this is business live from bbc news with ben bland and jamie robertson. changing china — the party in charge of the world's second biggest economy renews its promises of reform. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday, 18th october. xijinping says china will it make it easier for foreigners to invest in the country and it won't "close its doors to the world". also in the programme, the anglo—australian mining giant rio tinto and two former executives are charged with fraud in the us over african coal assets. we will be looking at how the markets are doing at the start of the trading day. and we'll be getting the inside track on the company promising high end tequila at an affordable price

and without a hangover! the woman behind it, you may recognise, the former actress cleo rocos. we want to know — how much do you rely on online reviews? it's after a row between a us mattress—maker and a site that reviews them. let us know whether you pay attention to other people's reviews and do you leave your own? just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. if you are leaving reviews about the programme, i just hope if you are leaving reviews about the programme, ijust hope they're kind, 0k! china is the world's second biggest economy and whilst it's still some way behind the united states what happens there matters to all of us. which is why the words of xi jinping at the opening of the communist party congress are being closely scrutinised. he has pledged to continue reforming

china and it's economy over the next five years by opening it up to foreigners and focusing on high quality rather than high—speed economic growth. in the first half of this year the economy grew by 6.9% — that is above the 6.5% the government target and the ruling party are keen to make sure that robust growth continues. when you couple that with population growth of 0.5%, it means living standards are on the rise and that good for the communist party because it helps to ensure political stability. however, there are problems. debt is one of the biggest. it's estimated to be more than two and a half times the size of the entire chinese economy. part of that has been driven by a huge boom in property prices. however, the latest numbers show that slowing in august when the average increase for new homes in 70 major

cities was just 0.2%. the idea of boosting the economy has also seen repeated pledges to open up to foreign investors. last year foreign direct investment was down 1% at $134 billion. our correspondent robin brant is was listening to mr xi's speech in beijing. what did he say about the economy? he seems to be keen on continuing the reforms, continuing to keep it an open economy and to be dedicated toa an open economy and to be dedicated to a free—market? an open economy and to be dedicated to a free-market? well, yeah, you say continuing and you know this was the man who went to davos earlier in the man who went to davos earlier in the year in the first few weeks of the year in the first few weeks of the trump administration and tried to paint himself as the voice of openness, open economies in the world. there are many though who question the reality about that. i

mean china still has a very significant role for the state sector in it's economy. it is becoming more a consumption—led economy, but the banks, construction, railways, lots of industries are dominated by huge state owned entities and when you talk to americans for instance, who have had a very long corporate history of investing here in china particularly in automotive, they complain about what they say is a lack of res prosity. they complain about the chinese insistence if you wa nt to about the chinese insistence if you want to invest in china and feed the market of one billion plus, the technology transfer is important and finding a local partner, investing injoint ventures. so finding a local partner, investing in joint ventures. so the talk of an open economy is much questioned by many outside of china, some inside china as well. on economic growth, china as well. on economic growth, china remains robust, growing 6.7%. the trend is slowing, but nonetheless, those are figures that

many in the western economies look upon with huge envy, but i think it's clear that leadership of the communist party of this government are accepting that things are slowing down. that's a price worth paying. they can't keep on pumping more liquidity into the economy, that happened in 2016, but it is how that happened in 2016, but it is how thatis that happened in 2016, but it is how that is managed. is it done with a sense of stability particularly when it comes to consolidation trying to reform some of the big state owned entities and moving people from some jobs into different parts of the economy and newer parts of the economy and newer parts of the economy and newer parts of the economy and more sustainable parts of the economy? there has been a huge amount of talk about corruption. now, corruption like apple pie and motherhood is something, i suppose they are against it, unlike apple pie, but we are against it, but on the other hand,it are against it, but on the other hand, it has really upset the apple ca rt hand, it has really upset the apple cart ina hand, it has really upset the apple cart in a way in china. it has been an upsetter for foreign businesses doing business there? yes, it has.

but there is a sense as well that, corruption has always been imbued in modern chinese politics when it comes to the communist party. many people joined the party to get ahead, through connections or through more corrupt practises. by the time xijinping through more corrupt practises. by the time xi jinping came to power, there was a sense that things had got out of control and poisoned the party and began to delegitimise it. the communist party rules because it says we are above everybody else that gives us a right to rule and five years ago, i think, that was beginning to crumble. so xijinping made it a priority in that sense, but he used it as a tool of control over his political rivals, but you talk to, as i do often in shanghai where i live and work, to foreign investors, americans, the brits, african, investors and all of them, nod, of course, to the unique way of doing business in this country. robin, thank you very much. robin

brant, thank you very much indeed for that. what have you got against mother hood and apple pie?|j what have you got against mother hood and apple pie? i got confused with my analogy there as you noticed! let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the head of amazon's film and television arm, amazon studios, has resigned after being accused of harassing a producer. roy price had also been facing claims that he had ignored an actor's allegation that she'd been sexually assaulted by harvey weinstein. mr price has yet to comment. meanwhile harvey weinstein has resigned from the board of his film production firm the weinstein company. he's facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment but he insists any sexual relations he had were consensual. he reportedly still owns more than a fifth of the company. trade ministers from the united states, mexico and canada have agreed to a fifth round of talks to revise their 23—year—old trade pact. they'll pick up again where they left off in the early

part of 2018 after all parties remain far apart on key issues. a us federaljudge has largely blocked the latest version of president trump's travel ban hours before it was due to come into force. thejudge in hawaii said the ban broke us immigration law. the white house said that his ruling was flawed. the anglo—australian mining giant rio tinto and two of its former executives have been charged with fraud in the united states. the firm denies trying to cover—up multi—billion dollar losses in its investments in africa. a failure to meet uk rules on disclosure has also led to a fine of £27 million over the same deal — that's about $35.5 million. hywel griffith is in sydney with more details. rio tinto bought the assets back in 2011 for $3.7 billion. it is alleged they realised soon afterwards they

paid over the odds. there was less coal than anticipated. the quality of the coal wasn't as good as they hoped and they planned to transport it by barge was opposed by the mozambique authorities. they didn't pass on the information to the investors. they lied to cover their own backs. now, the assets were sold on forjust $50 million in 2014. the chief executive and the chief financial officer lost theirjobs, but now the authorities in the us are going after them alleging fraud. now, all the parties involved deny the allegations, rio tinto says it will defend its reputation. the markets. the rally on global markets slowed in asia on wednesday after another record on wall street as eyes turn to a key meeting of china's leadership. the dow and s&p 500 closed at new all—time highs following solid results from big firms including johnson & johnson and goldman sachs which reinforced confidence

across trading floors. on currency markets, the dollar was holding its gains against the pound owing to brexit uncertainty and fading expectations of a bank of england interest rate hike, despite inflation in the uk hitting a more than five—year high. oil prices rose following data showing a drop in us stockpiles and with the commodity continuing to get support from ongoing battles between iraqi and kurdish forces in the disputed northern iraq province of kirkuk. the european markets have been open for over 40 minutes. that's now they are looking across the main benchmarks. the ftse 100 are looking across the main benchmarks. the ftse100 in london outperforming the frankfurt and the paris markets. and samira hussain has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. a few companies will be reporting earnings on wednesday including united airlines. it will be interesting to see how the airline

managed to weather the deadly hurricanes this season which led to more than 7400 flight cancellations. american express is expected to report somewhat upbeat earnings for the quarter due to accelerating growth. that said, revenues maybe off set by higher rewards and marketing spends in the wake of ongoing competition. and outside of earnings, the federal reserve will release its beige book and that's a snapshot on the health of the us economy and it is derived from the central bank's sources from across the country. the fed still appears on course to raise interest rates again in december despite muted inflation. and fed chairjanet yelland said on sunday that wage gains in september were encouraging. joining us is michael hewson, chief market analyst at cmc markets. let's look east wards to china. the national party congress, the communist party congress, is it

something the markets are paying attention to? i think it is on this occasion because i think it will layout a road map for president xi with respect to the outwardness of the chinese economy and whether they are going to be much more inclined or disposed to inward investment. i think one of the key criticisms of european leaders has been the fact that they haven't been particularly open when it comes to inward investment into the company and what we are looking for is to see whether or not the economic growth that we have seen over the course of the past five years will translate into the next five years. i have got stats here. china, world leader in solar power, world leader in wind power. they've built nearly 22,000 miles of high—speed rail in the last ten yea rs miles of high—speed rail in the last ten years and are looking to build another 8,000 kilometres of high—speed rail over the next five yea rs. high—speed rail over the next five years. so, massive amounts of expenditure going into infrastructure. michael, can ijust

ask you, jamie asked you to cast your eyes east, can i ask you to cast your eyes west. sometimes it feels like we could rename this slot the record high slot! today is no exception. it is not hard to see why. i often get asked this question why. i often get asked this question why are markets continuing to go higher? we are over due a correction. it is simple. there is nowhere else you can put your money. every time we have had a market correction in the past, bond yields have been higher. they are anchored to the floor, unless we get a significant shock to the system, i think the likelihood is that they will continue to go higher because there is no where else to put your money. we had goldman sachs yesterday and johnson & johnson, good numbers coming out. it's not as though this is a bubble, completely, is it? no, it's not. but you have got to look at the valuations on a historical basis. on a historical

basis, the snp is trading at record highs. you have to put it in the context of where bond yields are and interest rates are. there is nowhere else to put your money. michael, thank you very much indeed for that. we will be back and we will talk about the newspapers in about ten minutes time. still to come: we'll speak to the company promising high end tequila at an affordable price and without a hangover. it can't be true! you're with business live from bbc news. amazon and ebay are profiting from sellers who defraud uk taxpayers by failing to charge vat. that's one of the main findings of a report by parliament's the main findings of a report by pa rliament‘s public accounts committee which says her majesty's revenue and customs authorities have been too cautious in pursuing fraudsters. meg hillierjoins us now. where does

the blame lie for this? is it hmrc and what about the websites for market places? we think that the hmrc is slow to act. we think there is an onus on the market places because they are not just the market places because they are notjust an the market places because they are not just an online facility. for the big ones, they have what they call fulfilment houses or warehouses so you don't just click fulfilment houses or warehouses so you don'tjust click and buy through the website, they ship it to you physically as well. they have got a lot of investment in the process, in the companies that sell on their platform and we think they need to step up to the mark. you have been talking about this since 2013 and nothing's been done. why do you think something might be done now? 1 £5 billion is a lot of money. it's been relative to the tax gap which is over £30 billion. it seems small fry and very challenging to be fair in modern world, co nsta ntly to be fair in modern world, constantly to chase down the people who want to constantly defraud the system, companies that choose to defraud the system. safeguards could

be put in, just as if you were a seller to get on to a platform, you have to prove things. they take their commission, remember, there is a mechanism for them to take the vat where it's due and there'll always be hard cases about better cooperation hopefully between the platforms and hmrc to track down the wilful non—payers. platforms and hmrc to track down the wilful non-payers. you say it's costing business as well as notjust hmrc? yes. this was the heart wrenching part of the inquiry. we spoke to businesses that were going to the wall as a result. it's stepped up, particularly from china, since 2014, and businesses had to lay—off staff, they have gone to the wall or had the shrink down to their spare bedroom to run a profitable business because if something is cheap online it's often for a reason and in this case it's because the businesses aren't paying their 20% and asa businesses aren't paying their 20% and as a result businesses have suffered who're paying and that's not fair. shares in flybe have dived. there

could be a rise in maintenance costs. that is the reason for that. you're watching business live — our top story. china have said they are open to further opening up to foreign investors. a quick up to foreign investors. this is how the european markets look. the pound is stable. how do you move from tv to tequila? today's inside track is cleo rocos was once famous as the glamorous sidekick of british tv comedian kenny everett. but she's now the boss of tequila producer aqua riva. the firm was founded five years ago,

aimed at customers wanting an affordable, high—end tequila without the hangover! tequila's come a long way, from a hangover—inducing margarita laiden with salt and lime, to premium product with booming sales. in the uk alone, sales are up by a third to £173 million or $228 million. in the us, there's been a big rise in demand for premium tequila. that's the reason drinks giants arejumping on board — this year diageo bought george clooney‘s upmarket casamigo brand for $1billion, while france's pernod ricard invested in another premium tequila brand. let us have a look at this with cleo rocos. why did you found this

business? was it because you saw a booming market? not at all. i, like most others, had the most horrific first experience on tequila and would never go near it. about 16 yea rs would never go near it. about 16 years ago, i was many mexico and saw this really elegant and dynamic lady in her 60s sitting by the pool at a small hotel i was staying at. she was drawing and chatting campily and laughing on the phone and she had a floaty chiffon dress and looked sensational. i thought she must be the editor of mexican vogue and she kept drinking from long, thin flutes andi kept drinking from long, thin flutes and i saw her have six or seven and i asked the waiter what she was drinking. he said she's drinking tequila and i said she can't possibly ba because she would be dead by now on my person experience of the college tequila days, you know. i asked of the college tequila days, you know. iasked her to of the college tequila days, you know. i asked her to bring what she was drinking and it's the first time

i ever tasted 100% tequila, the real deal tequila and i just fell i ever tasted 100% tequila, the real deal tequila and ijust fell in love with it. i went to learn everything i could about it, i learnt how to make it, everything i could over the coming years, and it was like falling in love with somebody i couldn't help. as someone with a creative background, we have got the label there, there's a bit of a story behind how that design came about isn't there? yes, the thing is, i engaged with the bar tend, and those to me are the heroes in the industry, the drinks industry, because they're the ones with the knowledge to inform customers too. soi knowledge to inform customers too. so i went to the bar tenders and asked what bottle do you most like to work with. they chose my bottle. ididn't want to work with. they chose my bottle. i didn't want to tequila to look like everyone else's, i wanted it to look like the first day of a holiday as something you want to reach for,

something you want to enjoy to drink. my label was created by this fellow here, who is jamie harris, he was a young art student i bumped into on the tube and i commissioned him to do my label. that's him and his girlfriend dancing. the premium tequila market is getting more and more crowded. how do you stand out? because my brand is something that people want to drink. but how do you get that across? i do master classes all over the country. my brand is really clean. this is one of the best in the world. is itjust the uk? no. in exporting, we now export to india, russia, we are in the us. how do you do the master class thing and that education thing? well it's and that education thing? well it's a comparison, engage people to try it because most people are having to try it. most times it's not their

first time and the first experience was bad. what is the ultimate age you want to business to be eventually sold to a big drinks company? i love my business and we just signed a huge contract with tgi fridays. we are in bills, ping pong, in mojos and a lot of huge restau ra nt in mojos and a lot of huge restaurant chains and we are now winning the big contracts away from the global brands. that's because the global brands. that's because the customer wants provenance and they want authenticity. they don't wa nt they want authenticity. they don't want just the marketing. they want authenticity. they don't wantjust the marketing. you need to try a bit! 0h, wantjust the marketing. you need to try a bit! oh, yes, but... try a bit. fine to talk about it... the director is saying we are running out of time. it's very smooth. thank you. i spent a long time making it. salt and lemon? no, that's the dodgy

stuff. that's all right. 0h, lovely. you finished yours quick. cleo, thank you very much. thank you. can you be president and an international business owner at the same time? donald trump is. but does that mean he's in breach of the constitution? the bbc‘s michelle fleury has more from new york. one of the first major challenges of donald trump's business empire could find him in the courtroom here. it was brought by an association of restau ra nt was brought by an association of restaurant workers, a dc planner and entrepreneur alleging the president of the united states may have violated the constitution. specifically, something that dates back to the 18th century known as

the emoluments clause, forbidding a president from accepting gifts without congressional approval. the allegation is that the kuwait question embassy had a specific event scheduled for the four seasons hotel in washington. there are allegations that something from the organisation called up the kuwaiti embassy and told them to reschedule it at the new trump hotel in dc. that is a concrete example of using an unfair advantage that is a concrete example of using an unfairadvantage in that is a concrete example of using an unfair advantage in the market. there is a strong possibility the case will not move forward. the justice department which is defending donald trump has argued that, unless a foreign government's received a favour in return, then the emolumentes clause doesn't apply. michael hewson is back with us to ta ke michael hewson is back with us to take us through some of the paper stories. we have had some tweets back. we asked a question about whether you should trust online reviews. we have a tweet here. yes, they are important to get a true

idea about a product or service. luke thorne writes his own reviews for cinema but he doesn't pay much attention to onlain reviews. it's all because of this mattress company thatis all because of this mattress company that is suing viewers? yes, they are cube calling for a regulation of online review sites because reviewers pay money for people to reviewers pay money for people to review the product. this speaks to a quiteder problem with trust and review sites. there is a concern —— wider problem. there is concern with what i call paid reviews not always being objective. what i tend to do is read the negative reviews. they tell you a lot more about the product. that is a good rule of thumb. also about how the vendor reacts to complaints you might have. good to get your thoughts on that. thank you very much. we could get reviews on our programme. thank you very much. we could get reviews on our programmem thank you very much. we could get reviews on our programme. if we finish on time we might get good

reviews! bye. it's fair to say that todayis reviews! bye. it's fair to say that today is going to be one of the quieter days weather—wise this week. we have got a fair amount of cloud around and yes, there will be some rain around but winds are fairly light today for many of us. this morning you have what will continue into the afternoon. cloud in england and wales. the best of the brightness in the north and north wales. a bit of rain in central areas. throughout the day, not a great deal of change. still some rain across the far south—east of england into the afternoon. the mist and fog will clear for much of scotland. some sunshine here, particularly in the north through central and southern scotland. a bit of brightness in northern ireland before the cloud thickens up here. there'll be increasing cloud across northern england and north wales. the cloud will break up from time to time, so bright spells i think for wales and the south—west. in central

southern areas towards the east, it's going to stay cloudy and that rain continues around lincolnshire, norfolk and suffolk into the afternoon. through the evening and tonight, it will stay cloudy, misty and murky for most of england and wales. patchy rain here and there, with rain spreading into scotland. temperatures down to between ten and 13. thursday sees us having a lot of cloud. outbreaks of heavy rain spread into northern ireland for a time, western scotland later on. heavy bursts towards the south—west of england and pembrokeshire. elsewhere, it will be a cloudy day with outbreaks of light and patchy rain. that wet weather on thursday associated with low pressure which will continue to move further east. friday sees a strengthening wind. it will tend to clear that weather away

so there'll be some brighter weather and sunshine coming through later on friday. we have an area of low pressure, a deep area moving in. look at the white lines, the isobars quite close together, strong winds and heavy rain spreading into the uk. severe gales likely in the south. the exact track of that area of low pressure is quite important. that could change. more details available on the website. stay tuned to the forecast. that's it from me. bye. hello, it's wednesday, it's 9am, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. our top story today — calls for the roll—out of the controversial universal credit benefit to be delayed will be debated in parliament today. i have got no money at all. not even fourpence to my name. nigh friends had to wait 12 weeks. some tory mps willjoin labour in calling for a delay. we'll hear from some of them later in the programme. also on the programme,

how courts are trying to help parents who're addicted to drugs and alcohol stay with their children. their homes is filthy. there is no food in the fridge and the toilets are blocked and not clean because their parents are so involved in the world of drugs. we'll hear from some of those families who've managed to quit