2026 has already been a huge year for international news, from Venezuela to Greenland to Iran.

We wanted to get our heads around what other seismic changes we can expect in the rest of 2026: from Europe’s new dynamic with Washington, to President Trump’s meeting with President Xi of China, to the rebuilding of Gaza.

So we sat down with two foreign policy experts: Tom Bateman, the BBC’s State Department Correspondent, and Emma Ashford, a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center and author of First Among Equals: US Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World.

We were joined in the heart of Washington DC by a live audience at Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship.

Recorded Monday 2 February.

Producers: Chris Benderev and Xandra Ellin

Executive producer: James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: A live taping of The Global Story in Washington DC on 2 February 2026. Credit:Emma Carroll Hudson/Syracuse University