China-U.S. Tariffs, DeepSeek, and Defending Taiwan
U.S. President Donald Trump has been back in the White House for a month and in that time he’s already shaken up foreign policy and imposed new tariffs on China. Beijing was quick to hit back with tariffs of its own. Are we going to see another long and painful trade war, or are these simply the opening moves in an elaborate negotiating game? Trump has also broached the idea of putting 100% tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors – but who would lose out more if he did so: Taiwan or the U.S.? On this episode of Correspondents, David Demes, a freelancer for German media including daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, and Kris Lih, a reporter for news site Domino Theory, join host Louise Watt to discuss where the tariff wars are heading. Also in the show: DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup that’s taken the tech world by storm – and given China a boost in the race to dominate AI. And we ask why Taiwan is cutting its defense budget when it faces increasing threats from China – and calls from Trump to boost its defense spending. Watch this episode of Correspondents, a show where we talk about the latest stories and what's going on behind the headlines with reporters in the Asia-Pacific region.
