The Intelligence from The Economist

No surprises here: The Economist reckons tariffs are a terrible trade tool. But what is most clearly harming American businesses and scaring off investors is persistent uncertainty [https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/03/27/the-unpredictability-of-trumps-tariffs-will-increase-the-pain?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] about them. Our correspondent sees the effects of one non-military donor to Ukraine: help not to fight but to preserve something worth fighting for (10:57). And why “Adolescence [https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/03/27/why-adolescence-has-become-a-global-smash-hit?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners]” tops Netflix’s viewing numbers the world over (19:54). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

For Europe’s hard-right politicians, Donald Trump’s second White House bid looked like validation and opportunity. Now that he is in it, the tensions and trade-offs are becoming clear [https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/03/23/trump-is-a-problem-for-europes-most-important-hard-right-leaders?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners]. The Houthis’ grip over Yemen and the Red Sea is only strengthening [https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/03/20/americas-strikes-on-the-houthis-could-whip-up-a-regional-tempest?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners], even as other Iranian proxies are waning (10:03). And a look at the boom in Christian entertainment [https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/03/13/christian-entertainment-has-risen?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] (15:51). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

The Conservative Party, led by a Trump-tinged populist, once had the polls locked up. That is changing radically [https://www.economist.com/interactive/2025-canada-election?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] now that Donald Trump is seen as a threat to the nation. Amid America’s foreign-policy misfires, China might choose to smooth diplomatic feathers and make friends; instead it, too, is muscle-flexing [https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/03/20/chinas-cynicism-offensive-in-asia?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] (8:14). And an unsettling new book [https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/03/10/a-new-novel-is-published-amid-a-boom-in-dystopian-fiction?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] typifies a rise in dystopian fiction (13:45). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

Put aside for the moment the outrageous security breach [https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/03/24/a-shambolic-leak-reveals-team-trumps-contempt-for-allies?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] of a journalist being brought in on classified military planning: a leaked group chat reveals much about the Trump administration’s transactional, anti-European ethos. The story of a Nigerian senator [https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/03/20/nigerian-politics-is-a-nasty-place-for-women?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] shows how vile politics can be for the country’s women (10:23). And why not to be too bothered by colleagues stealing your ideas [https://www.economist.com/business/2025/03/06/the-behaviour-that-annoys-colleagues-more-than-any-other?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] (16:26). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

The ceasefire in Gaza is in tatters [https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/03/18/israels-strikes-may-be-only-the-start-of-a-new-offensive-in-gaza?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners]; the campaign against Hizbullah is flaring up again. Yet the most telling battles are those happening inside Israel. Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, is coolly dealing [https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/03/20/will-donald-trump-shape-the-mexican-presidents-domestic-agenda?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] with the fitful aggression of her northern neighbour (10:25). And our obituaries editor pays tribute to Richard Fortey [https://www.economist.com/obituary/2025/03/20/richard-fortey-remade-the-world-with-fossils?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners], a fossil obsessive who spent a career telling the world about trilobites (16:50). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.