this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. superpower confrontation. the us and china face off over trade — with just a week to go before their truce expires. but are they inching towards a deal? plus — the australian dollar and mining shares fall sharply on reports china has suspended coal imports from the country. prime minister scott morrison rushes to play down talk of a new trade row. and on the markets, shares in asia flat following a fall on wall street, with a deteriorating global economic outlook outweighing more signs of progress in trade talks between china

and the united states. we start in washington where us and chinese officials are trying to reach a deal to end the trade war between the world's two biggest economies. according to reports — president trump is planning to hold one—on—one talks later today with china's chief negotiator — vice premier liu huh — which could be a sign progress is being made. a truce between the two sides expires a week today on march 1st. if there's no deal by then, washington has threatened to more than double import tariffs on $200 billion worth of chinese goods — from 10% to 25%. so are they any closer to a deal? well — possibly.

it's being reported the two sides have drawn up documents — memoranda of understanding — on six of the most controversial areas. forced technology transfer — where us firms are made to share their know—how with chinese partners. alleged cyber—theft of data by china. and the protection of intellectual property. also covered is the service sector, currency exchange rates and agriculture. as well as so—called non tariff barriers to trade — state subsidies, rules and regulations that effectively keep us goods out of china. it's also reported that negotiators are looking at a list of american goods that china can buy more of — from soy beans to semiconductors — make trade more even. china's trade surplus with the us rose to $323 billion last year — the highest on record. james green is a former us trade official who dealt with china for over two decades. he warns that even when agreements are made with china — they don't always lead to actual change.

we've had a series of high—level dialogues, ministerial meetings, even presidential outcome documents in which the chinese side has pledged to either open up the market will allow us companies to operate ina certain will allow us companies to operate in a certain way and that hasn't a lwa ys in a certain way and that hasn't always necessarily resulted in actual progress for us companies. the largest example is credit card processing, visa, mastercard, american express. the chinese market today remains closed to us credit ca rd today remains closed to us credit card processing companies. let's speak to our correspondent in shanghai robin brant. do you agree with james green, doesn't always translate to reality? there is definitely deep scepticism among many, particularly veterans on the american side. china's willingness to follow through. in terms of the official line coming from beijing. the ministry of

commerce said yesterday, we have no further information. there is genuine optimism on the chinese side that nonetheless, we can look to two pointers that suggests china thinks it could get a deal that is favourable to what it wants. firstly li huh, china's lead negotiator, is go to meet the donald trump. the focus on the man at the top, in terms of his campaign pledge on the trade imbalance between china and the united states, , trade imbalance between china and the united states,, more likely to signa the united states,, more likely to sign a deal that is more favourable to china. look again at those reports of china pledging to increase quite dramatically. particularly corn. china wants a deal where it can buy more stuff, which is pretty simple to do. it needs more staff, as opposed to

changing significant structural stuff you're in china. that more controversial port ageing. chris southworth is secretary—general of the international chambers of commerce here in the uk. chris, what damage has already been caused? ultimately, the price that is paid it's the poorest the ha rd est. is paid it's the poorest the hardest. small companies in particular to absorb the cost or pass it on but we are seeing it, most of the car industry is playing at all these decisions, nissan, honda, jl at all these decisions, nissan, honda,jl are, big at all these decisions, nissan, honda, jl are, big losses, restructuring factories. there are multiple set of issues. tariffs are definitely playing into the china market, particularly playing into that. the last two days of talks is robin mentioned other seventh with that a year. the third that we've

had from the two sides since the end of january, despite public had from the two sides since the end ofjanuary, despite public holidays on both sides. it suggests that the march one deadline is being taken seriously. i think it is. we welcome the talks, little will so good. and it have a resolution as quickly as possible but we need these two countries really to lead by example. apply the obligations they have within the world trade organisation. having a unilateral solution is a step forward but nobody really wants a unilateral solution. when there is a unilateral solution. when there is a decision in both countries. particularly across supply chains. the global aspect of this, the intellectual property aspects of this, forced technology transfers. the problems of china and trade extend well beyond the us. they've got other wars waging elsewhere. that's true. china is in a

transition. it's a huge economy with an awful lot of people. you can't just change china overnight. everyone has been aware of ip issues over time but china is making progress in key areas like ip. brazil tension between what they can do and how fast it takes to change their approach. there is no question china does need to play by the rules. that's what rating the tensions and what the us is reacting to. perhaps different rulebooks. but stay with trade tensions in china. the australian dollar and mining shares have been hit hard in the last few hours on reports that the northern chinese port of dalian has suspended imports of coal from the country. china is australia's biggest trading partner and the biggest buyer of its coal. relations have been strained in recent years though by a series of diplomatic rows. but australia's prime minister scott morrison has rushed to play down the significance of the move, which china is routine.

people should be careful about living to conclusions about this. this is not the first time that on occasion local ports make decisions about these matters and so there is nothing, no evidence before me that would suggest that it has connotations that it has anything to do with anything more broadly than that. this happens from time to time and wejust that. this happens from time to time and we just work constructively with oui’ and we just work constructively with our partners in china about those issues. let's get more on this story with sharanjit leyl in singapore. its australian coal this time round which seems to be sort of paying the price of this escalating battle between and china. well, it seems to be, victoria, but you just open the prime minister then. he also just heard from australia's minister of trade, the latest to dismiss these worries, simon birmingham blaming the delays to experts of coal to china on import quotas are not a

blanket ban on australian coal. nonetheless, as you mentioned, that report by reuters yesterday has taken a huge toll on the markets with the australian dollar falling more than i% on thursday, coal and other resource related stocks also falling. the trade minister, mr birmingham, denied that australia has been unduly treated over fears the move might have been politically motivated. that's after australia rescinded the visa of a prominent chinese businessman in relation to theissue chinese businessman in relation to the issue of huawei borrowing equipment for its five g network. the australian dollar recovered after a ll the australian dollar recovered after all these comments from various dismissing these claims but stocks continue to trade lower, stocks continue to trade lower, stocks like woodside continuing to trade 4% lower. ford says it has hired outside experts to investigate its fuel economy and emissions testing procedures — after a group of employees

raised concerns. the auto giant points out it hasn't found any inaccurate fuel economy ratings as yet and that the probe doesn't involve looking for emissions test cheating devices as used by volkswagen shares of kraft heinz slumped ii% in after—hours trading after the food giant revealed disappointing results and warned of a tough year to come. it's also making a $15 billion write—off because of a fall in the value of some of its key brands, which it sees as worth less than when kraft and heinz merged back in 2015. the uk won't be able to replicate the eu's trade deal withjapan in time for a no—deal brexit, trade secretary liam fox has warned. so far his department has only been able to finalise "continuity agreements" with seven of the 69 countries and regions with which the eu has trade deals.

and now — what's trending in the business news this morning. cnbc is hailing ‘the most significant progress yet‘ in us china trade talks — saying they are are sketching the outlines of a deal to end the trade war. wired mocks president trump's tweet that ‘i want 5g, and even 6g, technology in the united states as soon as possible' pointing out 6g doesn't exist and won't for about a decade. and from business insider — nintendo america's new president is named doug bowser, and everyone is making the samejokes. for the non—nintendo fans, bowser is the name of super mario's arch enemy in the firm's most famous game. and don't forget — let is know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag #bbcth briefing.

i'm @vfritznews on twitter. commodities markets rattled by reports china is restricting access to australian coal at one of its ports. in coming up later on, see you soon. almost a third of young people have lived through a traumatic experience, making them twice as likely to develop mental health issues, according to new research by king's college london. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. flo sharman looks like any healthy 20 robert has a baby, she was seriously ill and needed life—saving surgery seriously ill and needed life—saving surgery and had several dramatic

experiences in hospital. then when she was eight, she had a breakdown, she was eight, she had a breakdown, she wasn't diagnosed with ptsd until she wasn't diagnosed with ptsd until she wasn't diagnosed with ptsd until she was 16. i had all these depression, ocd, panic attacks but the main causes ptsd and say took eight years to get a proper diagnosis. researchers say ptsd is all too common in young people. they asked a group of 2018 —year—olds in england and wales about their experiences with trauma. that can be anything involving the threat of death, injury or abuse. about a third said they had been exposed to it. of that group, to 5% went on to develop ptsd. and those children we re develop ptsd. and those children were highly likely to have other mental health problems. ptsd is curable but researchers say only a minority of children with it got medical help. really, what we need to do now is to understand how break down the barriers that are

preventing young people from doing this. the government says supporting the mental health of children and young people is a key priority and that its increasing funding for this work faster than any other area. coming up at six o'clock on breakfast steph and charlie will be presenting a special programme from sheffield, where the team will be remembering ten us servicemen who lost their lives when their plane crashed 75 years ago. at 08.115 this morning, military planes will salute the soldiers with a fly—past. thousands of people are expected for the special moment. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: tensions are growing in venezuela over moves by the opposition to bring in foreign aid. president nicolas maduro has closed the country's border with brazil. he's said he may also shut the border with colombia, where most of the mainly american supplies of food and medicines have been stockpiled. the family of a british teenager, shamima begun, who left the uk to join

the islamic state group in syria have said they will challenge the uk government's decision to strip her of her citizenship in court, even though they were "sickened" by recent comments she has made. the un has issued a stark warning that animals and plants vital for feeding the world are disappearing by the day and that the world's ability to produce food is being put under threat by climate change and farming practices. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the new york times and its description of the plight of venezuelan refugees who have fled their country on foot and who fear that the deteriorating political situation will soon turn ugly. moving on to brexit and the daily telegraph with its report that a group of 100 tory mps are prepared to rebel against theresa may if she cannot reach a new brexit deal.