hello. this is business briefing. i'm maryam moshiri. the headlines: in the driver's seat. hairbert deess takes over as the boss of german car giant, volkswagen. will his appointment draw a line under the dieselgate scandal once and for all? and how president trump's tariff war with china could hit his voter base in the agricultural sector. we have a special report from tennessee. and on the markets, the upcoming earnings season and the positive news that it could bring helped lift the markets out of negative territory, particularly in america and japan. president trump appeared to throw doubt over the possibility of an imminent attack on syria. it helped boost investor sentiment. hello.

the volkswagen group's big boss matthias mueller has been replaced as part of a management shakeup. the new head of the firm behind vw, audi, seat, lamborghini, bentley and porsche is hairbert deess, a former bmw executive known as a fierce cost—cutter who is unafraid to clash with labour unions. he has been in charge of the company's volkswagen brand since 2015. but let's look back a bit. mr mueller became chief executive in september 2015, following the diesel emissions scandal. the german auto giant was forced to admit that it manipulated 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide to evade regulatory emissions tests. and it's not been an inexpensive problem to fix. in total, the scandal has cost volkswagen an eye watering $30 billion in fines and engine modifications. and i have to just show you these pictures,

they show some of the 350,000 vehicles the company paid more than $7.1; billion to buy back as part of the scandal. despite that, the german firm still claimed the title of the world's largest carmaker by sales for the last two years, and made a very healthy profit of $14 billion in 2017. with me is anna—marie baisden, head of autos at bmi research. he has hisjob cut out he has his job cut out for he has hisjob cut out for him, doesn't he? what are the main problem is that hairbert deess is going to be facing at volkswagen? well, i think the dieselgate scandal was always going to be there in the background. to him, it is going to bea background. to him, it is going to be a matter of pushing things forward and looking at vw‘s new strategy, how they can really transform the company, there has been a lot of frustration about how long it has taken to have any kind of meaningful transformation. what kind of ways can the company be

transformed? kind of ways can the company be transformed ? it kind of ways can the company be transformed? it is still doing 0k despite the fact that it lost so much money and reputation at the back of the dieselgate scandal. absolutely, and i think matthias mueller did a good job in that respect, getting the shipwright, if you will, and now they want someone else to drive forward with things like the electrification strategy. —— ship right. like the electrification strategy. -- ship right. this guy, he is unafraid to clash with labour unions, he is a big cost cutter, thatis unions, he is a big cost cutter, that is really going to play very well with investors, isn't it? absolutely, as saying the whole dieselgate thing has been very expensive to solve so they are are going to need money for that, they are going to need a lot of money for research and development for a lot of this new technology involved in their strategy going forward, so definitely his strategy is going to be very important. explain to me, if you can, how a company whose

reputation has been so badly damaged by this scandal still ends up being the top carmaker two is in a row. how does that happen? is interesting but really, it is not the first time we have seen it. we saw toyota have record because about ten years ago 110w record because about ten years ago now and they bounce back as well, i think as we saw with the share price you often have an initial reaction and then people could move on really. cheating consumers forget about these kind of things or not?” think that people willjust move on —— do you think that. people have not turned away from perhaps to the extent that we expected. looking at the future at vw, you talked about research and development in the future of electric cars, is vw one the main players in that kind of forward—looking aspect? and do you think hairbert deess will be able to ta ke think hairbert deess will be able to take the company forward in that way? they want to be able to, they have said they want to be a world

leader in electric vehicles and i think the important thing about hairbert deess is he has mentioned has at their new competition and the fa ct has at their new competition and the fact that tesla has attributes that vw does not. —— tesla. i think that isa sign vw does not. —— tesla. i think that is a sign of him looking forwards, rather than looking at the traditional model. so good to talk to you, thank you very much indeed. do you remember how president trump pulled out of a huge free trade deal called the tra ns—pacific partnership within days of taking office? well, it could be back on the negotiating table. let's go to our asia business hub, where mariko 0i is following the story. and president trump has said that the deal could be back on the negotiating table, what has the reaction being in particularfrom the japanese, who he has mentioned in terms of negative, on fair trade with the us? indeed, as you say, we have been reporting all morning that president trump said in a meeting with politicians from farming states

that he is considering rejoining the trans—pacific partnership. of course, as you mentioned, he pulled out of it pretty much straight after he took office, and it was a huge blow to the 11 remaining members of the tpp, who spent years negotiating the tpp, who spent years negotiating the deal and they went ahead without the deal and they went ahead without the us, since these comments from president trump, the japanese foreign minister came out to say that he would welcome it if the us was tojoin the that he would welcome it if the us was to join the tpp. but then, president trump has since tweeted saying that he would onlyjoin the tpp if the deal was substantially better than what was offered to president 0bama. i think it is fair to say that always members still sceptical whether it is really back on the negotiating table but it seems like his stance might be changing. mariko oi at the asia business hub, as always, thank you. now, president donald trump has justified his frequent attacks on america's largest trading partners by claiming his policies "protect american workers".

but in the southern state of tennessee — which voted overwhelmingly for mr trump in 2016 — the prospect of barriers to doing business with china is threatening to derail a booming agricultural and manufacturing economy. joe miller reports. will hutchinson's family had been farming in national since 1932, thanks to a favourable climate, the crop has remained steady. what has changed their customers. we probably export 80% to 90% of total soya bean production and probably half of that even goes to china, so those trade relations are pretty vital. they do not usually paid much attention to politics but after china announced it would slap a 25% levy on soya bean imports, grain growers have been glued to the moves, hoping for a fall been glued to the moves, hoping for afall in been glued to the moves, hoping for a fall in relations between washington and beijing. —— news.

a fall in relations between washington and beijing. -- news. we really watch the markets close, we do not need any more pressure on us, the commodity prices that we are already working with. tennessee's economy has been booming, unemployment is falling faster than the rest of the us and investment is flooding in, but the state that voted enthusiastically for president donald trump is now in danger of being caught in the crosshairs of his trade war. road tech is a local success story. their products are sought after around the world. donald trump's steel tariffs are already throwing a spanner in the works. be much everything on the engine, those are all made out of steel. right now, we are looking at a 40% increase in our steel costs. chattanooga was once dubbed the

dirtiest city in america, but fought ha rd to retain dirtiest city in america, but fought hard to retain its manufacturing base and has now attracted companies like hammers on mac and box item. there are a lot of things going right in our community, we have one of the highest wage growth is in the country for mid—sized city. we do not need to fightjust country for mid—sized city. we do not need to fight just to fight, we need to find practical solutions that help the residents of chattanooga. the hutchinson family are hoping to get their crops in the ground, but they, along with their state, are aware that the president may decide the fate of the harvest in their state. now let's brief you some other business stories. ina red in a red twist, exports in the month of march fell 27%. that is the first drop we have seen since february

last year. —— china's trade surplus with the united states soared 19.4% in the first quarter to $58.25 billion, from the same period a year earlier. but in a rare twist, exports in the month of march actually fell 2.7%. that's the first drop since february last year. macau gambling king stanley ho will retire as chairman of sjm holdings injune. the 96—year—old will stay on as chairman emeritus, while his daughter takes over the reigns of the company. mr ho's corporate deal making style transformed macau from a sleepy peninsula with seedy gambling dens into the world's biggest casino centre. the younger daughter of the chairman of korean air lines has apologised for her "foolish behaviour", following media reports that she threw a bottle of water at the face of a manager of the airline's advertising agency. the family previously made headlines after the so—called "nut rage" incident, when her sister threw a tantrum over the manner she was served nuts in first class on the airline. let's ta ke let's take a very quick look at how the markets are doing. the stock markets have recovered somewhat. the markets have recovered somewhat. the market in hong kong is recovering.

the positivity about company earnings has overtaken any worries about possible missile attack on syria. that is all we have time for here on the business briefing. up next, newsbriefing. we'll take you through the stories making headlines in the global media. new research has reinforced the evidence that excessive drinking could take years off your life. the study, published in the medicaljournal the lancet, warns that regularly drinking more than the weekly recommended amount of alcohol increases the risk of strokes and heart failure. 0ur correspondent charlotte gallagher has more. a glass of wine or a pint of the yea rs how a glass of wine or a pint of the years how many people like to relax after a long, stressful day. but new

research says regularly drinking more than the recommended amount of alcohol could take years off your life. researchers compared the health and drinking habits of around 600,000 drinkers in 19 countries around the world, they concluded that people should not have more than five pints of beer or five 175 millilitre glasses of wine each week. drinking more than that was linked to lower life expectancy. having ten or more drinks could take one to two years off your life, while having 18 drinks and walk would take what jo while having 18 drinks and walk would take whatjo to five years off. the british heart foundation, which part funded the study, says treating too much can lead to serious health problems. we must not forget that treating too much also has an effect on your risk of cancer and other diseases like liver disease, so it is not only your heart health that you need to think about but it is your overall risk of dying that is increased, so the take—home message for people if you

are drinking too much at the moment, you need to start thinking about drinking less. since 2016, people in britain have been accused have no more than a0 units of alcohol each week, around six drinks. british heart foundation says the results are sobering wake—up countries with much higher limits and warns that many people in the uk drink a lot more than the recommended amount. inspectors head to syria and the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack, as donald trump appears to change his tone on military action. a donor conference takes place in geneva, aiming to ease a humanitarian catastrophe in the democratic republic of congo. two indian athletes are kicked out of the commonwealth games, after breaking the rules over the use of syringes.

now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the times covering the latest on the international response to the suspected chemical attack by syria on its own citizens. it supports the largest us strikeforce in15 supports the largest us strikeforce in 15 years is heading to syria and britain have now signed on to support the action. breitbart news among many reports that donald trump could ring the us back into the transpacific trade partnership. the right wing website reminds the us president he said the agreement was a death love for the country. staying in the us and the washington post has a big story about uber rolling out new safety features including an emergency number and the ability to have friends track your rides. in the guardian has

major study that could worry drinkers. every extra glass of wine knox 30 minutes of your life with experts saying drinking over the recommended daily limit is as harmful as smoking. and moving on to newsweek and another big lifestyle study. this time, bad news for night out. they are at a higher risk of dying than those who get to bed early. —— night ours. joll, first of all it's talk about the story in the times. 0bviously all it's talk about the story in the times. obviously we have been talking about this possible attack on syria in the last few days and so far we have