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The new global trade wars, with Fareed Zakaria
President Trump’s policies swiftly rewriting the rules of global trade. As the United States imposes tariffs on allies and adversaries alike, do we risk losing our edge? On the GZERO World Podcast, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria joins Ian Bremmer to discuss what happens when globalization’s biggest champion becomes its biggest critic. For the past 80 years, the United States has been the beating heart of the free trade movement, the country that forced all the other countries in the world to open their markets. But now, Washington is tearing up the economic playbook—levying historic tariffs and recasting the world as a high-stakes, winner-take-all, zero-sum game.
Zakaria says we are living through an age of backlash to 30 years of globalization and that the next 10 years will be a period of “slowbalization,” where we'll see a much slower pace of growth and a much more political economy. Bremmer and Zakaria break down America’s retreat from global leadership, shifting power dynamics between the US and China, European pressure to become more self-sufficient, and whether the Trump administration’s economic gamble is worth the risk.
“The United States has gone from the leading advocate of free trade to being the most protectionist advanced industrial country in the world,” Zakaria warns, “We’ve always invited competition from the world’s best. If we move to something else, I think we lose that edge.”
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer as they sign a free trade agreement at the Chequers Estate, United Kingdom, on July 24, 2025.
Hard Numbers: UK-India trade deal signed, Zelensky backs down on anti-corruption move, Columbia settles with Trump, Togo protests escalate, & Trump’s name reportedly makes an Epstein file cameo
£6 billion: India and the United Kingdom formally signed a trade deal worth £6 billion ($8.1 billion). Under the deal, first announced in May, India will drop its tariffs on UK cars and whisky imports, while the UK will reduce barriers to imports of Indian textiles and jewelry. The agreement also includes efforts to tackle illegal migration.
2: After two days of protests in Kyiv against a government decision to subsume independent anti-corruption bodies, President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to retreat on the move, approving new legislation that would preserve these agencies’ independence. Zelensky’s decision came after he received advice on the matter from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
5: At least five demonstrators have died in Togo in recent weeks amid protests against long-time leader Faure Gnassingbé’s successful effort to circumvent constitutional term limits and remain in power. The Togolese leader had occupied the role of president, but has now adopted a new role as the all-powerful prime minister. More protests are expected Friday.
$221 million: Columbia University will pay fines of $221 million in a settlement with the Trump administration over allegations that the school failed to prevent the harassment of Jewish students. The elite school also pledged to stop using race as a factor in admissions and hiring. In exchange, the government will restore hundreds of millions of dollars in suspended research funding.
300: President Donald Trump’s name reportedly appears somewhere in the Justice Department’s 300 gigabyte trove of Jeffery Epstein investigation documents and, according to the Wall Street Journal, Trump knows it, having heard directly from Attorney General Pam Bondi in May. Separately, DOJ officials are interviewing Epstein sidekick Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida today.View of Tehran at sunset on February 26th, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Iranian water shortages prompt public holiday, Trump admin to burn contraceptives, Ozzy leaves the stage for the last time, & More
1: Iran announced an impromptu one-day public holiday on Wednesday for Tehran’s residents, in an effort to save on water and electricity. Intense heatwaves have added strain to an already-worsening water crisis in the country, brought about by climate change and mismanagement.
$10 million: The Trump administration will incinerate nearly $10 million worth of US-funded contraceptives – intended for poorer nations – in France, after storing them for months in a Belgian warehouse following cuts to USAID programs. The White House reportedly rejected offers from the United Nations and other NGOs to buy or distribute the supplies themselves.
$4 billion: A Saudi business delegation arrived in Syria on Wednesday, where it is expected to sign $4 billion worth of joint projects and deals with Damascus. Riaydh has been a key financial backer in Syria’s post-war rebuilding efforts.
100: Over 100 humanitarian organizations issued a joint statement on Wednesday calling on governments to take decisive action against mass starvation in Gaza. Demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the statement warns that Israel’s partial aid blockade on the enclave has left assistance workers – alongside Palestinian civilians – “wasting away.”
76: Heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne died at 76 on Tuesday. Just weeks ago, the ailing rock icon held a final reunion concert with Black Sabbath, the supergroup that he started as a young lad in Birmingham, United Kingdom, more than half a century ago. So long Oz, may the Crazy Train keep chugging on into eternity.
The Trump admin can do more to help Sudan, says Sen. Warner
In this clip from GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Senator Mark Warner explains why he’s taken on Sudan’s brutal civil war as a personal and political priority—and why the US, under both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, has failed to act. “More people die every day in Sudan than in Gaza and Ukraine combined,” Warner says, calling the conflict a humanitarian catastrophe hiding in plain sight.
Warner argues that neither side in Sudan’s civil war deserves US backing—“both teams are bad”—but that Trump, in particular, has a unique opportunity to pressure Saudi Arabia and the UAE to stop funding the violence. “It would be a huge policy win,” he says. Yet, despite bipartisan concern, Warner says there’s been no serious focus on the crisis. As US aid gets clawed back and global attention stays elsewhere, Warner warns the price isn’t just moral—it’s geopolitical. “When we don’t step up, China fills the void—for pennies on the dollar.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Spy games and loyalty tests with Senator Mark Warner
It’s been a banner stretch for President Trump: a major strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, a sprawling tax-and-spending bill pushed through Congress, and a growing foreign policy resume. But beneath the surface of all the flag-waving and victory laps, Democrats like Senator Mark Warner are warning that the real story is unfolding in the shadows—inside an increasingly politicized US intelligence community.
In this episode of the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with the senior Senator from Virginia at his Capitol Hill office for a wide-ranging conversation about what’s breaking inside America’s national security institutions—and what that means for foreign policy decisions from Tehran to Gaza. Warner doesn’t hold back: “We’re in uncharted, dangerous territory. [Intelligence] Analysts are being told to change their conclusions—or lose their jobs.”
The two also dive into the fallout from the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the fragile push for a Gaza ceasefire, and why Warner sees a largely ignored civil war in Sudan as one of the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crises—and a rare opportunity for the US to lead.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published
Sen Warner: Tulsi Gabbard should resign or be fired
In a clip from the latest episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner delivers a stark warning about what he sees as the Trump administration’s attempt to transform the US intelligence community into a partisan tool. Warner points to recent efforts—led in part by intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard—to create a loyalty-driven “master file” of personnel across the 17 US intel agencies.
He recalls a case where analysts were pressured to change their findings about Venezuelan paramilitaries—and fired when they refused. “They wouldn't bend the knee, so they got fired,” Warner says. He also reveals that key allies in the Five Eyes intelligence network have privately expressed concern, suggesting they may no longer fully trust Washington with sensitive information. “We may not even know what we didn’t get,” Warner says, warning that this chilling effect could leave the US dangerously exposed.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Graphic Truth: Federal employment already dropping
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump to proceed with widespread cuts to the federal workforce, pending a full trial, overruling a San Francisco judge’s order in May that temporarily blocked layoffs at 22 agencies. Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling, thousands of government employees had been preparing for mass layoffs, with many notified of their pending terminations but awaiting official confirmation.
Here’s a look at the changing size of the federal workforce, which includes the US military, since Trump first took power in 2017.
Hezbollah beat on their chests as a sign of mourning during a mass rally to mark Ashoura, commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.
The Lebanese government wants Hezbollah to disarm – will it?
On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s envoy to Lebanon, Tom Barrack, received a stunning proposal from the Lebanese government– a plan to disarm Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Shia militia group that has dominated Lebanon’s politics and fought two major wars with Israel over the past 20 years. The process would occur over the next four months, in exchange for Israel halting strikes on Lebanon and withdrawing from the country’s South.
If Hezbollah were to drop its weapons it would redefine the Middle East virtually overnight. But can the Lebanese government really turn this proposal into reality?
On the one hand, Hezbollah has never been weaker. Over the past year and a half, Israel has decimated the group’s leadership and destroyed a great deal of its weapons. The collapse of the Assad regime, a key ally, upended a major smuggling route for weapons from Iran. And the regime in Tehran itself has been hobbled by the recent Israeli and American airstrikes.
Hezbollah has not publicly responded to the proposal, but is reportedly at least considering shrinking its arsenal. However, according to Eurasia Group’s Middle East expert Firas Maksad, “Hezbollah could just be buying time” by appearing open to diplomacy, hoping that the winds in the region shift back in its direction.
Why does the Lebanese government want Hezbollah to disarm? Hezbollah, which enjoys support from Lebanon’s sizable Shia population, is a major challenge to the Lebanese government. The group dominates South Lebanon, providing social services to the population, and it makes decisions about war and peace in the conflict against Israel without the national government’s consent.
“With the exception of Hezbollah’s support base, most Lebanese very much would like to see strengthened state authority and control over weapons,” says Maksad.
They aren’t the only ones. Wealthy international donors, including the US and the Gulf Arab monarchies, have made it clear that desperately needed financial and reconstruction aid won’t flow to the Lebanese government while a powerful armed group like Hezbollah operates effectively beyond state control.
What would it take for them to disarm? Hezbollah and its supporters in South Lebanon see its arsenal as a protection of Shia interests in Lebanon’s fragile sectarian balance, as well as a defense against Israel. Among many in the Shia community, Maksad explains, “any attempt to try and take away the weapons [is seen as] meant to undermine the community.”
He added that real disarmament would require, at a minimum, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon under the terms of ceasefire agreements reached last November.
“There is this sense in Beirut, reflective of Hezbollah’s thinking, that Israel would need to fulfill its side of the obligations before more can be expected,” says Maksad.
But that sets up an impasse: Israel’s position is that it can’t leave Southern Lebanon while an Iran-backed militia is dug in there with weapons pointed at the Jewish state.
So where do things go from here? Maksad says there are two scenarios. One is a slow, drawn-out process where Hezbollah makes limited concessions under the guise of diplomatic dialogue — but without any real, comprehensive disarmament.
The other involves Israel forcing the issue. With its campaign in Gaza winding down, Israel may now look northward again, making a fresh effort to weaken Hezbollah so much that the group has no choice but to surrender.
At the moment, that looks like the way things are headed – Israel on Wednesday night launched a limited attack into South Lebanon, and its attacks on Hezbollah’s territory have ramped up in recent weeks. That almost certainly puts the prospect of a negotiated disarmament further out of reach in the near term.
“I don’t see diplomacy right now providing the required results of fully disarming Hezbollah,” Maksad warns.