this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and ben thompson. can the us do a deal with japan? after president trump dumped a key trade deal with asia — the vice president begins a visit to the country to drum up trade — and rebuild bridges. live from london, that's our top story on tuesday 18th april. the americans have also accused japan of currency manipulation. so what are the odds of the two sides achieving a trade deal? also in the programme, a big day for the us financial sector as bank of america and goldman sachs we'll get the lowdown from new york.

could a computer come up with the next big medical breakthrough? we'll meet the man who's using artificial intelligence to try to bush back the boundaries of medical science. and as weetabix fails to take off in china, its chinese owner puts the company up for sale. so today, we want to know, what gets you going in a morning? what's your breakfast wherever in the world you're watching us today? welcome to the programme. of course it has to be a full english! send in your comments. in the last few hours, the us vice president mike pence has

touched down in tokyo where he's meeting with the japanese prime minister shinzo abe. in recent weeks, president trump appears to have softened his stance on trade after taking aim at some of the world's biggest exporters during his election campaign. in the case of japan it has been accused of manipulating its currency for trade advantage —something the japanese have denied. and the trump administration is hoping to reverse the trade deficit between the two nations — which last year stood at around 69 billion dollars. when it comes to their trade relationship the car industry is key, japan currently exports more than a million cars to the u.s every year. while the us only sells around 10,000 vehicles a year injapan. that is something trump wants to change. and his administration is keen to strike what it calls a "balanced and fair " trade agreement with japan which has been given added urgency by america's decision to withdraw from the tra ns—pacific partnership trade deal. with me is dr william arthur,

souteast asia analyst at the geopolitical consultancy, 0xford analytica. taking it back to basics what is interesting, after president trump threw out the ttp, the transpacific partnership deal, that was designed to boost trade, he said, we don't wa nt to boost trade, he said, we don't want that, but we will try to drum up want that, but we will try to drum upa want that, but we will try to drum up a trade deal independently, what is at stake? it is important to bear in mind thatjapan relies upon the united states for its leading export market. there is a lot of impetus behind having deal, it has been scrapped, the united states out of it, united states want to find the next thing that is coming, will they try to salvage some form of the ttp,

that question has been raised, but in the united states case, the question here is how can they keep trading with an important trading partner but at the same time deal with domestic political issues which the trump administration have raised. japan has a massive trade surplus with the united states, we know that, that has angered a lot of americans, when it came to that deal, they said, this isn't fair. there's anything really change in the short—term? the disease et think that japan sells cars to america, what does america sell to japan or southeast asia? the thing to bear in mind is that these are huge investment sites, and the united states is sending some pretty strong signals with this visit to the vice president, showing that they want to try to save the racing chip, they must be very careful how they balance the domestic side and the investment side, if you look at the rhetoric coming out of the administration, what we see is a softening, we are seeing questions about whether you see inflation going on but also, how do we go

ahead and trade better? and you can look at how the trump administration figures in other countries in the region, and the point there is, prospects for some kind of deal coming out of it which would protect the quiche constituencies are quite strong, it is a question of balance. —— protect the key constituencies. i wa nt —— protect the key constituencies. i want a deal which will favour the united states but you will have a deal with japan that you need to work with. really briefly, rest of the region, southeast asia, what is the region, southeast asia, what is the view of other countries there are,japan, justa the view of other countries there are, japan, just a part of that. there are news specifically, they wa nt to there are news specifically, they want to make sure that the ban is strong and japanese investment keeps flowing, japan investing a huge amount in infrastructure in the region, billions of dollars but into that and the us could have a role to play there. what they want to do is to try to salvage something of a regional deal, bear in mind only four southeast asian countries were in the transpacific partnership, so

what the question is is what will be negotiated next. that has a role for china and japan. it'll be interesting to see how that plans out. thank you very much for explaining all of that for us. you can't go far without tipping in new york, and it seems uber is no exception. proposals have been put forward by regulators to force all cab companies that take payment via credit card to offer a tipping option. rival services such as lyft already offer a similar service but uber has always resisted such a move. two easyjet passengers were removed from an overbooked flight and not offered compensation a day after a united airlines passenger was dragged off a plane in the us. the airline failed to tell the passengers who were removed, that they were entitled to an alternative flight on the same day with another carrier or compensation. easyjet has apologised and blamed human error. let's have a look at some of the

stories on the business live page. a lot on there, easy week for economic data to ward the end of the week, a lot of pmi data, we will be talking about that as the week goes on. it is approaching agm season, lots of debate about shareholder revolt when it comes to pay, we will talk about this later with the markets guest but on the business live page, our shareholders limbering up on bosses pay? they have been talking about that on five live. —— are shareholders. we may see some response as far as pay for top bossesis response as far as pay for top bosses is concerned, familiar theme. what is your favourite breakfast? porridge. not a full english. finley properly in the uk, weetabix, it could be sold to a us company, after

reports that chinese owners want to off—load it. —— extremely popular in the uk. interesting story, chinese owners bought the company they said, dude market in china that we could sell this to, and it has not work as they planned. i guess the chinese consumers are a little bit like you, they want a hot breakfast, not a cold one, really, china's bright foods own weetabix, one of the best loved cereal brands in britain, they have confirmed it will be gobbled up by us firm post holdings for 1.8 billion dollars, it has been made in the uk. they are as is is the largest at the time, they have struggled to build a big market share in china, as i mentioned, chinese consumers are a big fan of

hot breakfasts, they prefer hot rice —based breakfast. weetabix double their sales, but the uk accounts for their sales, but the uk accounts for the majority of their business, what we know about is that they are third—largest brand, holding golden crisp. —— what we know about post holdings. i have fruit for brea kfast, holdings. i have fruit for breakfast, and yoghurt. holdings. i have fruit for breakfast, and yoghurtlj holdings. i have fruit for breakfast, and yoghurt. i am so surrounded by healthy people, i bet you go for a run as well! a full english with rice, my hot breakfast repertoire is getting larger by the minute. markets in asia, this is how things went, japan up by one third ofa things went, japan up by one third of a percent, it seems people have decided that the risk element is fading a little when it comes to the geopolitics in the region of asia, north korea very much on the minds of investors globally, hong kong down by over 1%, overnight on wall

street, we saw most of the main markets up. helping asia. wall street, thin trading on monday, shorter day than normal because of the easter weekend. this is europe, first, a look ahead to the big earning stories in banking. last week, both jp morgan earning stories in banking. last week, bothjp morgan chase and citigroup reported earnings and on tuesday we will hear from bank of america and goldman sachs. two things that will boost the earnings for bank of america, stronger trading, because of the record highs seen on us markets, and the higher interest rates means that the banks will have made more money from linking. 0ldman sacks will also see a boost to their earnings, because of strong bond trading and investment banking. really, what investors will want to hear from both banks is an update on any changes to banking rules. —— goldman sachs. the election of president

trump showed a rally, on the expectation that he would roll back some of the rules known as. frank but recently, bank stocks have been pulling back, after not being able to repeal and replace 0bamacare, there are worries that some of the promises made by the trump administration may not end up happening. —— dodd? frank. studio: picking up on some of the things we had there, but talking about the relative calm, talking about the relative calm, talking about the relative calm, talking about the weekend, markets not too concerned about events as far as career is concerned, what is your ta ke career is concerned, what is your take on what they have made of it so far? element of relief, the rhetoric had got worse, the south korean market did not blink, maybe they are farm or used to this nonstop noise from north korea. with complex in his muscles, there was a bit of us

not really expecting potential conflict. —— trump flexing his muscles. there was a certain amount of calm and a few moments as we got over the easter weekend. calm, but also frustration taking in as was hinted, when it comes to the other stuff we want to see trump doing, tax reform, reducing regulation on the banking sector, still nothing. such an interesting point, why do we have this big bounce in market, after trump got in, when people were fearful, it was because he was going to get out and do stuff and what became important and became a focus of helping the us economy infrastructure spend and the big us corporate tax cut, he has failed at health care, and the suggestion is, they are now already talking about delays in the us tax cut, his own party are preventing this, they want to see it funded. the longer this becomes a delay the bigger it becomes a delay the bigger it becomes an issue, google want to see action, they want to see the

infrastructure investment in the states. don't have to be a scientist to realise when you go there, they desperately need it. —— people want to see action. we will get inflation later in the week, this is a global problem, prices rising, wages not keeping up, firms seeing input prices rising sharply, what do we expect? one data point may not show it but absolutely spot on, what we are seeing across the world is inflationary pressures rising, partly due to the end of quantitative easing, we have seen inflation creeping out since the fed stopped that programme, but look at basic quality like leather, things like that, they are rising at a steady, this feeds through to everyday materials, all across the world, not just the everyday materials, all across the world, notjust the uk, we have got inflation problem due to the weaker currency after "brexit", and i expect that you will see this continuously move throughout the year, and unless wages start to move up year, and unless wages start to move up as you are suggesting, we will

see a global consumer income squeeze hitting. one that will affect all of us hitting. one that will affect all of us at some point. breakfast of choice, before you go?|j us at some point. breakfast of choice, before you go? i do sometimes have the other weetabix brand, alpen. muesli! well. all very healthy, except for may! first, before we discuss that, let's talk about something poignant in the uk. credit checks should not be carried out when people are shopping around for a loan — that's according to the tsb. the bank says nearly two thirds of providers carry out such checks, but they can affect a borrower's credit history and increase the cost of the loan — through higher interest charges. paul pester is the chief executive of tsb.

just explain this. many would say it is standard, you apply for credit and you would face a credit check. absolutely not. this is part of a series of underhand tactics the industry uses we think to rip—off consumers to the tune of £400 million a year. why is it an issue? ifa million a year. why is it an issue? if a customer tries to shop for a better loa n if a customer tries to shop for a better loan rate they might ask a providerfor a rate better loan rate they might ask a provider for a rate and another provider for a rate and another providerfor a rate provider for a rate and another provider for a rate and another provider for a rate and they are only asking for a price, not applying for a loan and the loan providers mark the credit file of the customer so that after quotes, they can see the cost of the loan up and we think on average it can increase the cost by two percentage points, that is £400 of extra interest the customer does not need

to pay and it is an underhand tactic we would like to see an end to soon. is it important in the process of trying to find a loan, they do somewhere along the line, affordability and the fact you can pay it back is assessed? it is vital to check a customer's ability to repay. that is helping customers to borrow well but there isa customers to borrow well but there is a subtle and important difference between looking at a credit file as leaving a footprint on the file, effectively because i am asking a price. my file is marked as if i have taken out the loan. if i want a £5,000 loan it looks like i am racking up loans, which is why the rate goes up. which is not necessary. i am told we are out of time which is a shame. but there is detail on the website. the chief executive of tsp, and cued. more detail on the website. one other

story on the tablet, the finance chief on flybe. 0n the business live page. you're watching business live — our top story — the us vice president mike pence is in tokyo. he talking to the prime minister. he'll be pressing the case for a bilateral trade agreement with japan. we will keep you posted. a big holiday for most european markets and this is how they open today. now, we all rely on medicines at one time or another — whether it's to deal with an irritating cough or to tackle something more serious. that's why medical innovation is so important — our lives could literally depend on it. our next guest is using artificial

intelligence to push back the boundaries of medical science. his company — benevolentai — deploys a powerful computer to sift through masses of data at the blink of an eye. the company says the computer makes connections and discoveries it would take scientists many lifetimes to come up with. the company was formed in the uk in 2013 and since then has expanded rapidly. in fact it's now the largest artificial intelligence company in europe. it has struck licence agreements with some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies. benevolentai is working on more effective treatments for diseases like parkinson's and alzheimer's. maybe it can fix the fact i am not speaking well this morning! joining us is kenneth mulvany — he is the co—founder and director of benevolentai. pretty comprehensive run—through of

what you do but i am interested in hearing from yourselves. if someone says what do you do, how do you describe it? you can imagine that a lot of research has gone into understanding the human body and how it works. there are a lot of things we have determined along the way, that are known. but there are unknowns out there. this system ta kes all unknowns out there. this system takes all the things that are known and it deduces this should be known based on what is already known. 0ne way i describe it is you may remember in chemistry classes you have the periodic table. years ago there were big pieces of the table missing. you had characteristics that you knew, for instance the atomic number, how many electrons it would have, just the element had not been found. that is what our system

does, finding things that should be known based on what is known. mixing computer science, maths, medicine, to try to come up with solutions to things such as alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, neurological diseases. where are we with that? when we will we see the results? we have 22 programmes in development. two we have licensed to a big pharmaceutical company in the us. the remaining we are developing. the most advanced is in phase two to treat disease. we are feeling confident with progress. in terms of the speed it took to get there it is more condensed. my last company was a biotech. when he says the last company, he has created and sold 11. 48 years old, a bit of an over achiever in the studio! the business you have now is valued

at over £1 billion. it becomes one of the tech unicorns. is that help or hindrance when it comes to telling people what you do? people say you are fine, you are worth this, you do not need our help? one of the nice things relating in the industry relating to medicine, we do not have to rely on the hype of technology to demonstrate success. it is regulated, the european regulators, fta, require us to prove the biology and toxicology over and again to ensure it is safe. the results become somewhat self evident. the things the pharmaceuticals company understand our underlying product. when it comes to ai, will this be part of the normal process of finding cure

was in the future? it should do and it is important it does. if you imagine the amount of new information created every day, in life sciences alone there are 10,000 new journal life sciences alone there are 10,000 newjournal publications life sciences alone there are 10,000 new journal publications every life sciences alone there are 10,000 newjournal publications every day. it is impossible for any scientist or group it is impossible for any scientist orgroup of it is impossible for any scientist or group of scientists to reach them, let alone retain the knowledge and have it in a collective place. what artificial intelligence technology allows is to absorb all the information and i think we hold over 200 million variables simultaneously in your head. i can hardly hold four. what do you eat for breakfast? porridge. we are the same. bacon and eggs. you have got in touch about your brea kfast have got in touch about your breakfast options. but this is more about how to stay in touch.

the business live pages where you can stay ahead with breaking news and we will keep you up—to—date with details with insight, analysis, with the bbc editors around the world. get involved on the bbc business live web page. a reminder of one story in business, weetabix is up for sale, possibly a us company going to buy the company. post holdings is buying it not from a british company, originally it was an australian invention and came here in the 30s and was made in northamptonshire ever since but in 2012 it was bought by the chinese

who thought they could interest the chinese in eating weetabix for brea kfast chinese in eating weetabix for breakfast and they couldn't. we were speaking to our correspondent in singapore who gave a lowdown on the history. a huge population in china, we can sell it here, it is not working. in 2012 chinese food companies thought china would switch toa companies thought china would switch to a processed carbohydrate rich diet. it has not worked. chinese tastes have lasted centuries. ryan says my breakfast choices odd. it is more like dinner. white castle sliders and mini cheeseburger. he says an extra six hours of sleep, gerald, and then lunch. i am with you, porridge. weetabix with fruit. ricky has three pieces of toast with worcestershire

sauce, tomato and garlic. is that really true, are you teasing? we will not read out the tweets that say they were will have you brea kfast. menswear dilemmas. this is a office where. what shade of denim you should choose. a lot of companies do not have a suit and tie as a common thing. this is tricky. black is ok, yellow? and this is funny. what do you do about the over botoxed chief executive? thanks for your company. we will see you same time tomorrow. enjoy your breakfast. goodbye. the weather is looking quiet through

the rest of the week. most of this dry, with plenty of sunshine. this high—pressure, but a weak weather front bringing thicker cloud. for the majority, a dry weather picture with plenty of sunshine. early—morning cloud with plenty of sunshine. ea rly—morning cloud will clear. with plenty of sunshine. early—morning cloud will clear. it will say breezy across east anglia and southern counties of england. in the sunshine out of the wind, not bad. isolated showers near the coast in east anglia in kent. in northern ireland, the odd spit of rain. it will turn down in the western isles and highlands of scotland later in the day as the wind picks up. 0vernight, the front weakens further

into a strip of cloud working across scotla nd into a strip of cloud working across scotland and northern ireland. that should keep a frost at bay here. further south in england and wales, really cold. temperatures down in the coldest spots 2—5, potentially a damaging frost, so gardeners might ta ke damaging frost, so gardeners might take note and wrap up tender plants. tomorrow, after a cold start, plenty of sunshine in england and wales. behind the front, the skies should brighten up. showers in western areas of scotland. a dry day with temperatures between 12 and 14 degrees. 0n temperatures between 12 and 14 degrees. on thursday, generally dry, cloud for some. welcome to the programme. this morning, it has been called barbaric and a scandal and now we have learned that hundreds of women are suing the nhs and manufacturers of

vaginal mesh implants which has left them unable to walk, work or have sex. i have had over 53 admissions over the last five years, because of agonising pain. my husband has turned into my carer, he is so much less of my husband. we cannot have sex, we have not had sex for four and a half years. it completely my life. i have been left disabled, i am double incontinence, i have no control over my bladder, over my