American and Russian leaders will meet in Saudi Arabia this week to begin negotiations about a peace deal for Ukraine. Trump said on Sunday he could be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin "very soon".
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Zelensky has said he has not been involved in the talks yet, and European leaders have also been left out. After Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Ukraine should not join NATO, should other member states be worried?
Marianna and Sarah join Matt Chorley to talk about the changing relationship between the US and NATO under the new Trump administration.
We also talk to 5 Live listeners about Project 2025, the state of the US media, and how the Democrats are resisting Trump this time around.
HOSTS:
• Sarah Smith, North America Editor
• Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent
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This episode was made by Rufus Gray and Catherine Fusillo. The technical producer was Frank McWeeny. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm
