Independent Thinking

President Donald Trump brings a band of senior US business executives seeking trade deals to China for what is possibly the biggest bilateral summit of 2026. But what does the US hope to achieve? More sales of Boeings, beef and soybeans; an off-ramp from the US-Israel war on Iran; a sense of world pre-eminence; or all three? Our experts discuss whether Taiwan will end up paying the price for Chine...

Is the initiative on the Ukraine war slipping out of Russian president Vladimir Putin's hands? And how has the US-Israel war on Iran affected Moscow? The economic crisis is tightening, and Moscow and St Petersburg are increasingly subject to lengthy internet and mobile blackouts. Fearing Ukrainian drone attacks, Russia has vastly scaled down its traditional celebration of military power – the Vict...

King Charles III's state visit to the US won acclaim as the monarch charmed President Donald Trump. But can it really rescue US-UK relations from their current dire state? The 'special relationship' – a term first voiced by Chatham House before becoming widely popularized by Winston Churchill – now seems not so special. Our experts discuss what Britain and Europe should do now that the US wants to...

EU expansion, energy shocks, and uneasy alliances: will the conflict in the Gulf – and other crises – force a more unified European strategy?   This week's episode comes from the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece, where host Bronwen Maddox is joined by Grégoire Roos, director of our Europe, Russia and Eurasia programmes.   As the fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran ripples through global markets,...

From Hormuz to Hungary and the Vatican to the Federal Reserve, it has been an unusually contentious week for the White House, even by the standards of President Trump's second administration. This week's podcast comes from the US, where our analysts assess the political and economic state of the US as it begins gearing up for the midterm elections.   From New York, Chatham House Director Bronwen M...

China prepared in advance for a US attack on Iran. But many of its Asian neighbours have been hit hard because their economies were heavily reliant on energy imports from the Gulf.    In the short-term, the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered rationing, and shortages of diesel, gas and fertiliser. Does that set a negative precedent for other choke points across the world?    In the...

An earlier than usual episode of the Independent Thinking podcast, ahead of the Easter break. In a one-on-one conversation, Chatham House Director Bronwen Maddox discusses energy with Sir Dieter Helm , Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford, who has been advising governments and writing on energy, water and the environment for decades. They examine how energy policies of differen...

One month on from the start of the US and Israeli war on Iran, governments worldwide are trying to assess the scale of its long-term impact on the global economy and political system. Much will depend on how long the conflict continues, and how long Iran blocks fuel exports and other cargo vessels from passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The White House and Iran have sent conflicting signals abo...

The US-Israel war on Iran is straining Trump's alliances, at home and abroad. Three weeks into exactly the kind of war of choice that he spent years decrying, US President Donald Trump is not getting the amount of international support that he seeks for his campaign of air strikes on Iran. There is also reluctance among NATO and other allies to be drawn into the political and economic turmoil caus...

The US military's AI provider Anthropic is feuding with the Pentagon after the company tried to impose 'red lines' over the use of its artificial intelligence products for lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of Americans.   President Trump accused the US firm of being 'radical left' and designated it a 'supply chain risk' – usually reserved for Chinese or Russian firms who could compro...

What does President Trump hope to achieve in Iran – a quick show of force, or long-term regime change?  The US and Israel's long-threatened air strikes on Iran have materialized, and the Middle East is facing widespread disruption and a mounting death toll as the war spills across borders. In this episode of Chatham House's international affairs podcast, our expert panel analyses the Trump adminis...

The US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump on his first justification for tariffs, but he says he will push them through by other means. On this week's Independent Thinking podcast, our experts analyse why Trump is wedded to tariffs as an economic and political tool, and what effect they will have on the US and global economies. They also discuss whether tariffs have ended globaliza...

Negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war do not appear to have made significant progress. In the meantime, the focus of US President Donald Trump's 'lighthouse diplomacy' appears to have switched to Iran. Chatham House analysts discuss the state of the talks, and whether Europe will step up to provide the weapons and military support that Ukraine needs. They also examine how the Russia-Ukraine c...

In a special edition of Chatham House's Independent Thinking podcast recorded at the Munich Security Conference 2026 over the weekend, Chatham House Director  Bronwen Maddox and  Grégoire Roos , Director of the Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programmes, unpack the key issues that emerged from this year's forum. The main speaker, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adopted a different tone from Vice...

As Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer ploughs through crisis after crisis, his Labour Party faces multiple threats in upcoming local elections. Our Chatham House analysts examine whether having six prime ministers in a decade is a sign that Britain, like some of its neighbours, has more fundamental underlying problems that make it increasingly hard to govern. Host Bronwen Maddox is joined by Ol...

After the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, our analysts discuss where in the Western Hemisphere US President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio may turn their attention to next. Host Bronwen Maddox is joined by Laurel Rapp , director of Chatham House's US and North America Programme, and Dr Christopher Sabatini , Senior Fellow for Latin America. They dissect the so-called '...

Host Bronwen Maddox is joined by Ben Bland , head of our Asia-Pacific Programme, and Dr Yu Jie , senior research fellow on China. They discuss the opportunities and risks of closer engagement between the UK and China, and why the opacity of Chinese elite politics makes them an unpredictable security actor. Read our latest: EU leaders echo de Gaulle, saying Europe must depend on no-one. But where s...

Chatham House Director Bronwen Maddox joins the Independent Thinking podcast from the World Economic Forum in Davos. In London are guest host David Lubin , a Senior Research Fellow in Chatham House's Global Economy and Finance Programme; and Grégoire Roos , Director of the Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programmes.  They examine the implications of President Trump's speech for Greenland, NATO, Euro...

Host Bronwen Maddox is joined in the studio by  Laurel Rapp , Director of Chatham House's US and North America Programme; Marc Weller , Director of the International Law Programme and down the line by Juno Berthelsen, of Greenland's opposition Naleraq party, which favours independence.  Read our latest: Who owns Greenland? As Carney visits China to diversify Canada's trade, the 'Donroe Doctrine' f...

Bronwen Maddox is joined by Marc Weller , Director of Chatham House's International Law Programme; Laurel Rapp , Director of the US and North America Programme; and  Christopher Sabatini , Senior Fellow for Latin America. They discuss the failure of regional diplomacy that preceded the 3 January 2026 attack by the US on Venezuela, the tentative response of the international community in its afterm...

In the last Independent Thinking podcast of 2025, host Bronwen Maddox is joined by David Lubin , Senior Research Fellow with Chatham House's Global Economy and Finance Programme; Marion Messmer , Director of the International Security Programme; and Yu Jie , a senior research fellow on China in Chatham House's Asia-Pacific Programme. For further analysis read ' The economics of the new Monroe Doct...

This is a special edition of Chatham House's Independent Thinking international affairs podcast, recorded at the Doha Forum 2025 .  Many of the official and backroom discussions at Qatar's annual gathering of more than 5,000 world leaders, policymakers, dialogue, corporate and humanitarian organizations from 162 countries were dominated by discussions of President Donald Trump's National Security...

How are Europe and Ukraine reacting after the US and Russia sought to strike their own deal, and Putin warned that Moscow – while not planning for war with Europe – is 'ready right now'. Host Bronwen Maddox is joined by Grégoire Roos , Director of the Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programmes; Natalie Sabanadze , a Senior Research Fellow and former Georgian Ambassador, and Jaroslava Barbieri , Rese...

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves published her – widely leaked – budget this week. How does it leave her ruling Labour Party positioned in Britain? And what do the calculations look like from overseas, where other countries have adopted different solutions to the problems facing them? For this discussion on Chatham House's international affairs podcast, host Bronwen Maddox is jo...

After the North Darfur capital El Fasher fell to the Rapid Support Forces, aid agencies and survivors talk of civilians being massacred in the streets. The international affairs podcast of Chatham House examines the human toll, and the dynamics of a war fuelled by regional powers and their proxies seeking to control Sudan's territory, gold, natural resources, and access to key waterways.  Host Bro...