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.
Chapter 1: What are President Trump's latest trade war threats?
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 8th 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. But for briefly rising a massive 8% on reports that tariffs might be paused. President Trump later dismissed those rumours.
We're not looking at that. We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us and they're going to be fair deals and in certain cases they're going to be paying substantial tariffs. They'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.
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Chapter 2: How are US-Iran relations evolving with the new talks?
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 EU 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.
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Chapter 3: What is the EU's response to US tariffs?
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.S.
and just today the Iranian foreign minister had said that The ball is in the U.S. '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 U.S. 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, 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 U.S., 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.
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Chapter 4: Why is piracy increasing off the coast of Somalia?
Chapter 5: Who is Marcus Persson and how did he build Minecraft?
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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 8th 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. But for briefly rising a massive 8% on reports that tariffs might be paused. President Trump later dismissed those rumours.
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Sign in to access all 125 segments of this chapter and more.
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