Is the US pushing countries towards China?

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the U.S. goes head-to-head with the rest of the world on tariffs, those countries are trying to figure out their best diplomatic strategy. One dilemma countries have is how close they get with another global superpower: China. On today's show, we hear from Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb about how the country is balancing trade relations with both countries.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.7	This is the indicator from planet money.
0:13.9	I'm Darym Woods.
0:15.1	And I'm Adrian Ma.
0:16.3	Have you ever had two friends who fell out with each other and then your left kind of asked
0:21.3	to pick sides?
0:23.1	Well, this is the position a lot of countries find themselves in with the U.S. and China right now.
0:29.1	Pakistan happens to be one of these countries stuck in the middle.
0:32.0	It's got China to its north, but historically it's also had close ties with the U.S.
0:36.9	And to make this situation even trickier for Pakistan, it's got other relationships to manage.
0:42.8	It's got Iran and Afghanistan to its west, India to its east, and that one's looking
0:48.4	particularly dicey right now.
0:52.2	But on today's show, we're focusing on Pakistan's ties with the US and China.
0:58.0	How is it juggling these two important economic relationships?
1:02.2	We ask Pakistan's Minister of Finance whether US aid cuts and tariffs
1:07.3	could push America's friends into the arms of China.
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