera. Hints of its brass band future can be heard in Morgienne's score,

mixed with the lush and romantic sounds of French and Italian traditions. Patrick Dupe Quigley is the premier's conductor. He says it's the most important opera the world has never heard. Certainly, it happens with composers of color that the first question when you tell people is, is it good music? What you don't understand is that De De, he was the only black music director in Bordeaux when he was appointed. And if there's anything about French music at the time, that it was a strict meritocracy. Imagine the level of commitment to the art form that he must have had. How extraordinary must he have been,

not just as a musician, but also as an advocate for his own music that he was able to do so. And so people should be asking the other question, which is how is it possible that this has been obscured for so long? The project is a collaboration with Opera Creole and Opera Lafayette, two companies specialized in producing historical black and French opera. The

first few performances in Washington DC, New York and New Orleans will feature an all-black cast, something Dede could have only imagined in 1887. That report by Ella Bicknell. And that's it from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you'd like to comment on this one or the topics covered in it, do please send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producer was Liam McSheffrey. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard. And until the next time, goodbye. droughts have meant plummeting production whilst prices of this liquid gold have rocketed. I'm Linda Presley, join me in Esperanza Escribano in the olive groves

of Spain. Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.