dollars now straight to. what you just got stuck with the last part of the train you lost a lot of money game stop express and stand for chaman but many day traders appear willing to take the risk now propping up other struggling company of a market increasingly seen as out of touch with main street kristen salumi al jazeera new york. results is there and these are the top stories the new u.s. secretary of state is they dealt how joe biden's administration plans to rebuild tell lies with the rest of the world as anything can says if iran returns to full compliance of the 2015 u.k. agreement the u.s. will also come back to the deal share buttons he has more from washington d.c. . it just isn't clear what the buy did ministrations actually saying because what they had promised on the campaign trail and even said during the transition period was we will go into compliance when iran goes into compliance and roberto's the us

off draw that broke the terms of the deal broke international law by breaking a un ratified treaty or banks the u.s. and the u.n. and iran but on the one hand blinken says that we will get back into the deal we will comply by the demands when iran does but them a few sentences off that always he then goes into great detail about how. iran's compliance will need to be assessed the u.s. has temporarily frozen arms sales to saudi arabia and the u.a.e. anthony pinkins says it's typical for new administrations to review pending sales trump's administration had been doing deals down to the wire including one for 50 f. $35.00 fighter jets from lockheed martin to. joe biden has signed executive orders to address the climate crisis it includes causing fossil fuel subsidies and causing oil and gas leases on federal land and says climate change is at the center of u.s.

national security and foreign policy. hundreds of protesters have clashed with security forces in lebanon as anger rises over haas coronavirus restrictions the devastating economy already on the edge of collapse police in the northern city of tripoli used tear gas and water cannon to beat back protesters who are demanding the government do more. forces in peru a bolstering security at its borders to prevent unlawful migrant crossings trying to stop the spread of coronavirus in the region videogame retailer game stop has read it uses to thank for a soaring share price despite sluggish growth and the poor outlook investors posting on the read a page wall street bets have been aggressively pushing others to buy game stock stock those the headlines news continues here on al-jazeera right after counting the cost to stay with us.

oh i'm fully back to grow this is counting the cost on al-jazeera you look at the world of business and economics this week the trillion dollar man president biden sponsor revive the pandemic in economy plus promises to create millions of new skilled and green jobs and is it too late to reset relationships with old friends after being spurned by trump europe has been pushing through its own economic and geopolitical agenda that could be problematic for biden's administration we'll get

the view from the e.u. when we talk to montana foreign minister nigeria's population will double by the middle of the century can farmers meet the demand the united nations is warning drought and terror attacks could lead to famine in the north of the country. the 1st major legislation for president joe biden unsurprisingly is getting the pandemic under control with a massive injection of money targeting the most needy the headline number $1.00 trillion dollars will go some way to provide an additional shot to the economy but what about his other plans for the economy all joining his campaign tackling inequality and wealth disparities where top of the agenda the selection of his economic team gives us a hint at what to expect janet yellen will be the 1st woman to become the treasury secretary she urged lawmakers to spend big to save the economy and to worry about debt yellen also said corporations and the rich will need to pay their fair share

near a ton dan is the 1st woman of color to head the office of management and budget 10 dan was brought up by a mother who had to rely on food stamps to feed her family after her divorce. and supports a strong social safety net. a day or more nigerian born a day and more will be the 1st black person to serve as deputy treasury secretary he wrote on twitter he wanted to make sure that our economy works not just for the wealthy but for the hard working people who make it one cecilia rules will be the 1st black chair of the council of economic advisors rules is an expert in labor markets and has champions paid sick leave last year nearly $34000000.00 workers about a quarter of the u.s. workforce lacks paid sick leave and according to accountancy firm deloitte the pandemic is going to make us income inequality worse it says the proportion of wealth held by the richest 10 percent has jumped from about 61 percent to 70

percent and for the top one percent it rose from 17 percent to 26 percent that's over the past 30 years while the economy is expected to eke out a small gain for oh 2020 the unemployment rate stood at 6.8 percent in december getting people back into work will be a priority biden has pledged 2 trillion dollars for infrastructure projects to create millions of jobs that includes $1000000.00 jobs in the auto industry as a sector moves to producing electric cars another $250000.00 jobs will be created by capping abandoned oil and natural gas wells and reclaiming abandoned coal hardrock and uranium mines but the most ambitious challenge starts by rejoining the paris climate accord which president delighted in leaving biden is planning to invest $400000000000.00 over 10 years in green technology in the process creating 10000000 jobs while this event like wars pandemics and natural disasters that give

countries to renew and set inequalities right can biden see this ambitious plan through joining me now from oxford england is professor william barnard from death . across the broad he's also the author of dixiecrats and democrats professor bernard thank you for talking to us on counting the cost so what do we learn from the president's selection of his economic team is it business as usual or can we expect greater oversight south the financial sector but i think many of them are very familiar faces i mean he's appointed as secretary of treasury janet yellen has been met with almost universal approval across the political spectrum she has 20 years experience with the fed itself and with the government if she is in the center cisco good and in 4 years as as chair and i think generally looked upon as a very competent individual and one who is perhaps better is best prepared to take over the treasury as anyone in recent history biden try to think to appeal he knows

he has to keep his party you know he tried to peel across the board in his in his appointments. one of one of them the deputy treasury secretary ideato of is a dodger in burra lawyer but he has worked both sides of the on the presidents in that he was he was timothy geithner's. chief of staff in the treasury years ago and they work also with the warren in the consumer finance bureau so he gets along across the board there are some people who've been critical of some of the backgrounds some of the previous statements of some of the appointee but mostly this is a middle of the road left of center group that has appeal pretty much across the political spectrum right and precisely on that i mean working with both sides of the aisle the democrats have a slim majority in the house are you worried that some policy decisions will be bogged down the or even watered down as a result one of the lessons of the reaction to the crisis back in

march and april it was that we did things right for the 1st time in an economic crisis we went both we were big and we weren't quick that. slowdown after the 3rd bill passed and we had some difficulty getting the last bill through it would be difficult i think is a is a hard left but nonetheless i think it's doable we do need in my view interview most economists at it another significant the stimulus package in order to bridge the gap to when the economy recovers after the career of the bar is under control and needs to be relatively big there 'd will be some disagreements with that there already so wrong least particularly in look assertive republican circles and also from so depressed about the size of the debt which is this has grown enormously i mean the response to this economic crisis was an order of magnitude greater than the response back in 20072008908 is we did it right for the 1st time in some time

and it worked well but we need one more push right to get through it it will be difficult to get through a closely divided senate and house right and one of the much anticipated pounds is a 4 interest factor in these usually take a decade or more in planning to completion and so on do you think there are projects that are already shovel ready from a political point of view obviously biden needs to show that jobs are being created a by the time the next election comes around how how will he be able to do that if it. you know we've been talking about a major infrastructure bill for well over a decade the federal highway system which started in the $1000.00 twenties and then in that the sixty's with the interstate highways being built under eisenhower of they need they badly are in need of repair roads and bridges of the country need a great deal of attention we talked about this for some time typically that infrastructure bill received support on both sides of the out of both parties have

an interest in construction jobs in getting the county going 'd all the rest so it is perhaps a little surprising that we haven't been able to do something to this point i think we're at the point where the general recognition is there that and something major needs to be done it will be done whether or not they're not shovel ready the program many of these have been in planning for quite some time it does take some time to get up and going but nonetheless especially needed and i think you will see some national infrastructure a major what this recession what about inequality how do you start to redress inequality i mean as a proposed tax on those who earn more than $400000.00 a year will that be sufficient. you know this is one of the fundamental problems facing all us major every major economy around the work the major advanced economies have all seen a growing disparity in economic wealth within themselves while around the world over the last decade has been much raising up of relatively poor countries and

a leveling of a good deal but within countries particular major best countries is going to growing disparity is where most difficult and entrenched the problems that we face is also one that isn't easily amenable we don't know quite what to do. it is occurred under governments of all stripes left and right they just occurred in almost every advanced country we are a little a little bit see how best to deal with the one thing we can do is not enact tax policies as was done in the 'd last of this regime tax cuts go primarily to the upper. ranks within the income structure of the not enact policies that exacerbate make worse the disparity of income but there are any number of measures including support for education trying to the middle wage increases and the rest that will have to be taken that too is a long term problem and not want easily amenable but what about a wealth tax do you think there should be a while tax on on you know those newly minted tech and i for instance i think there are probably other ways better ways of raising

a significant sums of money well taxes have proven in the past and they've 'd done that is up to a number of countries but particularly in europe not to be particularly effective in generated have been abandoned for some time because that was easy enough to move capital around and. capital flies from one place to another with a bunch of but in these days of so. starr this is certainly the easiest or best way in raising the funds it will be necessary there 'd will be just tax increases to be sure and tax rebalances and all the rest but only. thank you very much professor william bernard for talking to us on counting the cost thank you for your time. now president trump antagonized many of america's traditional allies including the european union they were demands that nato nations should contribute more funding to the military alliance tariffs on steel and as an outgoing solve or more

terrorists on aircrafts while the biden administration would like to reset many of those relationships they are stumbling blocks like the e.u.'s decision to strike an investment agreement with china well let's talk through what the relationship could look like with the minister of foreign affairs and european affairs of malta everest's bartolo foreign minister bartolo thank you very much for talking to us think on counting the cost here at al-jazeera so let's start with the relationship the future relationship between the european union and america the biden administration the new administration in the u.s. has expressed an interest in working closely with its traditional allies i imagine for that that come says a welcome relief for the european union that there's a new administration at the white house yes and even on his 1st day by then the fact that his head will be rejoining the paris agreement on climate change and also regarding the world health organization that is very welcome. at the

same time we must not expect by then to be a miracle worker it doesn't mean that the new administration. it's a new dawn it's a new day but even that new day might have clouds might have storms might have disagreements but the style of why there is totally different disagreements doesn't mean that we turn against each other into enemies we sit down and discuss why it's going to be possible with the biden administration they are disagreements a lot of them on terrorists for instance for the european union i want to know to work closely with the u.s. to return to that old relationship what are the conditions if any probably from both sides in the sense that like for example the vestment agreement with china it also depends on how they by the administration is going to position position itself regarding regarding china. what we expect from the by the new station is to have

a multilateral approach that we can sit down and discuss and not expect the world to simply divide into supporters or opponents right that even when we disagree we can still agree on the european union for instance demand that the u.s. drop the tariffs on the e.u. that the trump administration imposed but i think that the negotiation will show that both sides will have to make major concessions while we talk about this but let's keep in mind that the 1st priority i think of the by the administration is not going to be what happens beyond america's shores but what happens inside the united states because the united states is a broken society there are a lot of important issues that have to be addressed in terms of the effect of the pandemic and also in terms of the wide painful polarization that there is in american society right well let's focus on the e.u.

itself right now it introduced a trillion dollar budget. stimulus 540000000000 for green investment what does that mean to you exactly now i think that is very important i think it's very positive that we are putting together a konami development and what we're going to do about the climate we we have come to a point now it's a tipping point where unless we really take serious it you know steps to deal with the economic and the development of the climate emergency at the same time we will not save the planet. at the moment perhaps the only thing we can do and it's very important even somebody like david attenborough says this we will slow down global warming eventually if we really slow it down we can reverse it we can only do that with the kind of the comic development the model of consumption the model of of production our lifestyle how we travel how we consume and how we produce things so

the fact that we are combining those 2 together and especially this is where perhaps the pandemic is offering us an opportunity because we need to reimagine we need to reinvent our economy and the best way to do it now was to come back ok i know it's a slogan to build back better but the but we really need to do that and it's now it's not a choice anymore it has really become a necessity what is important is that we start taking steps and that it doesn't take too long to make use of these funds because there are countries where it is really a problem thank you very much foreign minister bartolo for talking to us thank you for your time we thank you thank you. now when you think about the nigerian economy we have an oversize you of the oil industry it's a big contributor to the government's revenue but it represents just about 10 percent of the economy about 50 percent of the country's $200000000.00 plus population are dependent on the agriculture industry which represents about

a 5th of the economy but it doesn't bring in the money like oil and is facing some big challenges especially when you think by the middle of the century it would have to feed a population that is likely to double to more than 400000000 right now the united nations has warned north west nigeria is at risk of famine due to the pandemic climate change and violence drought desertification and loss of forests are changing the agricultural landscape threatening the livelihoods of 40000000 people and that's led to clashes between roaming cattle herders and small. family owned farms adding to the problem nigeria's cattle population has doubled to 20000000 since 1981 and. killed dozens of farm workers in retribution for cooperating with the nigerian military attacks on farmers climate change and the pandemic also threatening food reserves the old farmers association of nigeria

warned that declined to less than $30000.00 metric tons a fraction of what it requires to feed the population kabir abraham is the group president of the old farmers association of nigeria. he sat down with a correspondent to talk about the challenges. and government face began by asking him if programmes led by the world bank to reverse the impact of these education and climate change were working. many people all over the world are in denial of especially climate change but they were very conscious of their desire to escape because we're on the energetic public and then all these projects when they come in there's a lot of one work i see in them well aware that they are going on and there's a lot of improvement in our culture in farming the only thing that we have not yet seen is the translation into the yield but that's certainly a lot of what is going on and the impact is felt not 1111 persistent problem

it's been an age long problem the crisis between farmers and cattle herders and their walkable solutions in place to deal with this and how is it impacting the culture you see in nigeria had this problem became what it saw. i believe in the last 20 years and then unfortunately last 20 years. is that peter during which politics came in here's a thought we had a very good relationship between farmers. and pastoralists or harder because we all belong to the same family if you have a heart of cattle or what sheep or whatever you have a farmer so we have in far way there's a lot of synergy between us and the met gala. when i was growing up i used to escort my father to the farm on horseback and there would be this will and the people had been in their hearts very at the border of the farm they will be waiting

for us to finish harvesting they would go in and it's the residue and then the animals. well dr there don't and that's what we use for what lies are so we had a symbiotic relationship we would call what they were merely very small skirmishes at the most you know the the the pastoralists would use the stick you know the stick that they used to call em in now the utah county and then you can just see that the they had suffered the same shit as a problem because the. kidnappers all involved in this whole thing the cattle rustler is not necessarily a huntsman he is somebody who was so hard that he doesn't know so basically are there. things that have been put in place like solutions put in please either by the farmers and hundreds of them 1st oh by the government community to deal with that so many own. efforts by the farmers how does the government

and organizations even so like you as the id and there are so many organizations here in this country that but in the in the peace conference is that we have we have had training by the clinton daily is the truth on money and crisis management with the how does whether the farmers whether i will have started from there we know how to deal with each other how to accommodate each other how to have a synergy between us. it's going on and then the government is doing a program here they call it the. transformation plan where it will say any sense of a sudden rise we had to give them all the facilities that they like and give them education because most of the problem is lack of education so a lot of what is going on it looks like the problem in the agriculture sector are so numerous from the provision of includes the conflict between farmers and herders

. water problems climate change and all that. these government intervention programs to solve these problems working. i believe we can have more like oliver twist we could do more we could do more and there is changes have to work this is the bane of our society the institutions must work under the current president is an epic told me of. what should be in nigeria what do you need people of like mind to work with to achieve all this so that the appointment of people in 2 places was to be looked up on you must not do it because of you know certain varies. maybe oligarchies or. religion or tribes or whatever you must do it or merits you must put the right people in the right place otherwise things will never work you know our diversity we should take advantage of our diversity now in terms of the character of

agriculture in nigeria it looks like agriculture in this country despite the involvement of half the population in this sector is not as productive when compared to states like countries like the united states where hundreds of billions of dollars is being contributed by the agriculture sector to the american economy for example but here in nigeria and as in many other african countries the opposite is you're saying why is this so many reasons 150 years ago. agriculture was the same here as in the united states. but what do you know these mechanization know there's a lot of research. so so and the yield is higher so the population of farmers in the united states is now barely 2 percent because of the condition replacement of human labor with. mushy labor and then

a lot of where there is any such findings have been put in place so productivity is high up there for agriculture isn't the contributions of g.d.p. in nigeria even when we used to rudeness on we had lived on agriculture there is no reason why we shouldn't. do that again and this is why we are here today we are trying to restore the dignity of agriculture and nigeria is going to do it sounds to the focus of this administration what do we need this policy. to continue not we don't want to hug breaks in the policy because it is a change in government it was we do that in africa you'll get the big stones in europe i mean in the u.k. forrestal we used to go there every hour for the royal albert hall in england the population of rama's about 30 percent interest about 3 percent what they used to be as high as we have today so this is what your brothers and we hope that things will

get there what do we need for cause we need a reappraisal we nearly all tradition and we need to recognize and to recognize we do not have to import wolseley what is available abroad we must use i was our technology integration center to repair what was going back and revise and build certain things that are indigenous people that will improve our agriculture look at brazil here were told russell was a proud world country but other cultures maybe something else because they're looking inwards and they're producing a lot and they're now if what we thank you so much thank you very much. and that is our show for this week get in touch with us by tweeting me falling back a g.e. and to use the hash tag 80 feet and see when you get old drop us an e-mail counting the cost that al-jazeera dot net is. there's more for you online at al-jazeera dot com fast e.t.c. that will take you straight to our page which has entire episode for you to watch

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