logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2025
10m 50s

Defending Europe without the US

Financial Times
About this episode

Investors are urging the EU to make sweeping reforms to its debt securitisation market, Walmart has staged a major comeback, and Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba reported its fastest revenue growth in more than a year. Plus, the FT’s John Paul Rathbone explains how Europe could defend itself should Donald Trump pull US military assets.


Mentioned in this podcast:

Investors call for shake-up of Europe’s ‘failed’ securitisation market

How Europe can defend itself without US help

How a resurgent Walmart saw off the Amazon threat

Walmart points to ‘uncertain time’ with warning of weaker sales growth

Alibaba to ‘aggressively’ invest in AI over next three years

Subscription promo: ft.com/briefingsale


The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian, Ethan Plotkin, Lulu Smyth, and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Michela Tindera, Sam Giovinco, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Our engineer is Joseph Salcedo. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.


Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
BCG tries to limit Gaza work fallout
EU negotiators are closing in on a trade deal with Donald Trump that would cement higher tariffs than those granted to the UK, and Boston Consulting Group’s chief executive said the group’s involvement with a postwar plan for Gaza had been “reputationally very damaging”. Plus, Eu ... Show More
10m 31s
Yesterday
Liechtenstein's zombie-trust apocalypse
US President Donald Trump extended tariff deadlines, and Liechtenstein’s trust industry is in a crisis spurred by American sanctions against Russia. Plus, Shein filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, and Elon Musk is trying to save Tesla from Trump. Mentioned in this ... Show More
11m 18s
Jul 7
US stocks: rally or overcorrection?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington DC today to discuss a Gaza ceasefire proposal with US President Donald Trump, and US stocks are booming again despite uncertainty about the wider economy. Plus, Hong Kong’s stock exchange is attracting lots of companies, ... Show More
10m 9s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2025
Europe's response to the threat from Trump
Europe is facing its biggest defence challenge since the second world war. This is compounded by the destabilising impact of US tariffs. So how is it measuring up? Gideon puts this question to Arancha González Laya, dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Science Po ... Show More
28m 19s
Feb 2025
‘America is now an adversary’
The future of Ukraine and the defence of Europe will dominate when Keir Starmer jets out to the White House for talks with Donald Trump next week. Can the UK prime minister help save 80 years of Pax Americana? Or is the US on the verge of becoming an ‘adversary’ to Europe? Host L ... Show More
43m 31s
Jan 2025
Europe confronts Trump: the politics of transatlantic relations
Less than two weeks into his second term and President Donald Trump is already dominating global headlines. From reigniting trade war threats and doubling down on his ambitions to acquire Greenland, to withdrawing from multilateral agreements and demanding that NATO allies alloca ... Show More
33m 50s
Apr 7
Are US tariffs just the beginning? With Abraham Newman
As Donald Trump declares a trade war on the rest of the world, it’s time to learn about a field of economic research known as “weaponised interdependence”. The bad news is that the US president’s weapon of choice – imposing tariffs on goods imports – is a fairly outdated tool of ... Show More
31m 33s
Nov 2024
Markets Shrug Off Trump’s Latest Tariff Threats
P.M. Edition for Nov. 26. Israel approves a cease-fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. WSJ chief economics commentator Greg Ip makes sense of President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to hit trade allies Canada and Mexico with steep tariffs. Pharma reporter Peter Loftus explains why a hig ... Show More
13m 1s
Dec 2024
Holiday special: Brussels vs Moscow — the EU risks losing its eastern neighbors
For the final episode of EU Confidential this year, we revisit a compelling discussion on the European Union’s waning influence in its eastern neighborhood, originally recorded in October. With a fresh wave of pro-EU and anti-government protests erupting in Georgia, this conversa ... Show More
40m 13s
Dec 2024
919. News: UK lenders brace for massive payouts and is the FCA 'incompetent'?
Join host Benjamin Ensor alongside some very special guests as we look at the biggest financial services and fintech stories of the past week.Topics covered include: A damning report by MPs and Lords has accused the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of being unfit for purpose. Me ... Show More
56m 17s
Jun 16
ICE Riots, Iran Strikes and Reflections from a Week in America - Konstantin Kisin
Konstantin reflects on his recent trip to America. | SPONSOR. We use Ground News to escape the echo chamber and stay fully informed. Go to https://ground.news/triggernometry to save 40% on the Ground News unlimited access Vantage plan. Join our exclusive TRIGGERnometry community ... Show More
8m 13s
Jan 2025
Teflon Son? How Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son’s legend keeps growing
On today’s episode, host Josh Christensen is joined by ‘Fast Company’ associate editor David Salazar to help break down the latest news in the world of business and innovation, including the fallout from DeepSeek’s LLM launch, the backtracked federal funding freeze, and the risin ... Show More
1h 3m
Apr 11
S2 Ep1019: David Frum: It's Too Late to Stop the Pain
Trump has effectively imposed a trade embargo on China, which means that after the inventory runs out, American retail will soon dry up. Since Europeans are already bypassing U.S. military contractors to beef up their defense spending —El Salvador is our only ally now— Trump is l ... Show More
51m 44s