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BBC World Service

Where the world and America meet. Every weekday, this is The Global Story.

The world is changing. Decisions made in the US and by the second Trump administration are accelerating that change. But they are also a symptom of it.

With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the BBC’s international newsroom, The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption.

The Global Story

The Trump administration faces a Supreme Court challenge on Wednesday over its use of tariffs, an economic policy that has upended global trade.

This case, which has been described by the President in epic terms, questions the legality of Trump’s signature economic policy - and poses one of the biggest existential threats to his second term so far. 

In today’s episode, we speak to small business owners across the US, and to BBC business reporter Natalie Sherman, who will be at the Supreme Court this week.

Producers: Hannah Moore and Valerio Esposito

Executive producer: James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Image: US President Trump unveils new tariffs on so-called Liberation Day. Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The Supreme Court battle over Trump’s tariffs

Discussion of nuclear weapons has returned both to our news cycle and to the cultural conversation. 

Last week, President Donald Trump said that the US would resume testing nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, several recent films and books imagine a near future scenario where a nuclear attack is threatened or carried out. 

Tristan talks to Carlo Masala, professor of international relations at the Bundeswehr University Munich and author of If Russia Wins. His book imagines a scenario where Russia attacks a Nato country to see whether the alliance will respond, risking a nuclear confrontation. Masala believes Russia is already engaged in ‘hybrid warfare’ with Europe, and he wrote his book as a warning to the west. 

Producers: Viv Jones, Aron Keller, Xandra Ellin and Valerio Esposito 

Executive producer: James Shield 

Mix: Travis Evans 

Senior news editor: China Collins

Image: A photo published by Swedish armed forces that it says shows a Russian mig-31 fighter jet that took part in the violation of Estonian airspace. Swedish Armed Forces/ Reuters.

Credits: 

The War Game (1965) / Dir: Peter Watkins / BBC

Dr Strangelove (1964) / Dir: Stanley Kubrick / Columbia Pictures 

A House of Dynamite (2025) / Dir: Kathryn Bigelow / Netflix

What if Russia wins?

On Thursday, Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China held a closed-door meeting in South Korea. The subjects of negotiation ran the gamut — from rare earth minerals, to fentanyl, to computer chips — and, according to President Trump’s subsequent news conference, the two parties reached a long-awaited deal. But exactly what did the world’s two most powerful men agree to? 
The BBC’s China Correspondent, Laura Bicker, joins us to discuss. 

Producers: Hannah Moore and Xandra Ellin 

Executive Producer: Annie Brown 

Senior News Editor: China Collins 

Mix: Travis Evans 
 
IMAGE: U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they hold a bilateral meeting at Gimhae International Airport, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Busan, South Korea, October 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein.

When the two most powerful men in the world met

The Trump administration has centred on Tren de Aragua – a Venezuelan prison gang – as a justification for cracking down on Venezuelan immigrants, and for several attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea. 

When President Trump designated the gang a Foreign Terror Organisation, and invoked a 1798 law that allows presidents to swiftly deport citizens of enemy countries, civil rights groups accused his government of using these measures as a way to deport Venezuelans without due process. Trump has argued he’s acting to "eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to US soil". 

We speak to Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at the New Yorker, who has been reporting on how Tren de Aragua became a major focus of Trump’s domestic and foreign policy. 

Producers: Viv Jones and Aron Keller 
 
Executive producer: James Shield 
 
Mix: Travis Evans 
 
Senior news editor: China Collins

Image: An alleged member of the Tren de Aragua in detention. Reuters.

How a Venezuelan prison gang became the face of Trump’s immigration crackdown

After months of tense negotiations, President Trump has announced that he has terminated trade talks with Canada. The reason: a new Canadian TV commercial featuring an anti-tariff message from an old Ronald Reagan speech. The ad played during a World Series game and ran on various US cable channels, angering President Trump.

The ad is just the latest skirmish between the US and its neighbour to the north. We speak to the BBC’s senior Canada reporter, Nadine Yousif, about how we got here and what the future has in store for the relationship between the two countries.

Producers: Valerio Esposito and Xandra Ellin 
Executive producer: Annie Brown and James Shield 
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins 

(Photo: US President Donald Trump (R) meets Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney (L) in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington DC,7 October, 2025. Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Why the US-Canada relationship is on shaky ground

The controversial right-wing podcaster Candace Owens is being sued by the French president and his wife in a US court. The Macrons are accusing Owens of spreading a conspiracy theory that Brigitte Macron was born a man. So where has this theory come from?

We speak to the BBC’s Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, host of the Fame Under Fire podcast, about what the Macrons are risking by filing the lawsuit – and whether it’s only adding more fuel to the flames.

Presenter: Tristan Redmond

Producer: Sam Chantarasak and Lucy Pawle 

Executive producer: Annie Brown 

Sound engineer: Travis Evans 

Senior news editor: China Collins 

(Photo: Candace Owens. Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Why is the French president suing Candace Owens?

President Trump is in Asia this week to strike deals with several countries, including with China. 
 
One of the big questions overshadowing the trip is Taiwan’s future. China has long vowed to "reunify" with self-governing Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force. 
 
On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US wouldn’t abandon the island in exchange for a favourable deal with China. But a tug of war has been playing out inside the Trump administration over whether a military battle for Taiwan – if China did try to seize it – would be in America’s best interests. 
 
We speak to writer and analyst James Crabtree about what to expect from Trump’s visit to Asia and where Taiwan goes from here. 
 
Producers: Viv Jones and Xandra Ellin 

Executive producer: James Shield 

Mix: Travis Evans 

Senior news editor: China Collins 

Image: Taiwanese people observe the changing of honor guards in Liberty Square in Taipei. Ritchie B Tongo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock.

If China attacked Taiwan, what would Trump do?

Giorgia Meloni is Italy’s first female Prime Minister, and her political star has risen rapidly - from working class roots in Rome, to becoming one of the most important and divisive leaders in Europe. 
 
A populist whose party has roots in Italian fascism, and who takes a hard right stance on migration and family values, she has formed a kinship with Donald Trump, who this month alone has promoted her autobiography and her speeches online, and called her “beautiful” on stage. 
 
In today’s episode, journalist Barbara Serra joins us to discuss Meloni’s increasingly crucial role in US-European relations. 
 
Producers: Hannah Moore and Valerio Esposito 
Executive producer: James Shield 
Mix: Travis Evans 
Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: YOAN VALAT/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock

How Giorgia Meloni became Trump's best friend in Europe

Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the US has contributed billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan for food and medical care – a lifeline in a country ravaged by two decades of war. 

 
But earlier this year, following deep cuts to USAID under the Trump administration, more than 400 USAID-backed medical clinics have closed, and for pregnant women in desperate need of care, the impacts are devastating. 

 
The BBC’s South Asia and Afghanistan correspondent, Yogita Limaye, tells us about the families she met on her recent reporting trip, and the lives lost because women did not get the care they needed. 

Producer: Hannah Moore 

Mix: Travis Evans 

Senior news editor: China Collins

Picture: Taliban bans female medical education, Afghan female doctors and midwives face setback, Kabul, Afghanistan, 24 Dec 2024. Samiullah Popal/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The cost of USAID cuts to women in Afghanistan

***This episode contains themes of sexual abuse and grooming*** 
The memoir of Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most well-known accusers, was published posthumously this week, repeating allegations against Epstein as well as Prince Andrew. The revelations come as Prince Andrew gave up his royal titles, amongst renewed and increasing scrutiny over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Epstein. Prince Andrew continues to vigorously deny all the allegations, but the loss of his titles is a big symbolic moment that allows the rest of the Royal Family to distance themselves from him. 

His downfall was accelerated by a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC. We speak to the interviewer Emily Maitlis, now host of the News Agents podcast, about that day, and how Prince Andrew’s story gives us an insight into the ways in which Jeffrey Epstein functioned. 

Producers: Sam Chantarasak, Lucy Pawle and Xandra Ellin

Executive producer: China Collins

Sound engineer: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

(Photo: Prince Andrew. Credit: Toby Melville/Reuters)

Jeffrey Epstein and the downfall of Prince Andrew

“If there’s a fight, we’ll fight to the end”, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, of the increasingly fierce trade war playing out between the US and China. 

As President Donald Trump threatens imposing 100% tariffs on goods coming from China, his counterpart, President Xi Jinping, has restricted US access to its rare earth minerals – which are vital to producing everything from smartphones to fighter jets. 

With the two leaders due to meet in South Korea later this month, can they break the stalemate, or will they plunge the world’s two biggest economies into a global trade war? BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonnell joins us to discuss how the world’s two largest economies got locked in stalemate – and what it could mean for the cost of the goods we all buy.

Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Hannah Moore
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins 
 
Image: Russian Matryoshka wooden dolls, depicting US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Is the US-China trade war back on?

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