• How should Canada react to Trump’s threats?
    Mar 6 2025

    Canada’s Liberal party will elect a new leader this weekend and Chrystia Freeland is running to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister. Donald Trump’s belligerence towards his northern neighbour seems to have restored the party’s popularity ahead of a general election this year. Chrystia tells host Gideon Rachman that Canadians are sticking together and that they have some strong cards to play.


    Follow Gideon on X @gideonrachman or Bluesky @gideonrachman.bsky.social.


    Gideon Rachman is the chief foreign affairs commentator at the Financial Times. You can find his column here.


    Want more? Free links:

    Donald Trump’s tariffs loom suddenly through the fog of trade war

    Europe has bought Zelenskyy some time

    Donald Trump warns tariffs will cause ‘a little disturbance’ in defiant speech


    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    22 mins
  • Ukraine weathers new geopolitical climate
    Feb 27 2025

    Gideon tests the mood in Kiev three years after the Russian invasion as the Trump presidency upends previous tenets of international politics. He talks to Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko and Oleksandr Khomiak, director of Drone Space Labs, a defence start-up. Clip: European Commission


    Free links to read more on this topic:

    Ukraine agrees minerals deal with US

    US drives Ukraine war measure through UN with Russian backing

    Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s toughest battle begins

    Now is the time for Europe really to step up on Ukraine


    Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.

    Follow Gideon on X @gideonrachman


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    22 mins
  • Mathias Döpfner: Transatlantic alliance in danger
    Feb 20 2025

    Gideon dissects US vice-president JD Vance’s incendiary speech at the Munich Security Conference with German businessman Mathias Döpfner. They discuss the state of the transatlantic relationship and how Donald Trump’s actions towards Russia and Ukraine could mark a turning point. They are then joined by FT colleague Laura Pitel to talk about Döpfner’s media empire Axel Springer and the cancellation of federal government subscriptions to the Politico Pro news service. Clip: The White House


    Free links to read more on this topic:

    Donald Trump calls Volodymyr Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ as US rift with Ukraine deepens

    Vance’s real warning to Europe

    How Europe can defend itself without US help

    Europe’s dependence on US tech is a critical weakness

    Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin’s grandest ambitions


    Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.

    Follow Gideon on X @gideonrachman


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    34 mins
  • US systems unravel under Trump
    Feb 13 2025

    Gideon talks to Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University in the US, about why it’s no longer possible to trust America and what the rest of the world can expect from the Trump presidency. Clip: CBC


    Free links to read more on this topic:

    Tariffs won’t bring back America’s unipolar moment

    'Cost and chaos’: Donald Trump’s metal tariffs sweep across corporate America

    Trump is giving a green light to corporate corruption abroad

    Trump is forcing Europe to a reckoning on Ukraine

    Trump, Putin, Xi and the new age of empire


    Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.

    Follow Gideon on X @gideonrachman


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    22 mins
  • Trump sets his sights on Gaza property deal
    Feb 6 2025

    Gideon talks to Andrew England, the FT's Middle East editor, about the US president's 'crazy' plan for a takeover of the Gaza Strip. And he talks to Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid about the prospects for his country as it finally returns to peace and stability.


    Free links to read more on this topic:

    Middle East and Europe condemn Donald Trump’s plans to take over Gaza

    Donald Trump’s Gaza plan resurrects grandiose Middle East playbook

    The deceptively negotiable Donald Trump


    Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Follow Gideon on X @gideonrachman


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    27 mins
  • Bangladesh students win a chance for change
    Jan 30 2025

    Gideon talks to Muhammad Yunus, interim leader of Bangladesh, who was invited by students to take charge after their revolution last July. He describes the alleged corruption that took hold when Sheikh Hasina was in office and his vision for a better future for the country. Clip: AP


    Free links to read more on this topic:

    Bangladesh hires Big Four audit firms to review ‘robbed’ banks

    Tycoon threatens international legal action against Bangladesh over ‘destroyed’ investments

    Bangladesh’s unlikely revolutionaries: an 84-year-old and some students

    Bangladesh requests UK minister’s bank account details in corruption probe

    Bangladesh central banker accuses tycoons of ‘robbing banks’ of $17bn with spy agency help


    Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    20 mins
  • Finland's president on Europe in a Trumpian world
    Jan 23 2025

    As Donald Trump begins his second term as US president, and Russia presses forward in Ukraine, Gideon Rachman speaks to Finland’s President Alexander Stubb about Europe’s place in the world. They also discuss the risk of strategic irrelevance in Europe, the rise of the far right, Finland’s position in Nato – and whether other European countries need to be a bit more like Finland. Clip: Reuters


    Follow Gideon on X @gideonrachman or Bluesky @gideonrachman.bsky.social.

    Gideon Rachman is the chief foreign affairs commentator at the Financial Times. You can find his column here.


    More on this topic:

    ‘Will President Trump even notice Europe?’ asks Volodymyr Zelenskyy

    Davos agenda turns to dealmaking as Trump takes office

    Trump and the contest between two visions of democracy


    Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.


    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Lulu Smyth, Manuela Saragosa and Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    25 mins
  • Does the Trump administration pose an existential threat to Canada?
    Jan 16 2025

    Gideon talks to Michael Ignatieff, the former leader of Canada’s Liberal party, about how the country will deal with its newly-hostile southern neighbour when it is undergoing a change of leadership at home. They discuss Donald Trump’s threat to raise punitive tariffs on Canadian imports and how to respond to his suggestion that Canada should become the US’s 51st state. Clip: Global News


    Follow Gideon on X @gideonrachman


    Free links to read more on this topic:

    Canada warns of ‘tit-for-tat’ tariffs on US if Trump imposes levies

    Pierre Poilievre moves closer to realising his populist vision for Canada

    Praised abroad, troubled at home: Canada’s political ‘prince’ bows out

    Mark Carney considers run to replace Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau


    Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

    Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.


    Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


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

    Show more Show less
    27 mins