this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the us—china trade war jumps into top gear, with america applying tariffs on $250 billion worth of chinese imports. sky tells its shareholders to back a takeover bid by comcast, putting the american cable firm in line to control one of europe's most profitable tv companies. and on the markets... a quieter day in asia. japan and china are closed for public holidays. hong kong is open. and of course, those tariffs are now kicking in. today sees a dramatic escalation of the trade war between the world's two largest economies, as a new round of tit—for—tat tariffs between the us and china

comes into effect. the trump administration will slap 10% duties on another $200 billion of chinese goods, taking the total to $250 billion. the rate is due to increase to 25% from january unless a deal is reached. china is hitting back with taxes on another $60 billion of us imports, meaning it's now targeting us products worth a total of $110 billion. but it may not stop there. donald trump has warned that chinese retaliation would trigger "phase three" — tariffs on the remaining $267 billion worth of chinese imports to the us. beijing has less ammunition, thanks to america's $375 million trade deficit with china. thanks to america's $375 billion trade deficit with china.

but it could resort to other measures such as making life more difficult for us companies operating there. the imf has warned that an escalation could shave 0.5% off global growth by 2020. for america, this is mostly seen as just punishment for china abusing wto rules and stealing foreign technology for years. what's china's view? 0ur asia business correspondent karishma vaswani has been finding out how the chinese see this trade war. in this trade war, china is stealing itself for a fight. this steel pipe factory was originally set up to sell to american customers, but now these products are amongst almost 6000 chinese items on america's $200 billion tariff list. expansion into the us is on hold for now, but the company says it has many other options.

what's happened here is an example of what could be happening across the country. the us tariffs have had an impact on some chinese companies, but not necessarily in the way you might expect. this dales manager says the us market is just a small percentage of this plant's production, and that the trade war could hurt the us more than the chinese. translation: the chinese government will not fall back. if the us begins to target china, it will have a huge impact on us businessmen operating here, not just the chinese. whoever has the stronger will will win. but, for now, i still believe china has the ability to control the situation. from china's point of view, the us has also reaped multiple rewards here. look at the last few decades since the us and china established diplomatic ties, all the us companies are in china, they all have a big operation here,

some bigger than in the us, you can't say that's not a success. what do they have to complain about? this is coming at a delicate time for the chinese economy, which is slowing down. at a local university we hear how it has some worried about job prospects, and also how it is leading to a rising sense of national pride. translation: china has risen quickly over the last few decades and has captured the attention of the world, that's why the us wants to suppress us. china has given a strong response to the us so i believe my country has the ability to withstand this. this is the new china, rich and confident. a country that wants to show off its economic success. despite all the criticism, this is a success china feels it has worked hard for and will not surrender easily. karishma vaswani, bbc news, beijing. what are the knock—on effects? there

are now reports to pan is considering a bilateral trade deal with the us. that would lower tariffs on american agricutural imports, but allow japanese autos to escape higher tariffs. that's according to the nikkei. let's go to our asia business hub where shara njit leyl is following the story. lots of ripoll lots of ri poll effects lots of ripoll effects of this trade warand lots of ripoll effects of this trade war and this is one of them?m lots of ripoll effects of this trade war and this is one of them? it is, indeed. the japanese and us are hoping to get a head start when the japanese economy minister meets its us trade representative and counterpart. they are holding talks later today to lay the groundwork for a meeting between the us president and the prime minister shinzo abe. the president trump has made it clear he is unhappy with the

two thirds of auto ex—boss and he wa nts to two thirds of auto ex—boss and he wants to have an agreement that addresses it. last year's us deficit with japan trade was third behind china. and mexico at $71 billion. according to the nikkei newspaper, japan could potentially lower ta riffs japan could potentially lower tariffs on us agricultural imports by lowering those figures. a great deal of japanese cars are exported to the us. what is interesting is that the us would have gotten those lower agricultural tariffs had they remained in the trans—pacific partnership multilateral trade agreement. japan keen to avoid the high tariffs on cars and they want to use negotiations with eu cou nterpa rts

to use negotiations with eu counterparts for a free trade pact asa counterparts for a free trade pact as a model for how they should deal with the us going forward. we will keep an eye on that as it progresses. the us cable giant comcast has submitted the highest bid in an auction competing against fox for the european satellite broadcaster sky. the comcast bid values sky at more than $39 billion — it's paying more than $23 a share — that's almost double what they were worth a year ago. sky's 23 million subscribers and its rights to the football premier league make it one of europe's most profitable tv companies. sky has recommended its shareholders accept the bid by comcast saying it represents superior value. paul kavanagh, chief executive at patronus partners. good morning. we did think that comcast would up the anti— and he has. to complete it takeover it

needs to secure 51% of the shares and it should, with the offer it has made, complete that. there? is whether the 39% on firefox will go across. they did not have to accept it and across. they did not have to accept itand remain across. they did not have to accept it and remain an irritant. they could hold on to those shares and, in the future, maybe it is a deal negotiating position. comcast is paying a huge premium for sky which would be fantastic for sky shareholders but what does it mean going ahead for comcast? two things to focus on. content, it has now inherited millions of subscribers in europe. sport and series and feels

other two main areas. it is not necessarily translate is very popular in terms of sport in america but on the films i do it does. they have spoken about 600 million cost saving in synergy which is what they need to support this huge rise. game of thrones, looking at our story, is one of its most popular shows which is one of the reasons why many have stuck with sky in europe at many are considering moving and this may be a reason why they think they mainly because some may be concerned about the new owner. from sky customers, there is a lot of competition. if you look at the uk and europe, sky really had a monopoly on the alternative media after many years. they had a premium price, monthly

subscription way higher than what we see from the us and in particular from netflix. these are distribution channels which have huge valuations but how do they continue to grow subscriber numbers. they do not want to see the numbers go into reverse. fall me, will they see more content and what will they do with the model. thank you very much. now let's brief you on some other business stories: the uk's shadow finance minister is expected to say that labour would force all big firms to give shares to their workers. john mcdonnell is expected to tell the labour party conference that companies would have to put 1% of their shares into a fund every year. but the confederation of british industry says it would encourage investors to "pack their bags". the popularity of french president emmanuel macron have hit their lowest levels since the start of his term.

he was criticised last week for telling an unemployed man he could get a job if he tried. mr macron‘s biggest challenge is the economy, but so far his pro—business reforms have failed to significantly reduce unemployment. that's it for the business briefing this hour. a public inquiry into a contaminated blood scandal, described as the worst treatment disaster in nhs history, opens today. thousands of patients needing transfusions in the 1970s and 1980s were given blood products from overseas infected with hepatitis c and hiv. at least 2,400 people

have died as a result. 0ur health correspondent catherine burns reports. it was supposed to keep them alive but to many it was a death sentence. thousands of people were infected with hiv and hepatitis c is after getting contaminated lard. it is impossible to know how many people we re impossible to know how many people were infected during surgery or child with. —— blood. they were not enough supplies in the uk so some we re enough supplies in the uk so some were imported from america from paid donors and prison inmates. he was just an incredibly great man. this woman is husband contracted hiv and died a few days after his 50th birthday. it feels like you kind of

drag your children up as best you can and that, in many ways, you know, the state is indifferent to the plight of these people. there was a privately funded review in 2009 but it had no official status. in 2015, families dismissed the scottish enquiry as a whitewash. now, after years scottish enquiry as a whitewash. now, after yea rs of scottish enquiry as a whitewash. now, after years of campaigning, it is enquiry will be led by a judge and will be able to compel witnesses to give the qui key questions are, when did authorities know about the dangers and if they act quickly enough. coming up at 6 o'clock on breakfast, dan walker and louise minchin will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: iran's president heads to the united nations in new york, as tehran and washington trade blows over saturday's deadly attack on a military parade.

as thousands march against brexit, labour's leaderjeremy corbyn says he'll back another referendum if the party wants. and a second woman has come forward with allegations of sexual assault against the us supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the ft and the main uk opposition party, labour, who has decided to shift the party's official position on brexit and open the door to supporting a second referendum. meanwhile the telegraph says a majority of the uk conservative party cabinet members now support moving towards a canada—style trade deal with the eu following the outright rejection of prime minister theresa may's chequers plan. the japan times reports a growing number of asian manufacturers

who are moving to shift production from china to other factories in the region in the wake of us president donald trump's imposition of tariffs on chinese imports. the guardian focusses on our current obsession with on demand tv services. this article, found on their website, says the average uk citizen now spends 26 days per year glued in front of their screens which is around eight times longer than they spend exercising. and finally it's being called a ‘comeback of the ages'. usa today shows a triumphant tiger woods who has won his first tour championship victory in five years.