the the, [000:00:00;00] the hello i'm adrian said again, this is counting the cost on, i'll just see, or you'll, we can look at the business of economics this week. a good deal or distortion. ukraine has agreed to con, access to

a revenue from it's mineral wealth to the us boss. when it gets up a ton of the deal, help washington reduce its dependents on china. germany is stocked in stock nation manufacturing. the main driver of its economy is puncturing. so installations, business model and zane sort of breaking up kind of new tough much success. the possibility of this, i'm asked more from the combined wells to book the choice of the world's population . and that isn't just the 1st month of the year. so what's behind the extreme inequality gap of china? the bridge the they are seen as a foundation of the economy of the future. critical minerals are crucial for the production of high tech products, including electric vehicles, mobile phones, a on infrastructure and weapons. it's estimated that maybe 5 percent of the world's ro elements are renew, crane keeps agreed to jointly develop its riches, including oil and gas,

with the us and setup an investment fund. so ukraine's reconstruction to crane also once guarantees on secure seats of money for weapons. the u. s. wants to break china is grip on the wells middle supply chains. boss. what does that deal will be signed remains to be seen off to the route between the leaders of the 2 nations at the white house. alexandra bias reports for decades, ukraine's been known as the bread basket of europe. but it's also one of the continents, most mineral rich nations, holding vast reserves of elements needed to power technology like lithium and titanium. essential for batteries, aviation, and military industries. anything with a micro chip needs a rare earth mineral, and rapid advances are powering a global raise to develop and source these key raw materials. on the ground beneath ukraine is believed to hold 5 percent of the world's total reserves worth an

estimated 12 trillion dollars. the u. s. has just a fraction of that. and for years china has been the world's number one supplier for america, the world's biggest economy, that's become more and more of a problem. it's as you can on a national security risk. they all know so many american accompanies war to mine and produce rats within the us. and in order to avoid, the chinese will take over britain and rat of commodities and build up potentials mine. there is an option for the americans, but more than half of those deposits are now in russian occupied territory where the worst of the fighting still rages. last year, the ukrainian president presented a victory plan to western partners. foreign firms could gain access to that mineral wealth in exchange for continued support and help bringing an end to the war to

meet what on the maya, these deposits are priceless. they with huge amounts of money is huge. that is why we need to protect it. so if we're talking about the deal, that's what the americans wants, then let's do a deal. us president donald trump has been pushing for access, but he wanted it to be in return for aid. he claims the us has already given keys by the way, throwing money around like it's cotton, candy. and it's a, it's a very big deal. it could, it could be a trillion dollar deal. it could be whatever, but it's rivers and other things. and even to the lensky refuse to sign an agreement that would have given the us $500000000000.00 worth of ukraine's resource wealth, but no security guarantees. but then democratic republic of congo and russia made offers of their own mix. that's a good yes. yes. to us, we will be ready to all follow american partners when i say partners,

i mean not certainly governmental and administrative structures, but also companies an opportunity for joint work if they showed interest. we on file to be have significantly more results of this kind of then ukraine. trump says he'd be willing to do deals with russia to only out into european fears over warming ties between washington and moscow. the minerals deal is at the heart of zelinski is pushed to win us support. he's made it clear, his priority is peace and security for his country, but any agreement has to benefit both sides and protect the future of generations of ukrainians. alexander buyers, alda 0 for counting the cost of a full, that contentious meeting between the us president donald trump, a new brains president for a lot of me is landscape. so place. i spoke with griffin bhaskar, and she's the director of the critical mineral security program at the center for strategic and international studies. i began by asking if it was

a win win for both sides, or if you train is being exploited, does it have a choice? i asked, thank you so much for having me here today. it's definitely a very exciting time in the world of minerals diplomacy. so i think there's one really big point worth noting, which is that the deal now looks very different to the deal that was going to initially be negotiated originally. for example, president trump wanted to re be repaid for $500000000000.00 of military and a through you don't mineral resources. however, there was a lot of controversy around and figure pressing zelinski wouldn't agree to it because he said, well, we haven't spent, you haven't given us a 500000000000. we know that figure to be closer to a 128000000000. now present zelinski however, didn't see any sir security guarantees included which he was really hoping for. so the final agreement is a much softer landing spot that you know, a fund will be set up. we're future resources, so not things that are currently being mind. but future resources,

50 percent of the revenue, the generate will go into the fund. but again, it can be use for investment and ukraine. personally, while i think that you know, present the landscape didn't really have a choice if you wanted to continue kind of having the support he needs in, in the face of conflict. but i do think that he came out with a much better deal. the us is not going to secure minerals from this in the next year or 2, because he negotiated that it's only for future asset. that means that not only do we sold a lot of mapping to do of ukraine, but on average from the time that we identify a deposit to the time that it's producing is 18 years. so the us is kind of in it for the long run here, but in a shorter term, president lensky has an agreement with support from the us. is there any kind of precedent for this sort of deal hasn't been done before? you know, it's not really a tool out of the u. s. foreign policy play. but, but what we've seen is already that president trump has a very,

aggressively incorporated minerals into foreign policy. annex and research canada going after greenland for rent or is ukraine for. there is precedent for other countries, however, so when we look at the democratic republic of congo, back in 2007 after the conflict, trying to negotiate a $3000000000.00 infrastructure deal, whereby they gave the t or c $3000000000.00 in exchange for night for access to $93000000000.00 a cobol and copper and coal lazy. and obviously we've seen that the geography is become of, it's been a very strategic place for china where they've established that dominant. so there's some precedent elsewhere, but it's new for america. what are the implications of the fact that many of these minerals are under territories that is currently occupied by russia? so there's a lot of minerals and occupied land. there's a lot of minerals non occupied land, so there's minerals all around ukraine. ukraine is mineral rich. you have a country that has about point 4 percent of the world land and 5 percent of the

world's resources. now it's important to note a couple of things. one of the big, big red flags that you know, we've seen in the last couple days is that present who is looking to cut his own minerals deal, not only with minerals and russia, but in russian occupied territory. that's not actually his own. done, guys has a lot of resources, but we know at least a 3rd of which sits on that land is probably cold, which is a little bit less of a resource that you know are chasing after you know, fiercely at this moment. but more broadly is the resources are across ukraine. the question is, is, will the private sector go and given the challenges on the land? and if the us is able to source these resources from ukraine, what does this mean for china? ultimately, china has currently we're going to, let's look at rear versus an example, because it's, we are a lot of the, the rhetoric is focused in the negotiations. rivers, obviously being vital for, you know, national security because they're in defense technologies. it'd be

a semi conductors and energy technologies like wind turbines. china currently hold processing capabilities for 90 percent of the world's rare earth, but they don't actually have gone much. they have about a 4th of the world's rivers, and then they strategically source from across the world and process them. a project like this starts to create a comp competitor, rare or is processing facilities are extremely expensive to build. but in the last 5 years, the us government has spent $300000000.00 under trump one invited to build rare or separation facilities in texas in california. however, because we have less than 1.5 percent of those are rare. are we are sourcing them, are looking to source and from other places. what we're hoping to do is have an alternate supply to china. the china will still be dominant for many decades to come. grace on it's been great to talk to your account and the cost manufacture date for being with us. thank you for having me. the german economy, the world's 3rd largest,

was once the n v of europe. it's now seeing global rivals waste positive g d p has barely grown since the pandemic and the nation has been a recession for the past 2 years. the manufacturing sector, which was traditionally considered europe's powerhouse, is faltering exports are fully and companies are flushing thousands of jobs as they struggle with rising costs. many experts say the german economic business model is broken, but it will discuss start with, i guess shortly. but 1st on it came reports from the city of bites, law, as the crowd is continental workers gathers outside the workplace and vets. not many of them have been told the jobs that the composite jobs are going, although they are trying to fight the decision. this is last year we still felt about $300.00 employees. we'd be transferred to other locations. button house in frankfort. i've been in january. the decision was made not to do that anymore. it's

a completely eliminate over jobs here. which means that police outlook for many of these people and look, all the people have a full house is all made plans, people's lives and families depend on it. and it's hoping white doubts and one stroke because that's done like everyone else. i'm losing my job. i started training here and never imagined this. i thought i could carry on working here for a while because i was enjoying it and it was going well. the job losses. here are some domestic of the problems. the fulton, most of industry is being facing in recent times. it doesn't stop that. many german industries are struggling to remain competitive with millions of people unemployed and millions more worried about the future. at the time when germany is falling behind a new technologies, while labor costs remain high, many german experts say the economy is stagnating. so what kind of incoming

government do about it? so i think the great expectation of german phone says that he has a more to the he can with policy. so when we look at the policy last month's research, we have seen a lot of uncertainty among firms and firms are looking forward to see a picture of this perspective policy. that's what firms are looking for. the political policies agree something must be done, but not more dominant came out as era in western germany. a joining us now from brussels is natasha as bile. he is director and senior economist at the european center of international political economy. good to have you with us again because the incoming government certainly has a lot on its plates. what should its priorities be? economically speaking of the city you is in the driving seat and you know, having a coalition negotiation with the social democrats,

much of what it will be suggesting real strongly rely on his agenda 20 for t which for sees tax cuts. it cuts um a good next ation of pre roll chrissy. a few tweaks here and there is concerns the single market and it will be very challenging to press through these, the monster with his own democrats in my eyes. we should not so much talk about that, but x ation of the depth rate, but really as to why for cold, potentially unprecedented reforms, meaning that structural reforms should be set on the very up on the priority list of reforms takes costs for workers, takes costs for businesses reduction, social security contributions, energy security are leading to the lower energy prices compared to what we see right now. all that will be where we hots too small. oh, for the social democrats,

but i think this is watch digit them in government. the next german government, it's a real the, the next german government composed by the conservatives and it's over democrats. needs to, to do is to push for some of the times. what's going wrong. fortunately is the german economic model broken? why has joined the industry failed to remain competitive? yeah. okay, i'd be a small company company economic model. it's of course, a big feeling these days in germany being widely discussed, many germans, my fellow citizens here in germany. they are very much concerned about the state of germany's economy and where it is heading to in the future. i wouldn't say that everything is bad, so we still have many companies that do well. export companies, service a sector companies, smaller, medium sized companies, including large companies that are still leading in global of nation markets. we

still have a well functioning labor market, high employment, rising view of wages. but at the same time, over the past 12 months or so, we've seen many projects, ship companies, you know, the big names and it wants to manufacturing the big names in germany's automotive industry. starting to lay off people in germany starting to close down. barnes and not only postponing investments in germany, but also announcing that they will in the future interest more outside bureau then in your own country, off at warner, and many people in germany, hearing these stories, they are increasing the feeling insecure. do you see germany returning to its, its status as the economic powerhouse of, of you or any time soon?

the journey will most likely be main economic powerhouse of europe. but it will never get back into position that, you know, it's, it how in the decades full like world war 2, the growth has changed. so germany will probably manage to main, maintain a south industrial base. there will be a few industrial leaders here and there and menu fix during the automotive industry to services industry. but global competition is going to intensify for there will be much more internationally competitive companies that will be much more competitive than germany companies alone for the reason that companies in these 2 jurisdictions, china and the united states, they have in front of their doors strip a large single market where companies can scale to competitive nose to international competitiveness. and that's a very different story in germany. we do not have

a single mama to you because manufacturing date to be with us on catching the cost super. thank you very much. what i mean? well, i'll jump it is economy as faltering portugal is expected to be a clear out performer in europe. this year. economic growth is accelerating, mainly driven by the tourism industry. the nation's aiming to attract foreign investment to grow its economy even further. however, like the rest of the e u, it faces potential us terrace, the portuguese permit us to have slammed donald trump strengths. but how much cloud does portugal really have globally? i spoke earlier with ricardo out all coffee chapman and c o. i set the portuguese trade and investment agency. i began by asking him the very question we are rising enough terms of our importance on the level sites. indeed, portugal today can be a platform for global outreach. so many different countries may different customers . we have the traditional sectors which we have specialize over the previous

decades. and at the same time we have increasingly use sectors which are more than izing, which are becoming ever more competitive onto the national scene. so at this current time, i think the push to as a no great opportunity to bridge that road from being a great risk destination into being also a very good place. excellent place to do business. you export more to germany than you. it was how important to portugal is, is germany as an economy. how important do you think germany is still to the you in terms of economic, a gross quote. germany is obviously still a major power house in terms of the economy and will remain. so because the i was gonna say you, you say it will remain. so do you, do you think you really can't we just have the election? yes. vehicle. so what do you think the priorities which for germany's new government will be well approached in germany is more or less than common seen around europe. europe for the, you know, previous seconds has specialized in the so called mid technologies. and the challenge for european countries is indeed to migrate some mist acknowledges into

high technology in which the u. s. in china has been able to focus more in the recent sort of past. although when you look at the conceptual condition and background conditions, what you'll see is that in the, in europe, you have highly qualified people and you have a borderless market in the you. so it's a huge market. and then you have these countries that provides a sports will not provide plucking for other customers for other in, you know, regions of the world where they are comfortable affinities, where there is, uh, their passports, the length. and that in that process perspective, i think that there is a competitive force and who remain. so that's obviously we have to have more investments and then these frontier technology concepts and that'll technology assess and synthetic biology such as robotics such as a i know the things that to the public perception today associates more with the us in china. but that indeed in portugal, and now overall across here, we can also do totes, you go, may be a dynamic, expand the growing economy right now. i mean, can, can not be said the whole of the you to a certain extent, as you say,

is playing catch up behind the us and china kind of ever, you think, be equal in terms of economic talents of the us and china. well, we all understand that to the admins that says the background, the deal is different from the west and always it's in china as well. so there are the think us in europe that must always be uh, you know, understood. but that said, what we see in portugal is that, you know, the export side of our economy has gone from 30 percent of g d p to you to go to 60 percent the g d p. as of today, you know, the form direct investment is still confused to flow. and indeed in the past, the recent past we've been able to track investments from countries that until now we're not, you know, having portugal really on their radar. and that today's the, our president trump seems intent on offending will economic or just political see that as a price or an opportunity. while we see that the current trade between us in europe

is very dynamic between the 2 countries. so we have the most favored nation principal. so basically we have very little terrace from both sides. and so there's nothing to reciprocate about. and, but indeed, what you see is that the, the linkages, economic linkages between the 2 constants are very strong. so you don't see president trump's make america great again, protectionist policies as dangerous in any way. i think that said, well should remain, uh, you know, as cooperative as possible. so free trade benefits all in the and then trade protection. and as you read, tells us that as history has told us, is indeed a tax on the companies on consumers. so unfortunately, we strive to remain open very friendly and attract some smart as well. because it's been great to talk to you on counting the cost many things to the for the wireless . thank you. in 2024 on average of really for new 1000000000 is we're meant it each week bringing the total to move in $2700.00 super rich people globally. the wealth

is ballooning. it searched by $314000000000.00 in january alone. that's an increase of $10000000000.00 a day. that's more than the combined wealth of 2800000000 people who make up the poor us 3rd of humanity. the text, the super rich movement says that it would take $15000000.00 work cuz i didn't tie a year to collectively. and that same amount of money, or more than $50.00 international organizations, a cooling on g 20 of months to follow through on the pledge to ensure the super rich of text. last year, the group's finance ministers agreed to cooperate to tax the wealthy more fairly. the organizations also urging g 20 leaders to invest the billions of dollars raised in tackling poverty, climate crises, and ending extreme inequality. south africa, which now hose the g 20 presidency. that's cool for it. quality reduction to be placed, the costs of economic policy making. joining us now from grand canal area is alex

called him, he's the chief executive of the tex justice. that was good to have you with this alex. why is it the fortunate few have been able to a mass such a huge amount of wealth? you know, we live in a, a time when compared to 50 or a 2 years ago. we've seen this public narrative pushed by, you know, the corporate little bit. yes. and then we'll see individuals particularly controlling large parts of the media. but somehow we need very significant extreme wells in order for our economies to work better and thoughtful the evidence shows exactly the opposite. our economies work best to deliver stronger grows better outcomes, process human beings when we have lower inequality. and that's why we used to have a very high marginal tax rates on extreme wells, on very large and corporate profit rates as high as 1890 percent. even in some

countries they've come right that we've had this race to the bottom of a decades, particularly since the 1980 twos may affect to that is not the we've seen a high growth of course we haven't in front of in growth has slowed them. stagnated . over that period, what we've seen is a wrong using run print in a quality used in a qualities that are associated with all sorts of worst comes for us as societies, including fulls and life expectancy. and, and reductions in the race to progress on things like public education, availability. this in the quality of the sensitive and the qualities laid by the extreme wolves of a busy. this is really damaging of societies and increasingly not a we see it damaging of democracy. is to, you only have to look at around the world to see a set of countries where that political power associated with the extreme wealth

ability to is it really starting to undermine all of our abilities to choose governments and to hold those customers to account. so how do you go about texting the super rich, when wealthy individuals are able to hide the wells across various jurisdictions, and then incredibly complicated financial structures, an, an attack savings? how do you get rid of tech savings? so look at all of these issues are about basic transparency. all we able to see who is the ultimate beneficial under the won't let each shipment be behind a company or a trust or a foundation of a partnership or another legal data. once we have that information in the public domain, then we come through all of this. it's almost impossible for places to produce less tax havens. you know, cuz it's not just offering

a low tax rate to money that's being brought from somewhere else. it's. it's ensuring secrecy. so the potential thursdays in those other countries count, see who the owner is. if we end up secrecy we, we really talk sort of this. so that means we need public registers of the beneficial evidence of companies. every company that the set top or trust of the other legal vehicles. and so we need that information in the public domain. and look, we need that publicly, anybody because markets don't work best to win some of the participants in markets or hiding through. they all, you know, we know this is a recipe for corruption and market reading and so on. so both for the market and for the state to work properly for states to be able to tax everybody fairly, instead of letting some of the wealthiest people step out of the tax ation. even that's they benefit from being talked about societies and simply isn't sustainable . and you know, the say they,

they don't you able to really address those qualities is by ensuring transparency and making sure that goes across jurisdiction. alex has been great to have you on counting the cost many, thanks indeed for being with us. thanks very much. i. and that's a show for this week if you'd like to comments on anything that you've seen, i'm at a set of goods on x. trying to remember to use the hash tag h a c t c, or you could drop us a line, comes in the cost of l, just 0. don't net is our email address. as always, there's plenty more of your online account 0 dot com slash ctc. that takes you straight to our page. today you'll find individual reports links at a time additions for you to capture. but that's it for this edition of counting the cost. i'm adrian, so they've gone from a whole team here. and so how, thanks for being with us. the news on al jazeera is next the economic collapse, the east of domains and the civil war. i just want to be clear,

i read opposing the roger parts of the why were you at the but they found even to, you know, we need to finish that. is it on the know, did you really? that's what allegations the new to the movie has son goes head to head with for mr . and i can president, reino, but congress thing go i am the mean for the day before you were born. i know we so much i called of the problem at the head on al jazeera ton is call me this policy is missing in the aging to set out his priorities for the yes. how, who the world's 2nd largest academy. we actually some trades hired some post 5 of us and what direction will it take to manage the worlds fastest aged supplements? special coverage of trying to send me to sessions on this. one out of the pod came into these dates, new military abuse, poco around somebody, month at all. there's no, you know, character, we don't do such facing reality. how do you reconcile your needs for a security perspective with the human rights folks and everybody who wants to come

to portland can do that, but we expect that person to accept our rooms, thought provoking on north korea with those extend. now korea is the mirror of what do we need to avoid in the case of you hear the story on talk to how does era the the you're watching the news, our life or my headquarters and don't mind getting obligate or coming up in the next 60 minutes you as president, donald trump says who's just getting started in a speech to congress, ranging from tariffs to greenland to ukraine. era believes leader is propose a 5 year plan to rebuild the gauze off while it is really blockade on food medicine