Summary
From a US president who is turning the world upside down – with a relish for dismantling global agreements – the message is clear: it’s America first. But where does that leave old European allies? Few expect the transatlantic relationship to go back to where it was before Trump. Europe, says Angela Merkel, now has to shape its own destiny. James Naughtie explores the uncertain future for America's friends. Producer: Kate Collins
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:41.0 | Thanks for downloading analysis, the podcast about the ideas behind the news. |
| 0:46.2 | In America's Friends, James Naugty reports on the fracturing of the relationship between Donald |
| 0:51.2 | Trump's USA and its old European allies. |
| 0:54.4 | Is it the beginning of a new era? |
| 0:57.0 | A time of change, an old alliance pulled apart. |
| 1:07.0 | American presidents used to come to Europe as friends, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama. |
| 1:17.0 | Then we look and look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great |
| 1:26.1 | continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. We come to Berlin, we American presidents, because it's our duty to speak in this place of freedom. |
| 1:42.0 | America has no better partner than you. |
| 1:45.0 | Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that binds us across the Atlantic. |
| 1:57.0 | Winter Companions the Old Men. |
| 2:02.0 | And then a new vocabulary. |
| 2:08.0 | Frankly, the European Union, outside of China and a couple of others treats us on trade as badly as you can be treated. |
| 2:17.0 | I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. |
... |
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