this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and rachel horne. the head of the world trade organisation says we're seeing the emergence of a global trade war. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday 28th march. what needs to be done to avert a full—blown trade war? the man responsible for ensuring the stability of the global system has been talking to the bbc. also in the programme, safety first. google‘s waymo launches its new self driving caramid growing concern about the technology. yesterday the markets were strongly

up, today it is the opposite story. she's worked under armed escort in iraq and brainstormed ideas in the slums of nairobi. later in the programme, we'll get the inside track with a advertising boss who's not afraid to travel off the beaten track. and as the uk prime minister, theresa may, swaps her blackberry for an iphone, today we want to know what tech have you ditched or upgraded. let us know. just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. yes, do get in touch. we would love to hear from you. you're with business live. one of the most important men in international trade has told the bbc that the world is seeing the first movements towards a trade war. but the head of the world trade organisation, roberto azevedo, also said it wasn't too late to avoid it. last week the leader of the world's biggest economy, us president donald trump, announced tariffs on $60 billion of imports from china.

that came just a day before a 25% tariff on us steel imports from most countries came into force. there's also a 10% levy on aluminium. china, which is the world's second biggest economy, has drawn up plans on tariffs on $3 billion worth of us imports in return. so my colleague stephen sackur asked mr azevedo if he was worried that unilateral actions like those of the trump administration could lead to a global trade war. i said that and there's no reason to take it back. i think that unilateral actions can take us in that direction. and you characterise donald trump's actions as unilateral? i don't characterise anybody‘s actions, you know what they are. they talk over each other. you seem to be abdicating any responsibly take to show leadership. it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter whether that you find that a measure is unilateral or not. the fact is that when you announce certain types of measures and others deem that those measures are not

in compliance with the obligations and threaten to retaliate, that is a problem. that's where we are today. the whole thing is a problem. how big a problem is it? it's a big problem, i have been saying this for quite some time, it is a big problem. i don't think anybody believes that this is something minor, even in the us administration. and the reality is that these conversations are now ongoing and that was not the original announcement. these conversations are ongoing precisely because people are beginning to understand, i hope, how serious this is and the kind of impact this could have to the global economy. so this isn't really any more about the threat of a great global trade war, we are in a global trade war, aren't we? i don't think we are there yet, but we are seeing the first movements towards it. what more will it take for you to declare it? the measures and countermeasures are not in place to begin with, there are still conversations ongoing, there are still negotiations ongoing.

there are announcements. now that doesn't mean we should downplay that, we don't want to be in the war, we want to avoid the war. so everything that we can do to avoid being in that situation, that's what we must be doing at this point. that was roberto azevedo, head of the world trade organisation. our business correspondent theo leggett is with me. he is saying that we are not there yet. what you take from that?‘ he is saying that we are not there yet. what you take from that? a lot depends on how much of donald trump's rhetoric makes it into practice, particularly with regard to china. donald trump has a position that trade deficits are bad, that the united states is importing too much and exporting not enough. many economists would disagree, but that is his position. he also thinks that imports particularly from china are costing american workers theirjobs, bringing in cheap imports which drive us manufacturers out of

business. again there is another argument that a lot of american jobs have been lost because of increases in productivity, factories are managing to make things with fewer people, but that was his position and it was a core part of his electoral appeal. he is now putting that into practice. but with things like the 25% tariff on steel is 10% on aluminium, but temporary exemptions exclude about two thirds of us imports of steel and aluminium, so the rhetoric hasn't quite caught up with a reality. the key is what happens with china, whether donald trump rushes through with these plans for $60 billion worth of tariffs, and what the response from china is. it has been fairly restrained so far. so that is the us and china, but in the background, the us and south korea seem to be making trade deals. what has been announced there? this seems to be whether reality comes in. donald trump has had some rhetoric in relation to nafta and other

trading partners, he has been renegotiating the us trading relationship with south korea, and there have been concessions. the koreans are going to let in twice as many us built cars without them needing to abide by stringent south korean standards. south korea has agreed to a cap on exports of steel to the united states at about 70% of current levels. so there are concessions being made undoubtably, but they are not radical concessions. thank you for the analysis. and you can watch more of that interview with the director general of the world trade organization on hardtalk. it's on bbc world news at the times on your screen or if you're in the uk you can watch it on the bbc iplayer. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. there's another problem for facebook over data privacy. this time it's being sued in a california court by three users of the facebook messenger app. they claim their privacy was violated by the social media firm collecting logs of their phone

calls and text messages. the three want damages and class action status. facebook has admitted collecting the data from some users, but said it only happened when they opted in. and the trial of the man who used to run the chinese insurance and finance giant anbang has begun in shanghai. wu xiaohui was detained injune on charges of "economic crimes". more details of the allegatons are expected to emerge during the trial. anbang is known abroad for its aggressive international acquisitions including new york's landmark waldorf astoria hotel. the government took control of the company in february. let's look at how financial markets have been faring in the last 2a hours. it has been quite a week. we did warn you yesterday on this programme that it could be extremely volatile, and it is. looking at

japan, closing i.3%, but during the day it was down over 2%. one of the big losers was panasonic, it helped to make the batteries for tesla vehicles, its shares down some 6%. the dowjones behind me in the states having a tough session. let's look at europe. europe was up strongly yesterday, but today it is following the leave from asia and wall street the night before, and among the big losers in the states is nvidia which makes the technology for driverless cars, and tesla shares down as well. so they are ready out of favour at the moment. let's look ahead to today on wall street. joe mellor has the details. on wednesday, investors who are reeling from another roller—coaster day on wall street will have some economic data to digest including an update on us gdp and new figures for want of donald trump's favourite metrics, that's america's trading deficit with its partners around the world. and talking of trade, engine will be paid to any comments by the chief executive

of general motors, mary barra, who is scheduled to speak at a conference in new york. gm sold more cars in china than in the us last year and a trade war between the two countries could severely dent the company's bottom line. also, at self driving cars come under increased scrutiny following a fatal collision between a driverless uber vehicle and a pedestrian in arizona, expect ms barra to be asked about whether general motors is reconsidering its investment in the technology. joining us is richard hunter from interactive investor. let's start with tech stocks, because we are seeing a real sell—off. as joe because we are seeing a real sell—off. asjoe was talking about, some of that soft arriving car technology as well. yes, and the technology as well. yes, and the technology sector has been a massive drive in the strength in the us markets we have seen in the last year or $0,

markets we have seen in the last year or so, so markets we have seen in the last yearorso, so by markets we have seen in the last year or so, so by the same token when we are having weakness, that can dent wider sentiment, particularly when you have things like the trade war in the background. the interesting thing with facebook is whether this is going to be the thin end of the wedge in terms of the big tech companies properly getting regulated. they have pretty much had a free run up until now, that is putting all the tax issues to one side, but simply in terms of their power and potential intrusiveness. so if we are turning point, it might just be that facebook is showing us the way on that one. and that is what investors are concerned more regulation? absolutely, because with regulation? absolutely, because with regulation will come cost. these companies are making serious profits anywhere, but there will nonetheless bea anywhere, but there will nonetheless be a cost in terms of capital. what should investors do right now, then? we're heading towards a nice long bank holiday weekend, coming to the end of the first quarter. what should they be doing with their money this week, or should they ride the storm? traders will no doubt be

looking to work on the basis that it is the end of the court so there will be some positions which will need squaring and putting away for the long weekend. for investors at the long weekend. for investors at the moment, you are investing on a long—term basis, so in the overall scheme of things, a long weekend is neither here nor there from an investing point of view. and from your point of view, how concerned are you about all of these issues? orare you are you about all of these issues? or are you looking at the markets right now i'm thinking, some of these companies are looking quite cheap? the us economy is in very rude health at the moment, the uk economy is not in bad health all things considered, and it is probably better that we are getting volatility, there is nothing wrong with shaking the tree in seeing what falls out, and that is where we are. you just go back to the old—fashioned you just go back to the old —fashioned bottom—up you just go back to the old—fashioned bottom—up approach to investing where you are looking at individual companies rather than the economy as a whole. richard hunter, head of markets, we will be talking

to you at the end of the programme about our other stories. including the uk prime ministers swapping her blackberry for an iphone. we want to know what tech you have upgraded or ditched. i will tell you know what tech you have upgraded or ditched. iwill tell you my later! still to come: working in a warzone. later in the programme we'll be speaking to the marketing boss who's risked more than just her career in a bid to find new customers. you're with business live from bbc news. before all of that though. cast your mind back to 2008. the government was forced to hand the royal bank of scotland a bailout of £45 billion. one of the conditions of the bank receiving taxpayer funds was that it set up a business banking fund because had rbs gone bust, other banks would have benefited from the collapse by attracting their customers. nationwide building society is hoping to secure some of this money set aside by rbs. here to tell us about it is the chief executive,

joe garner. what is your ex protection? we believe we have got a good chance, because we are not a bank. a lot of businesses are not happy with the service they are getting, so as a building society owned and run for the benefit of our members, our customers, we believe we have a good chance. nationwide has been around for a long time, but you don't offer any business banking at the moment, why is that? we have looked at it a number of times in the past, and we know our members would like us to. the challenge we have is the cost of entry, and what is attractive about potentially getting these funds is that gets us over that, so that is why we are keen to bed. how do you feel you will compete in what is an extremely competitive market, especially with lots of new companies coming on the scene providing services for businesses like online apps and online competitors? that's right, but we do for all those things, too, and i

think it is important that we are talking about the smaller small to medium—sized businesses that we are aiming at, notjust the butcher, baker, candlestick maker, but the web designer, it consultant, ebay trader, and where people have straightforward business needs, money in a doubt, we are good at doing that for personal customers and if we are successful in this bid, we will do if a business customers. and if you are successful, when will we see the first nationwide business banking accou nts first nationwide business banking accounts open? as soon as practically possible. we are waiting for details of the process to be revealed, but we are keen to get on with it. joe garner, chief executive of nationwide, thank you for your time. let's highlight a story that broke just after eight o'clock this morning. sky bet has been fined failing to protect vulnerable customers, the gabbling association has said. it did not protect vulnerable gamblers who had self

excluded from its website, the watchdog found that they could continue to bet despite that. you're watching business live. our top story — the head of the world trade organisation says that the world is seeing the first movements towards a trade war. it was a feisty conversation. he talked about tensions escalating but said it was not too late to halt the rise of protectionism. when it comes business there are those who prefer the ‘slow but steady‘ approach. and there are others who want to be a little more adventurous. our next guest definitely falls into the latter camp. in fact she's had so many adventures building her business, she's been dubbed the indiana jones of advertising. she is a thrill—seeker. she's the boss of the branding company seven brands, which specialises in operating in fast moving emerging markets. she co—founded the firm in london in 2009. since then it's expanded to cover more than 50 countries in africa, asia and europe.

and it's got an ambitious new project in hand. it's working on building a huge ecommerce site for africa. jasmine montgomery, the boss of seven brands joins us now. welcome to the studio. start by telling us how you set up the company, 2009 the financial crisis, you lost yourjob and decided to ta ke you lost yourjob and decided to take control of the situation. in some ways it was a crazy time to start a business and i guess i thought, let's do it in some crazy places as well. we saw an opportunity to focus on high growth emerging markets. iwas opportunity to focus on high growth emerging markets. i was born in indonesia, grew up in asia and africa, i love these parts of the world and i felt there was no agency that was really targeting these markets. most people when they talk about emerging markets because brazil, russia, china, they set up offices in safe places like south

africa and dubai where people speak english and it is easy but i wanted to gojohn that to what legal leading edge emerging markets. we have offices in bahrain, omar and kenya and we work in places like iraq, saudi arabia, sudan, chad, nigeria, indonesia. it sounds really exciting and thrill—seeking but are you actually making money? is it working as a business or are you having an amazing adventure only?m is absolutely a business proposition. we surf two fundamental gaps in the market. one is amongst international companies, big multinationals who need to either break into some of these markets or who are already doing business there and need localised their propositions. western brands that need to connect with consumers in africa, the middle east and asia. we also work with companies in these markets that are going more global because they want to take their

business beyond borders or because their own competition is coming from international players. if you are a bank in east africa, your composition might be people like hsbc and barclays, and you are having to compete with world—class brands. what challenges do you face working in these markets? sometimes it is security and we had to put on fla k it is security and we had to put on flak jackets and helmets it is security and we had to put on flakjackets and helmets and go in people like baghdad. sometimes it is corruption and in some parts of the world that has meant we have lost a lot of work because we never pay a bribe for work so the list ofjobs we have lost is quite long! but we believe that is changing the in africa where it has been an issue, and being there as a clean option in and being there as a clean option in a long one will pay off. and the third is everywhere and that is the challenge of cultural understanding, going into these markets as a westerner and trying to understand local tastes and consumers. what about being a woman, is that a

challenge? i have not found it a challenge, i put on a hijab and go to react. is that because you are a western woman? groans from crowd react. i believe things are changing and i'm excited about that. it is exciting to hear that. thank you for your time. there are growing concerns about the safety of self—driving cars in the united states. despite this and last week's fatal uber crash, the us is the world's third most prepared country for autonomous vehicles according to the consultancy kpmg. they found singapore came in at number two and highlighted the readiness of the country's consumers to adopt new technology. but top of the list is the netherlands. it has more than 26,000 electric charging points and the government is investing in traffic lights which will be able to communicate with cars.

in new york, google's self—driving unit, waymo, has launched its new jaguar, which is billed as the first "premium" autonomous car. waymo's chief executive has been talking to our north america technology correspondent dave lee. our focus has always been on safety. it is how we founded this project more than nine years ago at google as the google self driving car project. during that time we have driven over 5 million miles autonomously on public roads in the us, testing in 25 different cities. we have exercised that software is over 5 billion miles of simulation. but are you worried about the perception maybe? in the wake of what happened to uber. i appreciate it is not the same company but the perception of self driving took a real hit when that happened. you know, we will have to see, right? i think ourjob isjust to get out there and be as transparent as we can with our technology. last fall we published a 40—page safety report which is meant to explain to the world how it is we think through all aspects of safety.

again, it is our foundational concept at waymo, to provide a very safe car for people. there is going to be this transition period we are in now where this collision between human drivers and computer drivers will result in accidents and will inevitably result in more deaths. that is something your company surely acknowledges at this point. what is happening on the world's roadways is nothing that we, as humans, should be proud of. 1.25 million people die every year on roads around the world. that is like a 737 crashing every hour of every day. i don't think we should be happy with that. i think we, as a world, should say that's not good enough. there will be more people that lose their lives as a result of self driving technology specifically being at fault. if you look at the cause of most crashes, 94% of them are due to human error. what do you hope to achieve by the end of this year? by the end of this year we will have this driverless transportation service up and running in phoenix. and there won't be a safety driver behind the wheel? that's correct.

how willing do you think people will be tojump in a car without a driver behind the wheel? you know, if our experience so far in phoenix is any indication, a lot of people! more people than we would be able to handle, quite frankly. that was the boss of waymo talking to dave lee. richard hunter is back to dave lee. richard hunter is back tojoin us to to dave lee. richard hunter is back to join us to discuss the stories of the day and we picked out this on the day and we picked out this on the bbc news website, theresa may sobbing her blackberry for an iphone —— swapping. we wanted to know what tech you have ditched. one says, am i the only one who has moved back to using paper and pen?! i the only one who has moved back to using paperand pen?! what i the only one who has moved back to using paper and pen?! what about you, richard. there does seem to be something of a trend going back towards paper and even printing things from a screen so you can read

them properly! this says, ditch voiced calling, have not need a replacement for it. when was the last and he made a phone call from your mobile phone? all the time. i text everybody! i like to talk to people. i have a fat finger, that is the only reason! and the story about drastic. michael gove is expected to make a big announcement about a new plan for england —— about plastic. the basic idea is single use plastic drinks bottles, putting some kind of a surcharge when you buy them, and the percent —— 20p potentially. you basically take back the fastest bottles a nd basically take back the fastest bottles and get your deposit back. it is plastic and glass, cardboard.

it is plastic and glass, cardboard. it is plastic and glass, cardboard. it isa it is plastic and glass, cardboard. it is a full on recycling rethink because at the moment we are but it all in the tubs. we're been here before, probably showing my but in the 70s you would have the beer bottles which you would take back to the off—licence and get your deposit back and that was quite a moneyspinner at the time. they talk about other countries who have done it. in norway it is the beverage companies who are paid out to set up the recycling schemes and put the bottle drops in the shops after the government introduced the taxes. it is their responsibility if they are using these items. we have talked about this before, in the us you can get water in cartons rather than plastic bottles but we don't see it so much here. i think they have started recently introducing some free drinking fountains in the uk, one has just opened free drinking fountains in the uk, one hasjust opened up near carnaby street, with the idea you can use

the one bottle adding an night. one, that i heard, these policies have unintended consequences and one could be that kids gather up all of the letter and take it to the shops and get some money for their sweets. that will put the wombles out of a job! does anybody know who the wombles are?! that is a blast from the past! the plastic bag tax was introduced and that has been so effective so this could be something we have appetite for. we will watch this space. thank you to your time. that's it from business live today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live web page and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow. it has been a wet start to the day

across wales and southern england, some heavy rain and hill snow but thatis some heavy rain and hill snow but that is gradually clearing and for many go into the afternoon it will be brighter but there will be some showers which could be heavy. the wet weather this morning in the southis wet weather this morning in the south is associated with this weather front which is south is associated with this weatherfront which is moving south is associated with this weather front which is moving slowly eastwards, skirting southern parts but through the morning there could be hill snow in the highest ground of south wales and perhaps in southern england but reallyjust a wet start in the midlands and the south—east. that'll clear and in western parts something a bit brighter with some sunshine and showers. in northern england and scotla nd showers. in northern england and scotland and northern ireland that will be some sunny spells and showers, a bit more persistent rain on the far north—east but feeling colder compared to yesterday. 7—9d and bear in mind we got to 16

degrees in the capital yesterday. through the night, some cloud and outbreaks of rain affect the far north—east, elsewhere with clearing skies it will turn cold with a frost setting in, temperatures down to about minus two celsius. a bit less cold further south and west because we have another weather system moving in from the atlantic, all linked into this low pressure which will stay with us for the next few days. on thursday, some rain moving further north and eastwards through the day and in the north midlands and northern england, central and southern scotland it will stay largely dry on thursday. still some cloud and showers in the far north of scotla nd cloud and showers in the far north of scotland but those temperatures still on the chilly side, 6—92dc. in the good friday —— 6—9dc. on good friday, misty and murky conditions throughout the day, further showers

spreading into southern areas. the far north of scotland, northern ireland, dry and bright weather and temperatures around 7—10d. into the easter weekend itself, rather cool, still some rain at times, a lot of cloud around but it will turn milder by monday but wetter and windier by easter monday. goodbye. hello. it's wednesday, it's nine o'clock. i'm tina daheley, welcome to the programme. elderly members of the lgbt community tell this programme about the prejudice they suffer from carers in their own home. one carer didn't know about me, and actually turned around and said in conversation after she'd heard about people like me that in her country they would put a tire around you and set fire to you. we'll hear a call for statutory lgbt training to help tackle homophobic abuse. you can see our full report in around 15 minutes. an extra charge of up to 22p

is to be put on bottles and cans in a new deposit scheme for england. you'll get the money back if you take the container back to the shop. do get in touch to let us know what you think. and we'll hear from a jewish woman who's resigned from the labour party