this is business live from bbc news, with sally bundock and alice baxter. taking on the tariffs — australia secures an exemption to us duties on steel and aluminium imports. live from london, that's our top story on monday 12th march. we will add an expert view. also in the programme — the oil isn't flowing just yet. speculation grows that saudi arabia won't sell of a chunk of its state oil company until next year at the earliest. financial markets trading right now in europe have seen a bumper start to the week following the lead from

asia. we tell you all you need to know. and pouring your money into alcohol — we'll find out how you can turn wine into profits, and how asia is driving the demand for wine investing. today we want to know whether you think life on mars — including a mars bar — could be a reality anytime soon? because that what the maverick entrepreneur boss of spacex and tesla, elon musk, thinks. let us know know. just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. yes, elon musk has been talking at an event in texas. you can hear what he had to say about mars, would also about his company, space x, and tesla. let's talk trade. with the clocking ticking down until president trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium imports come into force, countries are scrambling to seek exemptions.

and in the last hour or so, australia's prime minister has welcomed his country being given a waiver, which he said on twitter was important for thousands of people who rely on the industries for work. and the eu and japan are due to hold more talks this week over getting their own exemptions. the trump administration says the tariffs are necessary, because the sheer quantity of steel and aluminium in the global market is threatening to impair the " national security" of the us. but america has made legally binding trade commitments as part of its membership of the world trade organisation rules, and other countries are likely to use the wto to challenge the tariffs. but whilst wto rules allow members to seek a "national security exception" for industries regarded as important for the defence of the country, some experts have already questioned if that can apply here. one of the united states‘ defence allies is australia, and its

prime minister, malcolm turnbull, welcomed his country's exemption whilst touring a steel works in wollongong. this is a real example of a win— win. we have gotjobs in australia, jobs in the united states. the tariff would simply have putjobs on both sides of the pacific at risk. it isa both sides of the pacific at risk. it is a very important outcome. there are 77 anti—dumping measures in place. 51 relate to steal. seven related to aluminium. we are very vigilant in ensuring there is a level playing field. we are committed, passionately committed to free trade. but it has to be fair. that is the key. aline doussin is a trade lawyer at squire patton boggs, specialising in international trade. shejoins us in the she joins us in the studio. shejoins us in the studio. good morning. australia has secured an

exemption, joining mexico and canada. we know this week we will see lobbying from eu officials and other countries around the world trying to secure the same. liam fox from the uk goes to washington this week. what is the likelihood of other countries securing a similar exemption? it is a very good question and very difficult to answer. we are entering into this 15 day timeline where members are a p pa re ntly day timeline where members are apparently allowed to seek exemption ona apparently allowed to seek exemption on a measure that most trade lawyers, including myself, view as com pletely lawyers, including myself, view as completely contradictory to the philosophy of the wto rules. the eu, even though it reserves its right to challenge the measure, is focusing on negotiating an exemption. it is very unclear, the legal business research exemption, where it resides. which criteria it uses. it

seems to be discretionary. although not totally unprecedented, this is uncharted territory, using this national security exemptions under article 21 of wt0 rules to justify ta riffs article 21 of wt0 rules to justify tariffs being imposed. one guest that we spoke to rarely went further to suggest this pick and mix approach to is entitled to an exemption and who isn't, is actually illegal. what do you think? the national security exemptions exist under wto agreements. there is an article 21 and 1a which allows a member, for national security threats... it was raised before in the past. the uae and qatar got at

ell m adjudicated at the wto panel level. so it is uncharted territory. having said that, the president and the administration are not at this stage raising article 21. everybody is commencing on this exemption being used both so far there is no challenge at wto level. the wto cannot enter the dispute. a country as to raise a complaint. japan have indicated they will do so. they have confirmed it is something they are currently looking to do if needs be, but nothing has been launched officially as yet. and all of this really increases the focus on the wto as an organisation. is it really fit for purpose? you mentioned the processes involved. it is very long winded, isn't it? yes. iworked

processes involved. it is very long winded, isn't it? yes. i worked at the wto years ago at some point, and it does take a long time to agree on negotiations because there is no voting. having said that, it is the only forum where trade disputes can bejudged. there is no otherforum in the world that has these disputes. it is still very relevant. it has some issues that it needs to deal with. including respecting the length of a judgment and the negotiations that sometimes take a very long time. but i think at this stage it is not the case the wto is dead. it is a very resilient organisation. thank you. fascinating story that has been unfolding for weeks. we will keep you up to date. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the takeover battle for uk engineering company gkn has intensified with a new $11.2 billion bid from melrose. it also raised the amount gkn

shareholders would own in melrose following the deal, and said that this offer is "final". britain is in danger of losing its status as a "credible military power", according to the former commander of the uk's maritime forces. rear admiral alex burton told the bbc that budget cuts and rising military threats meant the defence budget needed an urgent boost. it comes a day before the uk chancellor's update on the state of the public finances. the superhero movie, black panther, has taken an estimated $65 million on its opening weekend in china. it means the film has now made more than $1 billion globally. china is the world's second—biggest movie market and has become a lucrative country for disney and marvel. the founder of spacex and tesla, elon musk, said colonisation of the moon and mars could help preserve human civilization in the event

of a third world war. the billionaire entrepreneur elon musk was speaking at the south by south west conference in texas. we have asked for your views on some of his comments. he had a lot to say about tesla. we will talk about that later. one of the world's biggest carmakers looks like is hoping it may have a new lease of life in south korea. america's general motors could get an injection of cash from a bank funded by the south korean government, which would mean it doesn't need to close more factories. leisha sa ntorelli is in our asia business hub. what more do you have on this? there have been large protests in south korea over general motors' plans to close at least one of their four factories. the south korean government is assessing whether they

should contribute money towards a rescue of gm business in the country. gm is the third biggest car—maker in south korea behind high hyundai and kia. it has been losing money for several years. sales at home and abroad have been falling. the outlook is not good. gm the business decision seems clear. their strategy has been to focus on the big market of and china,... they have done this in russia, australia and parts of southeast asia. when it comes to korea, gm has offered a lifeline. they have offered nearly $3 billion investment plan and offered to upgrade its operations in the next ten years. this is critical the next ten years. this is critical the south korean government can contribute money, and if they don't, we could see tens of tens of thousands of workers lose theirjobs in south korea when those factories close. thank you. let's show you financial

markets. across the board in asia we had strong gains. also injapan. and in hong kong at the close. asian stocks, following on from what happened in wall street on friday, the nasdaq closing at a record high. basically concerned about a trade war taking basically concerned about a trade wartaking a basically concerned about a trade war taking a back—seat. economic optimism kicked in as regards the jobs report out on friday. it showed more people employed but wage growth not as robust as some thought. let's look at europe right now and how the european day is starting. not such strong gains seen in europe. germany must upa strong gains seen in europe. germany must up a percent. we will talk more about marketing a second. first, joe mellor is in new york. after a bust employment figures drove markets to the close on friday, monday will give investors time to breathe ahead of tuesday's

inflation report, which last month showed the price of goods and services in the united states had grown at nearly 2.9%. wall street is expecting the yearly figure to have risen to 2.2%, but a significant u pta ke risen to 2.2%, but a significant uptake in the rate of inflation would weigh on markets and could prompt the federal reserve, under the new leadership, to be more aggressive with interest rate rises in the coming months. and in a week to void of major company news, we will hear whether sports retailer dicks has been hurt by its decision to stop selling assault rifles in the wake of a shooting at a florida high school. joining us is mike bell, global market strategist, jp morgan asset management. good to see you. let's talk about those numbers. unemployment was expected to fall and actually it was flat. what does that tell us? it is quite complicated, but what happened was actually very positive. the

number of people who are working is 110w number of people who are working is now more than 300,000 more than was previously. the reason that didn't cause the unemployment rate to fall is because the number of people looking for a job went up. the way the numbers are calculated meant he didn't go forward in the unemployment rate. the simplest way to think about it is, if nobody was looking for a job, then even, than the unemployment rate would be zero. as soon as more people start looking, the unemployment rate would rise. that is how it is possible to havejob gains put rise. that is how it is possible to have job gains put the unemployment rate to be flat. strong numbers, softer wage growth. potentially the fed increasing rate rises sooner than thought. what are your thoughts? i think there is positive news on that front. it may seem counterintuitive that lower wage growth numbers is viewed as a good thing. what everybody got concerned about last month is that low —— wage

growth numbers were picking up quite quickly. we have seen it has become clear that that was due to weather distortions. even the wages are rising gradually, it is at a much slower pace than people were concerned about. the central bank would have to put interest rates up as fast as they might otherwise have two. in terms of the week ahead, there was so much economics at last week, european central bank, the bank of japan, the jobs figures european central bank, the bank of japan, thejobs figures in european central bank, the bank of japan, the jobs figures in the european central bank, the bank of japan, thejobs figures in the us... i think the ecb was interesting. they removed the easing bias, the view that if things got worse they might have to do more oe. i think by the end of this year they will have stopped doing oe. we don't think that means they will stop —— start

putting interest rates up but we don't think that will be the case. thank you. still to come...pouring your money into alcohol. we'll find out how you can turn wine into profits and how asia is driving the demand for wine investing. you're with business live from bbc news. a record 660,000 customers switched electricity supplier in february with over1 million doing so this year so far. energy uk, which released the figures today, claims the energy market has never been so competitive. we'rejoined in salford now by clare bailey, founder of retail champion. thanks forjoining us. why do you think so many people have chosen to change at this time? i think there's a couple of factors in play. with the energy switch guarantee we have procedures that make consumers more

confident in the process of switching, and nine tenths of the market are already subscribed to that which is a process that ensures that which is a process that ensures that when customers choose to switch the processes run seamlessly. also, looking at other figures out today, there has been issues around consumer confidence, reductions in consumer confidence, reductions in consumer spending and people are tightening their belts. so actually looking to make savings on moving energy provider to reduce costs of gas and electric is contextual with everything else in the market in terms of seeing reduction in spending and trying to tighten their belts. also has the weather had anything to do with it? the fact we are experiencing quite adverse weather conditions and people might think that is a trend that is here to stay. we would typically get the seasonal cold spells some time between december and february every year. it has been late this year but

that might encourage people to think harder. but from my point of view it is around the confidence and process , is around the confidence and process, and the fact suppliers are making it a lot easier. there's a lot of the and the fact people are finding things difficult. the statistics show people are spending far less in terms of the consumer side of the market so i think looking savings in any of your bills, energy as well as telecoms, oui’ ways consumers bills, energy as well as telecoms, our ways consumers will try to ensure they moderate the fact that income growth is not catching up with inflation and i think switching energy provider is a great way to do that in terms of immediately taking a saving. thank you. clare bailey, founder of retail champion. you're watching business live —

our top story: australia's prime minister has welcomed his country being given an exemption to us tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. it comes as the eu and japan step up efforts to secure their own waivers. a quick look at how markets are faring... we talk about trading in commodities like oil and gold but did you know you can also bet on the performance of burgundy,

chardonnay and champagne? it's pretty popular too. in 2016, wine was the top performing asset class on the knight frank luxury investment index, with growth of 24%. last year it came in second place, after art. so what's driving it? well most of the demand is coming from asia. according to cult wines, sales there increased by 123% in 2017. cult wines is an investment manager in fine and rare wines and currently manages assets in excess of 90 million dollars. the company has around 2,400 customers spanning 70 countries worldwide. tom gearing is the co—founder and managing director of the firm. thanks forjoining us. that return figure is something a lot of asset managers would really like to have on their balance sheets, isn't it? talk me through the thoughts behind the company, is what got you into wine? my family background helped to

lead me into this as a career and i was lucky to go around some of the greatest vineyards at a young age with my father so i was always growing up around wine. he started a price comparison website for fine wines in the early 2000 so i spent a lot of time typing in prices, and data. winds have historically increased in value because the best wines in the world are produced in small quantities and it's a consumable product so every time a bottle is opened that wine doesn't exist any more and it will keep dwindling until there's none left some fine wine prices will always continue to rise. you started this company more than ten years ago? yes. when you were at university with your brother and friends, and your dad is involved as well because of his expertise. talk us through

how you made a success of it through the financial crisis. our timing was fantastic, sometimes you need some luck and to be coming into the market at the right time. with the globalfinancial market at the right time. with the global financial crisis people lost confidence, there was a lot of market volatility. we are in a record low interest rate environment and that's not just record low interest rate environment and that's notjust in the uk, it is globally. people were having to look outside of the normal areas for sources of return. when you spoke about the knight frank index, things like classic cars and wine have done so well because investors want to make a decent return. we have been one of the market leaders in this particular industry. for some of you who think you might recognise tom, that's because this is not your first time on television, is it? you we re first time on television, is it? you were on the apprentice. how did you find the whole experience, and did

it help with the business or was it just something you did on the side? from a personal perspective i was 23 yea rs old from a personal perspective i was 23 years old and it was a remarkable experience. it's a once—in—a—lifetime opportunity and i loved every minute of it, regardless of the pressure and even claude's interview. i want to this day so that was one of the worst experiences of my life! it was outrageous. apart from that on the business side of things it was great for us because it gives you a great reputation and i get to meet people like you this morning and on a media publication like the bbc so it was a great helping hand in that regard. and you became runner—up which is no mean feat because it's not easy. this was under alan sugar in the uk, how do you think you would have got on if it was donald trump saying you're fired? it's funny because i was in beijing meeting some people,

i told them i was on the apprentice, and they said "oh, trump! trump!" i thought they probably don't know who alan sugar is! we have got to leave it there. this is how to stay in touch, and we will be back in a moment to talk about elon musk. we have insight and analysis from our team of editors around the globe and we want to hear from you too, get involved on the bbc business live web page. we are on twitter, and facebook. business live, on tv and facebook. business live, on tv and online. what you need to know,

when you need to know. what other business stories has the media been taking an interest in? joining us again is mike bell, global market strategist, jp morgan asset management. one thing that piqued our interest was comments made by elon musk over the weekend. he spoke about whether life on mars could be a reality any time soon. we have had a few responses in. we have heard from mark, who says, it depends on what you classed as soon. i would have thought we would want a base on the moon first as a springboard to mars. i'm sure elon musk wants to achieve a landing in his lifetime. i don't know whether you think life on mars

will be possible in the time soon, but what did you make of elon musk said, not only in terms of colonising mars but also when he went on to talk about the precarious health of tesla and space x. the mars thing seems far—fetched to me, it seems like a long time before we could be going to mars. on companies struggling in the early stages, that is nothing abnormal at all. obviously start—ups tend to come into difficulty, if you take space x as an example it requires a lot of investment with no real revenues. i think there will be some people in the city who will be upset about it being delayed, a lot of fees on whoever manages to list that but it will still happen. mike, many thanks for coming on. goodbye.

good morning, i'll start of the day but for many it is very cloudy out there at the moment and we have heavy rain and heavy showers in the forecast which for england and wales will continue into the afternoon with frequent showers. drier the further north and west you are, particularly across scotland but we have a big area of low pressure sitting across england and wales. you can just about make out the bright lights of the city beneath the cloud but this is the situation we will be left with for much of the day. we have heavy showers and rain at the moment, that will continue. some drier and brighter interludes in western areas. some rain into the far south of scotland but otherwise the best of the dry weather here,

temperatures reaching 12 degrees. through this evening and overnight this big area of rain will move eastwards. there will be shut into northern and eastern areas of scotla nd northern and eastern areas of scotland but some clearer skies further west. these are the temperatures in towns and cities, no lower than about three degrees so frost free. i expect in the countryside across northern parts and northern ireland there may be a touch of frost. on tuesday we start the morning with showers down the eastern side of england and scotland. those gradually clearing away, and brighter skies with the best of the sunshine out towards the west. temperatures similar to today really. through tuesday night into wednesday, high pressure which is keeping things relatively settled. it will stick around in eastern areas but towards the west this area of low pressure moving from the south—west, throwing its weather front towards the uk which means during wednesday we will see wet weather returning towards western

parts. on top of that, quite a strong wind coming from the south. asi strong wind coming from the south. as i mentioned towards eastern and south—eastern areas, drier and brighter conditions on wednesday and boast temperatures getting up to 15 celsius in the south—east. further north, 9—11d. for the celsius in the south—east. further north, 9—11d. forthe rest celsius in the south—east. further north, 9—11d. for the rest of the week, some rain at times, windy especially during wednesday, but relatively mild. however, called a weekend could be in store. cold air from siberia gradually working its way south but some uncertainties on that at the moment. goodbye. hello, it's monday, it's nine o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. the top story today... tributes are pouring in for the top story today... tributes are pouring infora the top story today... tributes are pouring in for a sir ken .com or one of the last great musical acts of his time, who has died at the age of 90 and will be best remembered for jokes like this. tickled i am by all

this goodwill. what about you mrs, have you been tickled by goodwill? freud said a laugh was a sudden explosion of psychic energy. the trouble with freud was he never played second house friday night at glasgow empire. we'll pay tribute to the man best known for his tickling stick and epic performances. also on the programme — the prime minister will meet the national security council to hear the latest intelligence on the nerve agent attack on the russian father employed by britain as a spy. it comes as salisbury residents voice concern they're being kept in the dark.