Financial Times

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Channel • 5 Shows

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Business News

Updated weekly
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Politics

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Investing

Updated twice weekly
Politics

Politics

Updated weekly
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News

Weekly series

25/12/2025

2025: a year of chaos and confusion

Gideon and guests look back at 2025 as well as forward to the year ahead in an FT Live discussion for the Global Boardroom. Donald Trump set the tone of world politics this year from his tariff wars to his efforts to make peace in the Middle East and Ukraine, while also bombing Iran and threatening Venezuela. In a bid to make sense of the contradictions, Gideon is joined by Leslie Vinjamuri, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Dan Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher school at Tufts university in Boston, and James Crabtree, author of an acclaimed book on Modi's India and a forthcoming book on US-China tensions in the Pacific. Clip: PBS Free links to read more on this topic: When business and democracy don’t mix The AfD’s love-in with Maga Open source could pop the AI bubble — and soon China is making trade impossible 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 and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

25/12/2025

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31 min
24/12/2025

Martin Wolf speaks to Christine Lagarde: Europe’s ‘existential crisis’

The European Commission must urgently dismantle internal trade barriers that are stifling innovation, productivity and investment across the EU. So says Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, in a conversation with the FT’s chief economics commentator, Martin Wolf, as she calls for immediate structural reforms and explains why this is the moment to do it. This interview was recorded on December 10 as part of the FT’s The Global Boardroom conference. Subscribe and listen to this series of The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Read Martin’s column here Sound design and original music by Breen Turner. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

24/12/2025

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25 min
30/10/2025

Are Trump’s tariffs legal? With Jennifer Hillman

US President Donald Trump’s tariff programme has been a central pillar of his second term in office. But a case being heard by the US Supreme Court could throw this central tenet of his trade policy into disarray. Trump has argued that tariffs are a matter of national security for which the president is ultimately responsible; others say they’re an economic issue, and should be set by Congress, as set out in the US constitution. Which way will the Supreme Court vote – and what could that mean for Trump’s tariff regime? To find out, FT senior trade writer Alan Beattie speaks to Jennifer Hillman, a law professor at Georgetown University, former general counsel of the US trade representative, and one of the few people who predicted Trump’s tariffs were vulnerable to legal challenge. Alan Beattie is the FT’s senior trade writer. You can find his articles here: https://www.ft.com/alan-beattie Sign up to Alan’s Trade Secrets newsletter here: https://subs.ft.com/spa3_tradesecrets?segmentId=357afa03-959c-93ed-0842-58e2115025d4 Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. Presented by Alan Beattie. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

30/10/2025

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33 min
14/11/2025

The limits of monetary policy, with Agustín Carstens

Money, it’s often said, is a form of trust and central banks are the custodians of that trust; it’s their job to guarantee that the money they issue maintains stable purchasing power. More recently, that’s been no easy task. Witness President Donald Trump’s attacks on the independence of the US Federal Reserve. The FT’s chief economics commentator, Martin Wolf, speaks to Agustín Carstens, former general manager of the Bank for International Settlements – the “central bank of central banks” – and one-time governor of the Bank of Mexico, to discuss what central banks can do to maintain trust in a fractured world and asks if they must modernise to maintain authority. Martin Wolf is the FT’s chief economics commentator. You can read his columns here: https://www.ft.com/martin-wolf Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. Presented by Martin Wolf. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music from Breen Turner, and sound design by Simon Panayi. Register for a November 28 live webinar on what the UK Budget will mean for your money and put your questions to FT journalists Claer Barrett, Stuart Kirk, Tej Parikh and special guest, tax expert Dan Neidle. Get your free pass now at ft.com/budgetwebinar The webinar will also be broadcast as a bonus edition on two FT podcasts: Claer's Money Clinic and the weekly UK politics show Political Fix, presented by George Parker while Lucy Fisher is on maternity leave. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14/11/2025

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31 min
23/10/2025

How to kickstart the UK economy. With Tim Leunig

Many governments in western Europe are grappling with sluggish economic growth and the UK is no exception. From rising unemployment to weak public finances, the UK economy is in the doldrums and there’s pressure on chancellor Rachel Reeves to fix it. Tim Leunig, a former adviser to two chancellors and now a professor at the London School of Economics and chief economist at innovation think-tank Nesta, talks to the FT’s economics editor Sam Fleming about the policy steps he’d take to breathe new life into the UK economy. Sam Fleming is the FT’s economics editor. You can read his articles here. To subscribe to Sarah O'Connor and John Burn-Murdoch's new newsletter about AI and the labour market, go to ft.com/AIShift. Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. Presented by Sam Fleming. Produced by Persis Love and Lulu Smyth. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Our broadcast engineer is Andrew Georgiades. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

23/10/2025

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32 min
17/12/2025

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange: Power, plutocracy and political economy

In this final episode of their series for The Economics Show, FT chief economics commentator Martin Wolf and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman consider listeners’ questions and comments ranging from a critique of globalisation, increasing inequality and plutocracy, the global appetite for US federal debt, China’s economic future and much more. Subscribe and listen to this series of The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Read Martin’s column here Subscribe to Paul’s substack here Find Paul’s cultural coda here. Find Martin’s cultural coda here. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval and Josh Gabert-Doyon. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Tom Hannen is the video editor. Sound design and original music by Breen Turner. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

17/12/2025

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43 min
26/11/2025

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange: Trump’s ‘vibecession’

As President Donald Trump approaches the one-year anniversary of his second term in office, the FT’s chief economics commentator Martin Wolf, and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman sit down to discuss the US economy and the state of American democracy. Are American consumers finally feeling the effect of Trump’s tariffs? Is AI to blame for the frozen labour market? Or is the spectre of a weakening democracy and plutocracy to blame for slumping consumer sentiment? In the first of four weekly episodes, Wolf and Krugman unpick the US and world economy, with Krugman explaining why he’s less pessimistic now than he was earlier this year. Subscribe and listen to this series of The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Read Martin’s column here. Subscribe to Paul’s Substack here. Find Paul’s cultural coda here. Find Martin’s cultural coda here. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26/11/2025

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41 min
10/12/2025

The Wolf-Krugman Exchange: America vs the world

The US last week released its new national security strategy – and it wasn’t good news for Europe. The document, which sets out US foreign policy priorities, blasted Europe for undermining “political liberty and sovereignty”, de-emphasised the threat from Russia, reframed America’s competition with China and put influence over the western hemisphere at the top of the US agenda. In this episode, FT chief economics commentator Martin Wolf and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman discuss what the impact of this new US strategy may be. How should Europe react to this sharp turn from its strongest historical ally? And is Trump handing China the world on a silver platter? Email any questions for Martin and Paul to economics.show@ft.com Subscribe and listen to this series of The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Read Martin’s column here Subscribe to Paul’s Substack here Find Paul’s cultural coda here. Find Martin’s cultural coda here. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Tom Hannen is the video editor. Sound design by Breen Turner. Original music by Breen Turner. The Wolf-Krugman Exchange: America vs the world video Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10/12/2025

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42 min
24/09/2025

China’s economy vs the world. With Michael Pettis

US President Donald Trump has railed against his country’s trade deficit with China. But as Chinese surpluses continue to flow into other countries, it’s worth asking how China got to where it is today, and whether Chinese growth can lift all boats. In this week’s episode, Martin Sandbu, the FT’s European economics commentator, speaks to Michael Pettis, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment. He’s the author of several books, including most recently co-author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace. Listen to bands signed to the record label Maybe Mars, formerly owned by Michael Pettis, here, including Carsick Cars, Yang Fan, PK14 and White+ Find details of Michael Pettis’ book choice, Martin Daunton’s The Economic Government of the World, here Martin Sandbu is the FT’s European economics commentator and writer of the Free Lunch newsletter. You can sign up for his newsletter here and read his articles here. Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. This episode was produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon with original music and sound design from Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Andrew Giorgiadis is our broadcast engineer. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

24/09/2025

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34 min
09/10/2025

What chance for Trump’s Gaza peace plan?

Gideon talks to former White House official and Middle East expert Philip Gordon about Donald Trump’s plan for a peaceful end to the Gaza conflict. What are the chances that it can succeed and what are the main stumbling blocks? Clip: TRT World Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner join Israel-Hamas talks in Egypt What remains of Gaza? Trump goes mainstream on the Middle East How Donald Trump’s Gaza deal came together 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 Jean-Marc Eck and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09/10/2025

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26 min

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times