China’s Trade War Strategy: How Xi Jinping Uses Autocracy, Fear, and Innovation to Compete with the West

Hosts Nina dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones analyze the global fallout after Donald Trump plunged America and the world into a trade war with China. David Rennie, The Economist’s geopolitics editor and former Beijing and Washington D.C. bureau chief, joins the podcast to unpack how Xi Jinping is playing the long game and playing to win.
In this episode, we explore Xi’s high-stakes strategy in the global trade war.

From embracing economic pain to fostering innovation under autocracy, China is challenging Western dominance on every front. However, as the controversy over British Steel demonstrates, Beijing’s drive to exert control often at the expense of freedoms abroad—risks alienating future partners.

In the second half, activist Chloe Chung shares her personal story of falling afoul of the Chinese authorities. A pro-democracy campaigner, Chloe awoke in December to news that police in Hong Kong had issued a HK$1 million ($128,000; £102,000) bounty for information leading to her capture abroad.
With democracy under pressure, this is more than just a trade war—it’s a battle for the future of the global order.

Producer: Pearse Lynch
Executive Producer: Lucinda Knight
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ctrl Alt Deceit: Democracy in Danger is a podcast designed to dive deep into the threats facing our democracies and to ask “just how much danger are they in?”

Throughout the 8-part series, former CNN anchor Nina Dos Santos and regular BBC radio voice Owen Bennett-Jones will be joined by former spies, disinformation researchers and government officials to examine who exactly is trying to “control’ the narrative, which “alternative facts” are they using and where will such “deception” end?

Ctrl Alt Deceit: Democracy in Danger is brought to you by Democratys, a charity committed to exposing interference in our democratic institutions. Their goal is to inspire debate and engagement in our democratic process in the UK and beyond.

• No. of episodes: 15
• Latest episode: 2025-05-16
• Education Government

Where can you listen?