this is the business briefing, china's exports tumble the most in three years, pointing to a further slowdown in the economy. from the downright bizarre to the sublime, we take a closer look at the quirkiest cars at the geneva motor show. and on the markets: major chinese stocks took their biggest intraday dip since october on friday, as losses for global equities rolled on into the asia session.

america's yawning trade deficit with china is one of the key issues president trump wants to resolve in the ongoing trade talks between the world's two biggest economies. data earlier this week showed the us deficit with the rest of the world spiralled last year to its highest for a decade. so what do the latest figures from china say about the direction of travel? they show a whopping 20.7% fall in chinese exports in february from a year earlier, after a surprise bounce injanuary. the decline reflects the negative impact of us tariffs, and points to a further weakening in global demand. imports fell 5.2%, the third consecutive monthly drop, as the chinese economy weakens. growth in 2018 slowed to a near—30—year low. china's overall trade surplus, the difference between what china sells abroad and the amount it buys, which so infuriates the us president, shrank dramatically to $4.12 billion in february from just over $39 billion

the previous month. but analysts caution that china's trade figures early in the year can be distorted by the timing of the lunar new year holidays, when businesses either rush out shipments or scale back output before shutting down for an extended break. jeremy thomson—cook, chief economist at worldfirst, joins me now. happy friday. not so happy for china. what is going on? no, a big dip in chinese trade. looking at february data is always tricky in china because most businesses are kind of shut for ten days to two weeks, so you will see them shouted, you will not see much action. over the course of january and february,

if you put those two months together to kind of bland that out, it shows a very large fall for such a large economy. absolutely, and as you say, you are right to point out that we do need to smooth out the data and look over a wider period of time, but these are february year—on—year figures. we are notjust talking about a drop betweenjanuary figures. we are notjust talking about a drop between january and february, and that is why they are shut for ten days. no, we are talking about annual public holidays which happen every year. that 596 fall shows that the places where these chinese factories are exporting to our weaker than where they were last year. the main customers for china for these exports are either the us or the eu. the us we obviously know about the trade antagonism, the positioning of the trump administration, heightened tariffs. we saw january's the trump administration, heightened tariffs. we sananuary‘s number was quite strong, unexpectedly strong, and we think that was chinese businesses rushing stuff out before the chinese media, before the one

march deadline, and as we saw from european central bank yesterday, there are fears that china is not exporting to europe as much, as the europeans are not buying. so this is not just a europeans are not buying. so this is notjust a chinese story, this is real global weakness starting to be borne out in other people's figures. you look at the action taken by the european central bank yesterday, we have been there before. cheap money for banks. we have the us with the biggest trade deficit for ten years, looking like they are really hurting asa looking like they are really hurting as a result of the trade spat, and we have this data coming out from china. the lowest growth last year for 28 years. this is not a good picture. what do you make of all of this as an investor? we have to continue to bump along the bottom of growth expectations for at least the next couple of years. he would have to say people will start using the r word again, start using the recession word again. whether that happens in asia as a result of trade negotiations, a spat which grows out of all proportions and we see a huge

amount of tariffs, or what i think is mostly more likely, we talk a lot about china but china sent stuff from china into europe. the supply chain of countries before that, vietnam, thailand, malaysia, australia as well, who feed into china, and what happens to them. watch their manufacturing data over the course of the next couple of months and that will be the canary in the coalmine. it certainly will, thank you very much, and happy international women's day. tesla has signed an agreement with lenders in china for a i2—month facility of up to $521 million for its gigafactory in shanghai. let's go to our asia business hub, where shara njit leyl is following the story. this is quite a big development, is it not? yes, it is a big development, and it is also interesting when you bear in mind that the loans are all from the big chinese banks. the likes of china construction bank, agriculture bank

of china, and a number of others. the loan matures in march 2020, and it comes after years of negotiations with chinese authorities to become really the first foreign automaker to fully owned manufacturing facility the company. tesla broke ground on the outskirts of shanghai with this gigafactory injanuary, and shanghai city government officials said that the factory is expected to actually be completed in may. tesla has said that the gigafactory will cost about $2 billion to build, and elon musk has said the company plans to start battery and model three production at the factory by the end of the year. this is crucial because producing cars in china is likely to help the company reduce the impact of the us— china trade war, which we has forced tesla to adjust prices of its us made cars in china and starting manufacturing in china is key for tesla to reduce the cost of

its ca rs key for tesla to reduce the cost of its cars in what is the world's largest market for electric vehicles. bear in mind, of course, battery—powered cars appear to be the only right spot amid a slowdown in car purchases globally, just generally. thank you very much. now let's brief you on some other business stories: the japanese economy grew faster than initially estimated in the fourth quarter, as capital investment staged a quick recovery from a series of natural disasters in the previous quarter. japan's gross domestic product rose an annualised i.9% in october—december, more than expected. economists warn that overall economic growth are likely to weaken in the first half of this year due to a slowdown in global trade. the chinese government's top diplomat, state councillor wang yi, says that china supports huawei technologies' bid for legal redress in the united states, adding that chinese companies should use legal weapons and not be silent lambs. the chinese telecoms equipment maker

has sued the us government thursday, saying a law limiting its us business was unconstitutional. all this week, the latest innovations in the car world are on display at the geneva motor show. there is a lot of focus on making things electric, but with hundreds of vehicle vying for attention, how do you stand out from the crowd? theo leggett has been finding out. well, let us start with this one. it is from seat, and as you can see, its defining feature is it is pretty small. so it doesn't use up much road space. it is good for use in cities. clever. well, maybe not this one.

it is a one—off viper car from bugatti. but the only thing quirky about it is the price. it is a cool $19 million. well, how about this? it may look like an old—style land rover defender, because that is what it is under the skin, but this one has been re—engineered by uk firm twisted to make it that bit better. so you come around here and this one has got a bar in the back. gin and tonic in your boot — i call that quirky. well, how about this little number? it comes from estonia. it looks old. it is actually brand—new. it is an electric three—wheeler. it is designed as a concept of ecological motoring. do you know what? i think we might have a winner here.

this is an ultramodern electric supercar. but it has 1930s styling. that is quirky, and it does cost about 1.5 million euros. so, if you will excuse me, i will give my bank manager a call. we will see you later. hello, yes, i need 1.5 million euros. for a car. that's fine, go for it. let's have a look at the market, and there are real concerns about global growth, global slowdown, really affecting the markets, as you can see at the moment. the asia session very much following their lead from wall street. we heard yesterday from the european central bank that it has slashed its growth forecasts and increased its forecast for inflation across the eurozone. lots of

problems there, we will be talking about this a little bit later as well, coming up in the papers, so i will see you very soon. the operators of one of the uk's oldest nuclear power stations say they still hope to restart it, despite finding hundreds of cracks in the bricks which make up its core. it is a year since a reactor at the hunterston b power station in north ayrshire last generated electricity. our environment correspondent kevin keane reports. these are the first images of some of the 370 cracks found on the graphite bricks which make up the rea ctor‘s graphite bricks which make up the reactor‘s core. the one at h u nte rsto n reactor‘s core. the one at hunterston hasn't generated electricity for a year now. underneath here is a graphite core.

they know that, once it restarts, the problem will get worse, but are convinced they can operate well within safe limits. we have demonstrated operational allowance. we have demonstrated our safety allowa nce. we have demonstrated our safety allowance. this cliff edge is still to be demonstrated, it has a huge safety margin before we are anywhere near a cliff edge. so this is a life—size model of one of the graphite bricks. this is it here, the nuclear fuel sits graphite bricks. this is it here, the nuclearfuel sits inside this wider chamber. the control rods that allow you to shut down the reactor slide in and out of here. the cracks have appeared inside this small section that lock them altogether. the big fear is an earthquake distorting the fuel channels. this simulated reactor at bristol university is examining the response to being shaken. the structural integrity of the graphite core has a lwa ys integrity of the graphite core has always been known to be the ultimate limiting factor to the lifetime of these reactors. so ultimately, there may come a point in time where does

reactors have to come off line, and they are not able to restart. adf still doesn't know when it would like to restart hunterston b. it says safety will always be its priority —— edf. for that story and more, breakfast is coming up at 6:00am, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. they will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: american efforts to send their own astronauts into orbit for the first time since the space shuttle programme reach a critical stage, as their demo spacecraft attempts re—entry to earth's atmosphere. president trump's former campaign chief paul manafort is jailed for nearly four years for conspiracy, money laundering and fraud. britain escalates its efforts to have nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe released from prison in iran, offering her diplomatic protection,

in a move that triggers a formal dispute between the two countries. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the irish times. it leads with a poll showing that voters in northern ireland overwhelming reject a hard brexit and are unhappy with the way they are represented in parliament. there you go, those are the numbers we will be discussing. next, the guardian. it says theresa may will make a last—ditch attempt to persuade the eu to give her a better brexit deal today, as she struggles to keep her crumbling government together.

this story is in the metro and many other of today's papers. itjust gets worse for theresa may, as she is accused of playing politics as yet another teen dies in the uk. let's move on to the ft now, the european central bank took a sharp u—turn yesterday by reviving a plan for cheap loans for eurozone banks. the new york times asks why it's taken so long for marvel studios to make its first film that focuses on a woman, that of course ties in with the release of captain marvel today! and international women's day and your t—shirt, bev. and finally the times. now greek doctors have some health advice for middle—aged britons, who are told they have high blood pressure: try an afternoon nap! i think we are all in need of a bit more sleep at this time in the morning. with me is bev shah, who's chief executive and founder

of city hive. iam going i am going to have a nap