Global News Podcast - Trump threatens to escalate trade war with China

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

US to impose additional 50% tariffs on Chinese goods. Also: Trump says high-level meeting with Iran will take place on Saturday. And researchers say migration leads to unhealthy diet changes.

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, You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. This edition is published in the early hours of Tuesday, the 8th of April. President Trump has ruled out any pause in his new trade policy, despite another day of turmoil on the markets. At the same time, he threatened to escalate the

trade war with China. And at a news conference with the Israeli prime minister, he said the US is holding direct talks with Iran. Also in this podcast, we found with the loss of these specific microbes, that there was also an increase in cardiovascular disease and diabetes and obesity. So there seems to be a link between the two. So a loss of these microbes and an increase in cardiovascular risk. Researchers say moving to a new country can lead to unhealthy changes in diet. Are the US tariffs permanent or could countries negotiate to get them lifted? President Trump said both outcomes could be equally true without specifying how.

He was speaking at the White House alongside the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first world leader to visit since the tariffs were announced. Stock markets around the world have continued to struggle with big falls in Asia and Europe. In the US itself, the S&P 500 dropped sharply on opening before briefly rising a massive 8% on reports that tariffs might be paused. President Trump later dismissed those rumors. We're not looking at that. We have many many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us and they're gonna be fair deals and in certain cases they're gonna be paying substantial tariffs. There'll be fair deals.

He also spoke about his threat to impose an additional tariff on China, taking the total to more than 100% after Beijing announced a reciprocal levy of its own on Friday. With China, as you know, against my statement they put a 34% tariff on above what their ridiculous tariffs were already and I said if that tariff isn't removed by tomorrow at 12 o'clock, we're putting a 50% tariff on above the tariffs that we put on. So they've gone for years, they've become a rich country because of people again that were in the White House that allowed this to happen. So are the tariffs here to stay or will there be negotiations? A question for our New York business correspondent Erin Delmore. It seems from the bilat that he just held

with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel that he's occupying both lanes at the same time, that he is open to negotiations but that he also intends on holding firm and that this is not about negotiating. And so for me, as a journalist now, I look to see what the president does beyond what he says. And what he has done in his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently come to a deal. Netanyahu said that Israel will be eliminating the trade deficit with the United States, and he vowed to remove all trade barriers. So now we are looking to see how that holds up once that's been fully negotiated and if

we begin to see other agreements come forward or if the president and his advisors say that they are standing firm. At the same time, the president announced his threat to impose additional tariffs on China. What is likely to be the impact of that? It depends on how it moves forward. So certainly, and I'll run you through the back and forth that we've seen. You know, earlier this year, President Trump implemented 20% across-the-board tariffs on all Chinese goods coming into the United States. And again, we say as shorthand

tariffs on China, but what we mean is that it is an import tax on goods that come into the United States from China that's paid by the American importers and extremely likely, in fact, economists say there's virtually no way around it, to be paid by U.S. consumers. And so we saw that number at 20 percent. Then last week on quote unquote liberation day went up by 34 percent and they stack. So that's 54 percent. And then President Trump today threatens an additional 50 percent, bringing what would

be the total number on China to 104 percent. Obviously, that is a huge number and that makes a lot of goods that Americans are accustomed to getting very cheaply more expensive. I mean, it's been a very busy day trying to keep track of rumours and announcements and news conferences. How are traders and business people in the States feeling now? Anxious and eager is how I would probably characterise that. Obviously, we're hearing some extremely deep concern here on the consumer level. We're seeing that also reverberating at the investor level. But investors look to be a bit stuck, looking to follow the lead of whatever tiny bits of information managed to drip their way out of the White House or

out of the Trump administration. And what that leads to is an incredibly volatile day. We saw wild swings on Wall Street and trading closes at 4 o'clock p.m. Eastern time, but really throughout the day from the opening bell at 930 a.m. Eastern until 430, we saw the Dow swing more than 2,500 points. We saw the NASDAQ trading in a range that looked to be about 10 percent from top to bottom. We are not accustomed to seeing those kinds of numbers. And as you mentioned or alluded to, there was a bit of a blip earlier when a Trump administration adviser was thought to have said that there could be a reprieve on the majority of countries tariffs, but the White House came and said that that information was improperly characterized and that isn't what he said. And then we saw markets continue

to sink and then also float their way around various levels all day. So really incredibly unusual day, a perplexing day, a difficult day as investors as well as consumers and business leaders and economists and a lot of folks try to wrap their head around the new policy. Eric Delmore in New York. Shortly after President Trump finished speaking at the White House, China said it would not bow to his latest threat. Meanwhile, European trade ministers have been discussing their response to the new US tariff regime. They're drawing up a list of countermeasures to be agreed next week, with more to follow. But the EU Trade Commissioner Marosz Shefcewicz made clear his preference was for negotiations.

Engaging the US will take both time and effort. Right now we are in the early stages of discussions because the US views tariffs not as a tactical step but as a corrective measure. We are fully prepared to sit at negotiation table whenever our American partners are ready. So what should we make of this? I asked our Europe correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes. It feels to me like there is a high degree of frustration amongst EU leaders on what's going on.

First of all, the imposition of these very high tariffs, which they feel are completely unjustified and unfair. Certainly, if you listen to the German economy minister, he called them completely illogical, nonsense he described them as. Also, there seems to be a growing degree of frustration about the unwillingness of the US government to engage with the EU. We heard from Ursula von der Leyen today, the EU Commission

president, who said that they had offered what she called zero for zero tariffs on all industrial products and motor vehicles before the announcement last week, but clearly had had no response from Washington on that. The tariffs had gone ahead. And then again, with this meeting in Luxembourg today coming out of it, the trade commissioner saying that they have decided on a list of products that they are going to vote on on Wednesday, possibly to implement tariffs on. But that is not their first choice. And it's very clear everybody is saying this is not the first choice.

We want to sit down and negotiate. We want to find a way through this. But it appears they are not getting any response from Washington. OK. And if they don't get any response in the next couple of days, they will look to these countermeasures. I mean, how difficult was it to come up with a list given the differing priorities of all the EU member states? Well, I think we'll have to wait and see

what the list is. I mean, it's always a protracted negotiation when you have so many different countries with different priorities. And there was a warning, you know, today also implicit from Ursula von der Leyen and from other EU ministers, particularly from the German economy minister saying it's important for us to remain united. Do not step out of line. Do not try and do a separate deal by yourself with Washington. The EU is strong. We are in a strong position as long as we remain united and that gives you another indication that perhaps there are some countries in the EU that are not as willing to go along. People have pointed

to Italy for example as maybe not wanting to go along with tougher measures against the United States. So yes building a coalition in the EU is always a complex matter but apparently they have come up with a list they are going to distribute it to member governments later today and that that will then go back and be voted on on Wednesday and if negotiations are not forthcoming they will start to go into effect on the 15th of April and go into full effect we understand 30 days later. Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Berlin. The Oval Office news conference which went on for the best part of an hour also covered

topics other than tariffs including Gaza and the Israeli hostages. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about President Trump's plan to evacuate Palestinians while the strips being reconstructed. What is wrong with giving people a choice? Now we've been talking, including over lunch, about some countries, I won't go into them right now, that are saying, you know, if Gazans want to leave, we want to take them in. And I think this is the right thing to do. If you give, you know, it's going to take years to rebuild Gaza. In the meantime,

people can have an option. The president has a vision. Well, for his part, President Trump revealed that the US has been holding direct talks with Iran and that a high-level meeting was due to be held on Saturday. He said if the talks on the Iranian nuclear programme failed, Iran would be in great danger. Siavash Adlan of the BBC Persian Service has this assessment. This was an absolute bombshell news that could have easily been missed by anyone who was watching this lengthy press conference by Donald Trump when he made reference to his policy on Iran when asked by a reporter where the U.S. stands at present.

What we had heard from the Iranian authorities up until this very moment was that they had requested indirect talks with the U. the US and just today the Iranian foreign minister had said that the ball is in US's court in terms of responding to this proposal by Iran. But now this is the American president coming out and saying that not only does the US agree with these kinds of talks with Iran, but the talks are direct and at a very high level. We don't know who is involved in these talks but he said these talks had been going on and there's another one scheduled to take place on Saturday. For

Iranians I just cannot overstate how important of a news this can be. And this came out during a news conference, a Q&A, as part of the visit by Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington. What does Israel want to see? For the brief moment that Prime Minister Netanyahu did get to speak on Iran, he said that what he had proposed to the American president and what he is bringing to the table is a, in his words, a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear program along the lines of Libya, which as we remember involved a complete dismantling of the Libyan nuclear program. There was speculation before this that this is what the Israelis would be asking for

in their talks with the US, but Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed that. And Mr Trump, during that Q&A, he said that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. He said, if the talks with Iran aren't successful, I think Iran will be in great danger. As you say, this has come as quite a surprise to most people who weren't anticipating direct talks at all. How might Iran react? Option one, they can deny this. They can say that President Trump is not telling the truth.

Option number two, they can say, okay, there may be talks, but the foreign ministry does not know anything about this, which means that maybe representatives of the supreme leader, people higher in the echelons of power other than the foreign ministry, are involved in these talks similar to a few years ago when Iran and the US had secret talks in Oman, which led to the nuclear deal of 2015. And the third option is that they could say, yes, well, we wanted everything to be carried out in secret so we could find out whether we can reach an agreement or not.

And what President Trump has done was not something that we had agreed on. Sia Bashar Lan talking to Jackie Leonard. The younger brother of the King of the Belgians has lost a legal battle to claim social security benefits on top of his royal allowance. A court ruled the claim was unfounded. Our Europe regional editor, Sacha Schlichter, has more details. 61 year old Prince Laurent had insisted his work entitled him to the coverage granted to independent entrepreneurs and that he was acting out of principle rather than for money. But a court in Brussels found that his duties were more akin to those

in the civil service where there is no overarching social security system. Leran's was the first such claim in Belgium's two hundred year history. He received nearly half a million dollars from state funds last year. Leran has a long list of antics that have embarrassed Belgium's royals, including likening his relatives to East Germany's Stasi secret police. In his claim, Leran pointed to medical costs and his concerns over his family's financial well-being since the royal allowance will be cut when he dies. For the past decade, the prince has had an animal welfare foundation offering free veterinary care. And still to come on the Global News podcast.

You guys call them pirates, but a lot of people from our community don't view them as pirates. They're defending their land, their seas, their territory, their waters, what belongs to them. And they have a right to do so. Why piracy is on the increase off the coast of Somalia. 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. of the world's richest individuals. Good, bad billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. There is astonishment in Serbia after a political novice was named as Prime Minister. Juro Matsut is a renowned doctor with no parliamentary experience, though he has previously voiced support for President Aleksandar Vucic. The last Serbian Prime Minister resigned over anti-government

protests triggered by a railway station disaster that killed 16 people. Opposition parties have criticised the President's decision to nominate Mr Matsut, but our Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey told me he was likely to get the backing of MPs. I think we can pretty much guarantee that he'll be approved by Parliament because the governing progressive party is extremely dominant in the National Assembly. That's the party of President Aleksandar Vucic. But we've already heard from opposition parties that they're not happy about this nomination of Dr. Juro Matsut.

Let's face it, even those of us who follow affairs in Serbia for a living, we're having to look up exactly who Dr. Matsut is, and the opposition parties say, well, look, this person may be an expert in endocrinology, he may have all sorts of memberships of international organisations in that field, but that doesn't mean that he's fit to run the government of Serbia. And the opposition say they figure that he's just going to be a puppet for President Vucic. Yeah, I mean will he be able to put together a government? Does he even know all the politicians? That's a good question. He hadn't been a member of the Progressive Party until now. It's not clear whether he's going to join the

Progressive Party at this point or indeed whether the government that he's going to put together is going to be drawn from political figures, or whether there's going to be an effort to try and pull together a non-political government, a government of experts in other words, because he is one himself. But that's all got to be decided by the 18th of April, which is the deadline for Mr Matsut, I should say Dr Matsut, to form the government. Otherwise elections will automatically be called.

What do you make of the strategy by President Vucicci? I mean, he's been in power a long time. Is this just a tactic of his? It's absolutely a tactic of his and he's a very good tactician. He's shown time and again that he knows exactly how to neuter opposition discontent and how when to go to the country at the right time for his progressive party to receive another mandate to return to power. It was felt that there might be a non-political figure who would be nominated by Mr. Vucic to become the next Prime Minister. A sort of mollifying move if you like, somebody who was

outside the political fray. But Mr. Vucic's choice has frankly it surprised everyone. Guy De Launay. Back in 2011 piracy off the coast of Somalia was at its peak with more than 200 attacks on international vessels every year. Crews were held at gunpoint and many kept as hostages for months. It led to a coordinated crackdown by international navies and incidents plummeted to almost zero. But since last year there's been an uptick in attacks and the root causes of Somali piracy, poverty among the local fishing communities and illegal fishing by foreign trawlers were never really addressed. For the Africa Daily podcast Ksouja spoke to a fisherman from the Somali town of Aile.

My father and grandfather always told me the sea is our livelihood. It's the best blessing we've had as a community to have access to the sea. So to always take advantage of the resources that we have out at sea instead of asking for a handout. So tell me a little bit about how things have changed since you started fishing in 2005. The people here, the fishing community has changed so has the community and country overall. Even myself there was a time where I stopped fishing to try to

get involved in business and open up a store and things of that nature but it didn't work out so I returned to fishing. A lot of people have stopped fishing and the reason for that is the difficulties out at sea. We don't know where these foreign fishing trawlers are coming from and why they're here but they're making life more difficult for us and sooner or later if this continues you're not going to see any fishermen left. Have you done anything to try to stop them from fishing in your waters? Yes, we've taken up our issues in different manners. We've spoken to the media about it.

We've even spoken to the government about these foreign trawlers and the difficulties and the challenges they cause our fishing community. But to hear other people saying, oh, they're licensed to be here and things of that nature, but that still doesn't give them a right to make our lives difficult. Another thing is our region is currently engaged in a war, so they probably have other issues more bigger. That's probably why they're not getting back to us. But I do hope one day that they take our concerns serious and change does happen.

I wonder, you know, 15 years ago, the issue of piracy was really a big story around the world. You must have been in your 20s back then. Did you know anybody who decided to become a pirate? 20s back then. Did you know anybody who decided to become a pirate? Watch it out hard. Watch it out. Yes, I'm aware of fishermen that became pirates. These people had difficulties which pushed them to the brink and ultimately went down that path in life. But it's because of the illegal fishing. I mean, you guys call them pirates, but a lot of people from our community don't view them as pirates. They're defending their land, their seas, their territory, their waters, what belongs to them, and they have a right to do so.

This is our waters, we are fishing here, and these guys come here and take our resources. And if it continues like this, I do believe piracy will return to this area. Wow. So what about your children? What is your hope for them? Only God knows what the future holds, but I hope my children get a good opportunity at education. I hope they become successful and educated. No one knows how these waters are going to become in the future. No one knows how these waters are going to become in the future. A fisherman from Aisle who asked to remain anonymous speaking to Alan Katsouja on the Africa Daily podcast. Scientists say alarming levels of microplastics have been found in rivers across Europe.

The majority come from everyday products, but a study has found that many of these particles are emitted during the plastic manufacturing process. The researchers are now calling for action to reduce river pollution, as Jacob Perkins explains. Every second, thousands of invisible pieces of plastic flow through the river Rhône in Valence, France. And in the Seine in Paris, which swimmers braved for the 2024 Olympics, there's 900 microplastics flowing per second. That's according to new research looking at nine of Europe's major rivers, from the Thames in England to the Tiber in Italy. Alexandra Taal from the French National Centre for Scientific Research said they were

surprised at the amount of pollution they found. Each time, regardless of which river in Europe we sampled, we found plastic. So in all of our samples, plastic is present. The studies, published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research, found an average of three microplastics per cubic metre of water in the European rivers. But it's still much worse in the world's ten most polluted rivers, which are all in Africa and Asia, where there's 40 per cubic metre. The particles include residue from car tyres, bottle there's 40 per cubic metre. The particles include residue

from car tyres, bottle caps and synthetic textile fibres. And a quarter comes from plastic that hasn't even reached production, in the form of tiny pellets the size of a lentil. Researchers say all parts of the food chain are disrupted by these particles, as they're ingested by animals and organisms. Here's scientific director Jean-François Gaglioni. The problem cannot be solved through plastic collection, better recycling or even incredible scientific inventions that would make all plastics biodegradable. Today, the International Scientific Coalition, which we are part of, is calling for a significant reduction in the production of primary plastic, because we know that plastic production is directly linked to pollution.

Climate campaigners have urged governments to take action, but attempts to agree on an international treaty have stalled. Scientists say that levels of plastic pollution will continue to rise if nothing is done. Jacob Perkins According to new research, moving to a new country has a huge effect on our gut and can lead to an increased risk of illnesses such as heart disease. Scientists from the Amsterdam University Medical Centre compared people who'd come to Europe from the West African nation of Ghana with those who'd stayed at home. They found that the migrants' diets changed and so did the bacteria in their digestive systems.

Evan Davis spoke to Dr Barbara Verha, the study's lead author. I focused on the gut microbiomes of these fruits. So all participants handed in stool samples and we sequenced those samples and looked at the bacterial profiles and this is a reflection of their gut microbiomes. Right, and you found significant differences in the people who had moved from Ghana to Amsterdam. Exactly. So we're interested to see how environmental factors impact the microbiomes of these different groups that face all kinds of challenges with their migration. First we found that there was a very strong link

between dietary intake and the microbiome. So we observed that rural Canadians ate a lot less fat and protein and salt, and this showed a very strong link with their microbiome composition. And we saw that there was a decrease in the diversity of the gut microbiomes in the Amsterdam Canadians. And specifically, they were bacteria that we could just not trace back in this Amsterdam group. So there was a lot

less diversity and diversity is usually something that we see as something healthy, as a healthy characteristic of the microbiome. I mean, what's perhaps most interesting, I mean, very interesting, of course, is that the gut biome seems to have all sorts of other health effects like your disposition to diabetes or your cardio risk, your heart risk, I mean all sorts of things come out of that. Yes exactly and that was another important conclusion in this study that we found with the loss of these specific microbes that there was also an increase in cardiovascular disease and diabetes and obesity. So there seems to be a link between the two, so a loss of these microbes and an increase in cardiovascular risk, which is also very important because it means that

if we could change the dietary pattern back to a diet that has more diversity in fruits and in vegetables, that we can maybe shift the microbiome back to those of the rural Ghanaians and hopefully also lower the cardiovascular risk. If you were giving advice to people who were moving country and obviously Ghana to Amsterdam, that's quite a big move in terms of cultural and diet change. It would seem to indicate

if you can keep some of your old diet, you might make it a little bit easier on your gut biome, rather than just completely immersing yourself in the first food that's available in the country you're writing about. So that's absolutely right. I think if we can ensure that these people keep the same diversity in their fruit and vegetable intake specifically, then they will be much more likely to stay closer to their original microbiome. diversity in their fruit and vegetable intake specifically, then it would be much more likely to stay closer to their original microbiome.

Dr Barbara Verhaar talking to Evan Davis. China's top internet regulator is cracking down on showbiz gossip. The authorities are banning social media accounts accused of spreading celebrity rumours and scandal. Our China media analyst Kerry Allen has the details. It's pretty common in Western society to see celebrities hounded by paparazzi and there are plenty of tabloid magazines devoted to celebrity gossip. Reading them can be a bit of a guilty pleasure but this kind of culture is something that the Chinese government is increasingly keen

to crack down on, seemingly due to worries that it could spin out of control. Today China's top internet regulator released a statement saying that there's a need to stamp out what it calls fan club disorder in China's entertainment industry. According to the Cyberspace Administration of China, a number of social media accounts have been shut down today, as social media users have started to emerge who are calling themselves paparazzi. They're secretly photographing and following celebrities in order to get scoops. Some of these accounts have become very popular in recent months, with young Chinese regarding

names like Liu Daqui and Wang Dafa as showbiz insiders. It's unclear who runs these accounts as the owners disguise themselves, but they've definitely set Tong's wagging with many of their claims. China's regulator says these accounts have been spreading vulgar hype, gossip and scandal and basically polluting China's online media environment. This goes against the positive energy that President Xi Jinping has said he wants people to spread online, as though anything that's seen as negative is quite often censored on Chinese social media. China has one of the most tightly controlled media environments in the

world and administrators of social media platforms like Sina Weibo routinely remove posts that are seen to damage the online environment. That means bullying, trolling and harmful material is often taken down, but so is anything that's critical of the ruling Communist Party. Crackdowns on accounts associated with celebrities have been pretty common in recent months. In January, a number of online fan communities were disbanded associated with sporting stars. There are questions to be asked about why the Communist Party is taking such an interest. There's an argument to be made that they're simply responding to what they see as increasingly obsessive behaviour. But equally the Communist Party wants to

maintain an ideological and cultural grip on young Chinese. If they're increasingly wooed by celebrity culture, Communist Party messaging might not be reaching them in the same way. Kerry Allen there. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Louis Griffin and produced by Richard Hamilton. Our editor's Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. Scott Payne spent nearly two decades working undercover as a biker, a neo-Nazi, a drug dealer, and a killer. But his last big mission at the FBI was the wildest of all.

I have never had to burn bibles. I have never had to burn bibles. I have never had to burn an American flag. And I damn sure was never with a group of people that stole a goat, sacrificed it in a pagan ritual, and drank its blood. And I did all that in about three days with these guys. Listen to Agent Palehorse, the second season of White Hot Hate, available now.