this is business briefing. i'm david eades. a $200 billion olive branch. china offers to slash its massive trade gap with the us. the question is how. plus: happy couple, happy economy. from tourism to tea towels to trade, why the royal wedding could give a welcome boost to british business. and on the markets: the us ended lower on concerns over those trade talks. but asian shares are creeping up, as reports emerge of progress towards a deal. we start in washington, where president trump has been meeting with china's vice premier, liu he, to try and reboot what he sees as a hugely unfair trading relationship between the two sides.

the white house has of course threatened punitive tariffs on chinese goods, with beijing promising to retaliate, raising fears of a destructive trade war between the world's two biggest economies. the big issue for the white house is the us trade deficit with china — the vast amount the us buys from china, compared to the other way around. that deficit was $375 billion last year. president trump wants it slashed by $200 billion within the next couple of years. according to reports, china is now prepared to agree to that. but how it will be achieved is another matter, as kim gittleson in new york explains. the problem is, when it comes to us exports, it would actually be very difficult to significantly increase the amount the us exports to china without significantly lowering the amount of exports, say, to the

european union or canada or mexico. so while the headline figure might be something that china says, sure, we will buy $200 million more of goods, that actually might be significantly more difficult practically achieved here in the united states. that is the challenge, isn't it? with me is dr sam fowles, fellow at the foreign policy centre. thank you for coming in. $200 billion is a huge amount and would ta ke billion is a huge amount and would take a big effort. can you see a way in which china could do that? frankly not. for china to achieve that would require its economy to go to mid—2000 levels. these concessions are likely to be mainly illusory. we have described this as an olive branch, but president trump tends to grab hold of these things. he will expect it, he will want it. there has to be something done, doesn't there, to show that goodwill? well, two points. first,

china has used these illusory tactics before in negotiations, in april promising market access which had actually been announced in 2016. and, because of the political pressures on trump, he was very keen to grab that that and call it a win. the other point is that trump needs china's help in his negotiations with north korea. kimjong—un it met with north korea. kimjong—un it met with the chinese last week, and trump will have a powerful motive to ta ke trump will have a powerful motive to take things a little more at face value that he might perhaps if he was buying a hotel. so we were thinking, $200 billion is a huge amount of money and they will have to be some big product and projects in there, maybe boeing can get a deal, et cetera. you think that is really play in the sky, at least at

this stage? well, i am sure we will see some headline deals, and boeing would be an obvious example of that. but in order to achieve this by 2020, you need american exports to grow at something like 50% per year, 01’ grow at something like 50% per year, or chinese imports to reduce by an equal amount. that is... for one thing, it is not clear there is the capacity in the american economy to do that, and very little motivation domestically for china to keep to it. we will wait and see how it develops. thank you very much for that. let's stay with that story, because it seems china is prepared to offer another key concession to reduce trade tensions. the commerce ministry say it is dropping measures against a key us cereal import. rico hizon is following this for us in singapore. good to see you. reveal all. what are they going to do? it is sorghum. beijing has dropped its anti—dumping

and antisubsidy probe into us sorghum imports. for many that don't know what sorghum is, it is a cereal crop used to feed pigs and in the distilling process for liquor. trade is worth around $1 billion, david, the us exporters, with growers centred in states which are key to president trump's electoral support, like texas, kansas, 0klahoma president trump's electoral support, like texas, kansas, oklahoma and colorado. so beijing had claimed that its domestic industry was substantially damaged by the import of cheap us sorghum, that has dumped onto china's market. beijing's move asa onto china's market. beijing's move as a possible olive branch as the two countries hold tens trade talks. as you were discussing earlier, china is offering president trump a package of trade concessions and this is one of them, increased purchases of american goods, aimed at cutting that us trade deficit with the mainland. negotiations seem

to be moving forward, so things are looking positive this weekend. to be moving forward, so things are looking positive this weekendlj suppose looking positive this weekend.” suppose it will be a big olive tree if that is one of the branches. you will need a few more branches on the tree. good to see you, thank you very much indeed. let's turn to our top news story now, because the royal wedding is just a day away, and there are predictions the uk economy will receive a very welcome boost. according to consultants brand finance, the wedding could bring well over $1 billion to the uk. it says, as well as the obvious benefits in increased tourism and merchandise sales, commemmorative tut, as my producer calls it, we should also factor in the positive impact on britain's global brand. sally bundock is at windsor castle. sally, we rather love all of these figures, don't we? very difficult to quantify, nonetheless. it is very

difficult to quantify, and also, of course, it is never made public how much these royal occasions actually costs, it was the royal family picks up costs, it was the royal family picks up part of the tab, and they never tell us how much they spend on these events. so in terms of what the royal family is paying for this wedding, they had said the core aspects are they will pay for the service in the church, music, flowers, decoration, reception, the carriage, et cetera. arts, when it comes to the real cost, it is estimated that this event could be costing around £32 million. and of course, the royal family doesn't pay the role of that. prince william and catherine's wedding was set to cost around £24 million, and the security alone for their wedding, we know that cost 6.35 million. because that, of course, was di bulged in a freedom of information requests. and security is a huge cost. thames valley police is most of the boots

on the ground here behind me, in windsor, this weekend. and of course, they have been here four days. so we have 100,000 people expected here tomorrow. so yes, that is an idea of the cost. and in terms of merchandising, you said you have a street party coming up. think of how many more barrels of beer have been bought across the country, bottles of bubbly, et cetera. absolutely. in terms of the benefits, we have talked about the cost, in terms of the benefits to the uk economy, again it is very ha rd to the uk economy, again it is very hard to estimate. you have mentioned one figure of a £1 billion boost to the uk economy. that is in terms of the uk economy. that is in terms of the benefit, in terms of rant britain. 0f the benefit, in terms of rant britain. of course, we are broadcasting all over the world and this is a huge marketing event for britain —— brand britain. it is expected to boost tourism notjust 110w expected to boost tourism notjust now but in the years to come. the retail industry will get a serious

boost, hospitality will also, tourism, consumer confidence will be lifted, it is thought, because this will bring a feelgood factor which may cause us will bring a feelgood factor which may cause us to spend more money. 0ne may cause us to spend more money. one thing that won't suffer his productivity. if people are not working, it is on a saturday, they recover on a sunday and they should be back at work monday, so productivity shouldn't take a dip this time around. thank you very much indeed. now let's brief you some other business stories: us media giant cbs has lost an initial court battle in a dispute with one of its biggest shareholders over control of the firm. a delaware judge on thursday lifted a temporary restraining order against the investor, national amusements, which is owned by the redstone family and has been pushing cbs to merge with viacom. the first fund aimed at encouraging gender diversity among uk companies has been launched by legal and general investment management. the fund will favour shares in firms that have the best record on gender diversity, including the number of women at board and executive level.

paypal has bought swedish mobile payments company izettle for $2.2 billion. izettle, which sells a card—reader aimed at small businesses, had been planning to float on the stockholm stock exchange. the move boosts paypal‘s in—store presence at a time when competition in the online payments sector is increasing. and now, what is trending in the business news this morning? in the financial times, hidden value in phones could cut us trade deficit in half. google's chief economist says the way trade figures are calculated doesn't reflect the complexity of modern business. software developed in silicon valley, like google's android, is in phones worldwide, even though they are usual counted as made in china. in business insider, boeing, the us's largest exporter, is poised to be the biggest winner in china's pledge to cut the us trade deficit by $200 billion. in wired, an intriguing story —

inside the bitter war to bring tupac and michaeljackson back to life. concerts involving dead celebrities reincarnated as holograms are big business. and don't forget, let us know what you are spotting online. use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. that's it for business briefing this hour. but, before we go — here are the markets. the dow was down a little bit, a little bit flat over concerns about the us china talks. that may change a bit as we have seen it changing gradually in asia as well. up next: newsbriefing. police forces are warning that they are struggling to recruit

specialist firearms officers because of the intense scrutiny they face if they use their weapons. the warning comes as the police watchdog said a firearms officer must face a gross misconduct hearing after a man was shot dead in north london three years ago. our home affairs correspondent leila nathoo reports. in december 2015, jermaine baker was part of a group trying to break out an inmate from a prison van. armed police were sent to stop them and during an operation he was shot dead. it turned out he didn't have a weapon, but an imitation gun was found in the back of the car he was in. 0ne—hour negotiation. explain that to me. his death stokes tensions in a community already wary of police. after an independent investigation, no criminal charges were brought against the officer who fired

the fatal shot, and the met refused to discipline him. but today, the police watchdog has directed the force to begin gross misconduct proceedings against the officer involved. this is where armed police moved in on jermaine baker and his two accomplices. they were parked here. 0ne officer took the decision to open fire. he will have to explain himself, and could lose hisjob. but the union representing the met police says the fear of going through that kind of process is putting people off the role. for these offices in birmingham, this is just a routine training exercise. two years ago, in light of the terror threat, the home office provided extra money for hundreds more like them across england and wales. but today, police revealed that the target of 1,000 new recruits by this year has been missed, and senior officers are clear why. this is one of the most demanding jobs in policing. they know that any wrong move

could have fatal consequences. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: a picture—perfect match. prince harry and megan markle prepare for their big day. we will have the latest on last—minute rehearsals. there has been no word yet as to who will walk down the aisle with meghan markle. here are the headlines. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the telegraph which is in full royal wedding fever mode. the paper says the mother of meghan markle, doria ragland, is now the most likely candidate to accompany the bride—to—be on her walk up the isle. le figaro calls it the marriage that will shake up the british monarchy, citing miss markle's mixed heritage and the fact she is a divorcee as symbolising the modernisation

of the royal family. however, an opinion piece in the washington post disputes the notion that the marriage will help make britain more progressive due to the heavy restrictions placed on political speech and activities by members of the royal family. the south china morning post says the royal wedding frenzy around the world is rooted in the legacy of the british empire and asks why so little attention is paid to the weddings of other royal families from asia and continental europe. and finally, the short list website asks, "what kind of man enjoys the royal wedding more than the fa cup final?" chelsea and manchester united face stiff competition