Will Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s olive branch to Donald Trump be enough to secure Ukraine’s future — and his own? After his bruising encounter with the U.S. president in the Oval Office, Zelenskyy issued an eleventh-hour missive and said he was ready to sign the minerals deal and "work fast to end the war."

Host Anne McElvoy speaks with one of the most senior politicians in Ukraine, Oleksandr Merezhko, Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committee chair and staunch Zelenskyy ally, who argues that Trump is "being used by Putin" in his attempts to force a deal and call for fresh elections in Ukraine.

She is also joined by POLITICO Europe’s Opinion Editor Jamie Dettmer from Kyiv on the fast-moving realpolitik being played between Ukraine, the U.S. and European capitals.

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The French president and British prime minister have been to the White House to urge President Donald Trump not to abandon Kyiv as negotiations with Russia loom. Trump's attacks on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and his administration's approach to the Western alliance have caused consternation among European capitals.

This week, host Anne McElvoy talks to Dan Crenshaw, a Republican congressman representing the Second Congressional District in Texas and an ally of President Trump. A former Navy SEAL, Crenshaw served in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he lost an eye to a bomb blast in the province of Helmand. He was in London to attend the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, where right-wing thinkers from Europe and the U.S. gathered.

They discuss Trump's position on Ukraine, Russia and the Western alliance as well as transgender rights in the U.S. military. Crenshaw argues that Europe needs to mount a more aggressive defense posture or "shut up" about the need for American support.

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President Donald Trump’s quick-fire approach to ending Russia’s war against Ukraine has left European allies worried they are being sidelined by the United States administration, as Washington and Moscow conduct direct negotiations.

It has also caused a crisis in European capitals about the future of NATO, created in the wake of World War II to uphold security in Europe and protect it from a Russian threat. Now, it’s America that looks as if it's turning its back on NATO and Europe — in search of a grand bargain with Moscow.

Host Anne McElvoy talks with John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who also served as national security adviser under Trump, and Sanna Marin, Finland’s prime minister from 2019 to 2023, who led the country to its NATO accession.

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Donald Trump may have ruffled feathers with his closest neighbors in recent weeks, but he has a willing ally in South America. Argentina’s President Javier Milei has become something of a hero in the MAGA movement for his populist style and radical economic reforms. Will the love affair outlast an era of tariff-wielding? 

Host Anne McElvoy talks to Federico Sturzenegger, the former president of Argentina’s central bank and an economist at Harvard. He is now leading the Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation under Milei.

They discuss whether the South American free-market experiment provides a catalyst for Trump’s vision for the United States' economy and the wider world, and whether Margaret Thatcher — elected as Britain's Conservative Party leader 50 years ago this week — is an inspiration for Milei.

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United States President Donald Trump has shown he means business when it comes to threatening a splurge of tariffs around the globe. Mexico and Canada agreed last-minute deals to temporarily avert tariffs, whereas China was not spared. Will the president's combative approach pay off?   

Host Anne McElvoy talks to Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and economics professor at Harvard University. Summers is an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s use of tariffs and offers candid advice to the European Union and the United Kingdom on how to respond to the threat of them.

They also discuss how American universities are dealing with the Trump administration's efforts to remove diversity and inclusion programs and whether campuses could face fresh protests this spring.

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Donald Trump has made a blitz of announcements designed to boost the United States' tech industry. But then a new Chinese artificial intelligence model came along and caused a stir on Wall Street. Is this a new dawn or a fresh threat? 

Host Anne McElvoy talks to one of Silicon Valley’s leading entrepreneurs, Reid Hoffman. Co-founder of LinkedIn, he’s invested in companies like Airbnb and Facebook and is now investing in AI startups. His new book is called "Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future."

How does his optimistic vision for the future square with the disruptive force of a world powered by AI — and one in which American and Chinese rivalry could have unforeseen consequences?

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The world has entered a new era of intelligence, as artificial intelligence technologies are being rapidly developed and adopted across industries and around the globe. So, it’s apropos that the theme of the 2025 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was “Collaboration in the Intelligent Age.” With the first provisions of the European Union’s AI Act set to roll out shortly after the forum wraps, conversations in Davos were buzzing around AI.

In an ever-changing global marketplace, collaborative development and effective governance are essential to building AI ecosystems that are transparent, ethically compliant and safe. On a special branded episode of Power Play, presented by IBM, POLITICO Focus contributor David Himmel explores what true collaboration looks like, the ways open AI systems are changing the game for businesses of all sizes and how industry leaders can work with governments to ensure a return on investment that benefits everyone.

Himmel speaks with Christina Montgomery, IBM’s chief privacy and trust officer and interim leader of government affairs. She talks about the need for access to open AI development, the importance of privacy and how diverse, global collaboration will help solve the questions and challenges we face in this new age of intelligence.

Power Play is a POLITICO original podcast series. This special branded episode from IBM was produced by POLITICO Focus.

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This year’s annual jamboree in the Alps is drawing to a close. And the man who’s dominated the week — Donald Trump —spoke to the World Economic Forum. He’s hardly the centrist “Davos Man” but he had a message from Washington for the gathering.

In Power Play's final edition from the World Economic Forum in Davos, host Anne McElvoy talks to William Browder, financier and activist, who has been a leading campaigner against Vladimir Putin’s regime since his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was arrested and died in custody in Russia 15 years ago. Does he think Trump can strike a deal with Putin to end the war in Ukraine?

Later, she talks to Suzanne Lynch, author of POLITICO’s Global Playbook, who steps away from her whirlwind of conversations to sum up the week’s events — and gossip — here in Davos.

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Is America headed for a new "golden age"? Or will Donald Trump’s promise falter? And where does that leave the quest for prosperity across the Atlantic? They're the questions on the lips of many economists, business leaders and politicians gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Host Anne McElvoy talks to two authorities on the United States and global economy: Ken Rogoff, professor at Harvard, chess grand master and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, and Huw van Steenis, who was a senior adviser to the former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and is now vice chair at the consultancy Oliver Wyman.

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President Trump’s first 24 hours in the White House have certainly been the talking point here in Davos, as business leaders and politicians digest what the new era means for them and the rest of the world.

Continuing Power Play's daily coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, host Anne McElvoy talks to two figures who know how the President operates and who have changed their minds about him. Anthony Scaramucci was briefly the White House’s communications director in Donald Trump’s first administration before going on to campaign against him. Later, she talks to historian Niall Ferguson, senior fellow at Stanford and Harvard Universities and an authority on American and European political history. Previously a critic, he argues that Trump's second term ambitions should be taken seriously.

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