Donald Trump is everywhere: his face beams out from screens and his voice rambles on endlessly. At the UN General Assembly, at special press conferences, at meetings of his military leadership and in the White House: condemning Europe and climate change one day, announcing a Gaza deal the next, doubling down on tariffs the third, doing nothing about Russia throughout. In the meantime, the US seems to be ever more in turmoil, with the Federal government shut down, a sliding economy, and intense political and social division across the board.
China is seemingly enjoying the show, and the adverse effect of the Trump tariffs on many states, lapping up the Global South and assembling world leaders for international meetings and a vast military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. Backing Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine, it is clearly happy to pick up world leadership as the new US seemingly sheds most vestiges of it. Yet all the while, it is also negotiating a trade deal with the US, flooding the global market with overproduction and watching its own economy in turmoil.
So, what is China really doing? Can it survive the tariffs? Can it pick up where the US leaves off, or is it just part of the turmoil? Lauren Gloudeman, Director of China at Eurasia Group, joins ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El to discuss the challenge of China in all its aspects.
This episode was recorded on 30 September 2025
Mentions
- Eurasia website
- Lauren’s previous episode “Trade Wars”
- Trump at the UNGA
- China commitments at the UN Climate conference
- Our other episodes about China “China, the world, and power with Dr Ivana Karásková” “China All Around with Dr Mareike Ohlberg and Dr May-Britt Stumbaum”
Chapters
- Understanding China’s role in global affairs
- Trump’s objectives with China
- The state of China’s economy
- China’s relationship with Russia
- Is there a new Cold War between China and the West?
Follow
- Lauren Gloudeman LinkedIn, Eurasia group page
- Instagram @women_leaders_podcast
- Watch this episode on our YouTube channel
- Ilana Bet-El
Credits
- Production: Florence Ferrando
- Music: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-roll License code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
Image credit: Florence Ferrando
The European Leadership Network itself as an institution holds no formal policy positions. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the authors rather than the European Leadership Network or its members. The ELN aims to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time, to further its charitable purposes.
