Charlotte Gallagher

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Saturday, the 2nd of May, these are our main stories. 5,000 US troops will be ordered home from Germany following a spat between the two countries' leaders. And are we any closer to an Iran deal? We'll hear from President Trump. Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever, or do we want to try and make a deal? Let me go to the option. Do you want to go blast the hell out of them and finish them forever? I'd prefer not.

Myös Cuba sanoo, että uusia sanktioita, joita USA on tehty, ovat yhteinen palkka. Gazaan rauhoitujen ja rauhoitujen rauhoituminen liittyy palestiinalaisille. Myös tämän podcastin kanssa. Se on ollut melkoinen ordeo. En ole varma, että ei ole olemassa Hollywood-stari. Ja se ei kuulosta, kuin jokainen muu, joka on joutunut Oscarin kanssa, on joutunut tekemään tätä.

The Hollywood ending for a missing Oscar.

President Trump has been threatening to punish some European countries for refusing to help with the war in Iran. And when the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz commented that the US was being humiliated by Tehran, it seemed to have hit a nerve. Earlier this week, Mr Trump hinted he might pull thousands of US troops out of Germany. And on Friday, the chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed this in a statement. It's been voiced by one of our producers.

Well, the Pentagon statement that we've just heard suggests a wider review of troop requirements, but we can't ignore the spat between Donald Trump and Friedrich Mertz over the war in Iran. The Chancellor's reservations about the conflict are well known. They have been for a long time, from the beginning of the war two months ago.

He actually met with Donald Trump at the White House in March. This was just days after the conflict started. And he expressed concern that an extended war could do great damage to the global economy. In recent days he has been more critical, saying that the US was being humiliated by the Iranian leadership. He also criticized Washington's lack of strategy. Mr. Trump responded to that, saying that the German chancellor didn't know what he was talking about.

Ja se oli sitten, vain muutama päivä aiemmin, että hän vältti vähentämään numeroa Yhdysvaltoja, jotka olivat paikallaan. Ja hän sanoi, että päätökset olisivat tehty melko pian. Ja se on ollut melko pian, vain 48 tuntia nyt. Pentagon on osoittanut tämän muutoksen. Ja mikä voisi olla vaikutus turvallisuuteen, ei vain Euroopassa, mutta myös Yhdysvaltojen?

No, 5 000 Yhdysvallan puolustus on todennäköisesti paremmin symbolinen kuin strateginen, vaikka symbolismi on tietenkin tärkeää. Se on todennäköisesti parempi, luulen, että lisätä enemmän kysymyksiä yhdessä yhdistyksissä Washingtonin pitkäaikaisuudessaan NATOon ja se voisi näyttää vahvistamisen Russiaa.

Sitten toinen argumentti on, että Pentagon voi sanoa, että se on kaikki oltava fleksibyysiä, muuttamalla vahvoja, joilla on suurin piirtein tarpeeksi. Tämä on tietenkin se, mitä heidän puheenjohtajansa näyttää. Mutta Suomessa on tärkeä logistiikkahubi ja vähentäminen vahvoja voisi vahvistaa vähentäminen, jos on kriisi. Ja luuletko, että Mr. Trump vaikuttaa jokaiselle USA-alueelle tällaiselle vähentämiseen?

Poliittisesti ajattelen, että hän voi käsitellä kritisimia molempien puolueiden puolueiden puolueiden puolueiden puolueiden puolueiden puolueiden.

By reducing overseas commitments, though, he would be appealing to his base. Unless it leads to very clear security setbacks, it's unlikely to become, I think, a major domestic political issue. And you mentioned there, Peter, overseas commitments. And the biggest one now is obviously Iran, and President Trump is under pressure to decide what to do. He said in a letter to the US Congress that hostilities are terminated, but he's also told journalists the war could start up again.

And I'm tempted to say to that, well, probably only he knows what he's going to do next. Whenever he is asked if he is going to resume the bombing, he says to reporters, why should I tell you? And I think that is a response that emphasizes that he is keeping his options open, all of his options. He could try to intensify the economic stranglehold on Iran through the blockade of its ports. He could try to move to open up the Strait of Hormuz or partially open it through U.S. intervention there.

Peter Bowes. Tensions are also ramping up between the US and the EU over trade. President Trump has announced he'll be increasing tariffs on imported European vehicles to 25%. The tax is currently set at 15%, but Mr Trump claims the bloc is not complying with the terms of a trade deal struck last summer. The European Commission has responded, saying it's implementing the deal in line with standard practice.

The US trade war with the EU has been one of the big issues of the Trump administration. And in Florida on Friday, Mr. Trump took aim at his French counterparts. So I'd call up like, as an example, France. I spoke with Macron. Emmanuel.

Ja hän sanoi, että Donald, miten voittaisit? Sinun ei voi tehdä sitä. Ja minä sanoin, että en voi tehdä sitä. Ja hän sanoi, että minä voin tehdä sitä. Ja minä sanoin, että sinulla on ratkaisu.

With more on the US tariffs on European vehicles, here's our business correspondent Michelle Fleury. Obviously we have this signal of intent from the president with this post on Truth Social, but we still have to wait for the official document from the Department of Commerce and others.

That kind of formally announces the mechanism under which such trade tariffs would be implemented. A lot of them were, or at least this idea of blanket tariffs was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court. That being said, there are sectoral tariffs that are currently being explored by the administration. So whether it would fall under that, we just at this point don't know. And I think that's where, as ever, the fine print matters.

And talking about fine print, a lot of this has to do with the fact that when you think back over the summer, all of those kind of trade deals that were announced, a huge fanfare, a lot of them were headlines, but they didn't have much time to kind of figure out the details. And I think it is differences of opinion on those details that has led to this ratcheting up of tensions that we're seeing right now.

Michelle Fleury. Cuba has described a new round of sanctions imposed by the United States as collective punishment. Cuba is already in the throes of a major economic and fuel crisis, exacerbated by the US's oil blockade of the island. The announcement came as a large May Day celebration took place in Havana, where Cubans vowed to defend their homeland against American aggression. Donald Trump no tiene ningún derecho a hacer nada con Cuba.