thisd is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. america's top trade negotiators head to china, as hopes fade of a quick deal to resolve the trade war. and brazil's transgender influencers — changing the way brands talk about the daily struggles and joys of people who change their sex. and on the markets asian investors are cautious this monday ahead of the key week, as all eyes are on the us federal reserve in washington and the trade negiations in shanghai.

the us china trade war is perhaps the darkest cloud hanging over the global economy. but today, top american officials are heading for shanghai, with talks set to resume between the world's two biggest economies. they're hoping to make progress on a trade war which has seen the us impose tariffs on $250 billion worth of goods that china sells it because of what president trump says are "unfair trade practices." china has retailiated with tariffs on $110 billion of goods the us sells. there's evidence this is starting to hurt america's economy. exports fell 5.2% in the three months tojune, and economic grow has slowed to 2.1% on an annualised basis. meanwhile china is also suffering. its economy has also been slowing over the same period, with growth falling to 6.2%, the slowest in almost 30 years. and the global economy

is also being hit — the international monetary fund has again cut its forecast for world growth to 3.2% for this year. chiyo robertson now reports on the negotiations ahead. donald trump has raised the stakes, as his trade and finance chiefs robert lighthizer and steven mnuchin prepare for talks with chinese cou nterpa rts prepare for talks with chinese counterparts on tuesday. it will be the first proper meeting since donald trump reached a truce with chinese president xijinping donald trump reached a truce with chinese president xi jinping at the 620 chinese president xi jinping at the g20 meeting injune, injapan. 0nly one month before that, negotiations had collapsed in acrimony. but donald trump is flexing his muscles again. on friday, he fired a twitter threat at china's developing nation

status at the world trade 0rganisation. he is unhappy the world's which is developing nations can geta world's which is developing nations can get a better trading deal than american firms at the wto, and he warned he would ignore apple's pulley to be exempt from tariffs and components the tech giants imports from china. —— plea. the trade row has pushed consumer prices up and damaged business confidence. farmers hit by tit—for—tat tariffs from china were last week offered a $16 billion aid package. mrtrump china were last week offered a $16 billion aid package. mr trump has set a more hostile tone for talks as investors and companies around the world a re investors and companies around the world are braced for the trade war that began more than a year ago to rumble on. abbas ameli—renani is the emerging markets portfolio manager at amundi. we have been here before, global trade negotiations between these two countries. how likely are we to see anything come of this?” countries. how likely are we to see anything come of this? i think really the best we can hope for is for the ceasefire to hold. it is far

too early for a peace deal between the two countries. and i think that is where we are going to be, at least for the next few months. neither side is in a position where they feel hurried to make important concessions. the us economy, from trump's point of view, is still doing relatively well. the stock market is at all—time highs. whereas from the chinese perspective, the us political calendar is fast emerging, which may give them opportunities for getting concessions from the trump administration. are they not wide of the status quo, —— worried about the status quo, if it continues, will do some tangible damage? economists are worried. from the market ‘s perspective, we are quite worried. but i think from the perspective of the two sides, they are seeing it slightly differently. the trump administration, his key measure of economic performance is the stock market. all the unemployment rate, which is now at record low levels. what is important

is that the us administration is about to add one of the most potent weapons in its arsenal, which is the us federal reserve. most likely they will start cutting interest rates in the middle of this week. that is going to question some of the downside impact from the trade war. similarly, on the chinese side, we are seeing ongoing monetary and fiscal easing, which is also providing a bit of support for the chinese economy. also, everything has been complicated, hasn't it, by the attack war in particular. we think about huawei and the issues surrounding security. —— the tech war. absolutely, and i think that is one of the reasons a ceasefire is the best outcome we can hope for. if we think back to where the trade war was 12 months ago, the focus was on the bilateral trade deficits. since then, tech has become completely intertwined with the exchange of goods and services. that makes it

much more complicated because there isa much more complicated because there is a huge amount of consensus in the us administration and government—owned legislature across the political spectrum that china needs to be challenged, notjust on trade but especially on the issue of technology. —— administration and government and legislature. there is a national defence act going through congress which is worth watching, it may limit donald trump's ability to withdraw sanctions imposed on huawei, which the administration itself imposed. that shows you the amount of consensus that exists in the us administration. so good to talk to you, thank you. more now on the protests in hong kong, where tens of thousands have again taken to the city's streets. 0ne survey suggests it is having a real impact on business confidence. sharanjit leyl is in our asia business hub in singapore. what impact has all of this hard on how business is viewed in hong kong?

—— had on how. it has had a huge impact. this is the eighth consecutive week of demonstrations, and of course violent clashes again with police and demonstrators, and the american chamber of commerce in hong kong is essentially released this latest survey on how international firms are feeling about his recent clashes and whether it is putting them off wanting to be based in hong kong. they surveyed over 1200 companies to gauge the ongoing impact. many of the international firms responded saying they feel pessimistic about short—term prospects for hong kong is escalating violence and political deadlock take their toll on operations, and it is fielding lots of perception that the city is becoming a riskier place to do business. so they want governments to ta ke business. so they want governments to take immediate and tangible actions to address the root causes of the recent demonstrations, to restore confidence in the city's status as an international business and financial centre as well, while in the short term many are not

looking to move, long—term may be a different story, according to the survey, if these clashes continue and beijing starts to assert its authority. that is something members are very nervous about and they feel the government should provide firm leadership to restore international confidence in hong kong's autonomy under one country, two systems. let's brief you on some other business stories. one of the uk's biggest business groups is warning that neither the uk nor the eu is ready for a no—deal brexit on the 31st of october. the confederation of british industry has published pratical steps it says the uk, eu and firms can take to prepare for brexit. the uk says it has increased the pace of planning for a no—deal exit. staying with brexit, the boss of psa — which owns vauxhall — says it could move all production from its ellesmere port factory near liverpool if brexit makes it unprofitable. carlos tavares made the comments to the financial times, which says the move would probably lead to the closure of the site threatening 1,000 jobs.

this week we're looking at the world of online influencers. in brazil, transgender influencers are changing the way brands advertise with youtube channels that talk about the daily struggles and joys of people who changed their sex. the country is also going through a wave of conservatism following the election of far—right politician, jair bolsonaro. but not everyone is following that trend. there

a group of uk mps has predicted that cannabis will be legalised in the country within the next 5—10 years. they've recently returned from a fact—finding trip to canada where the drug has been made legal. jim connolly reports. these buds will probably get about four times larger by the time this plant is ready to harvest. currently, canada is the only g7 country to allow recreational use of cannabis. i've got no hair, do i still need this on my head? even a few years ago, this would have seemed unimaginable — three british mps from across the political spectrum, looking at how the legalisation process has been implemented. we're following the liberal democrat sir norman lamb, the conservativejonathan djanogly and labour's david lammy. you could go to prison for a very

long time in britain if you had anything like this. the trip has been organised by a london—based campaign group voltefa ce. it wants the uk to legalise weed. it's sponsored by a big north american cannabis company called mpx international, which runs this facility. scott boyes is the boss, and i put it to him that he was trying to use his money to influence british politicians. we've been happy to be a host to them to give them some exposure to the business and give them an understanding of what's happening here in north america. if that helps make the right decisions in the united kingdom, it's money well spent for us. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, came to power promising to legalise cannabis. i want the magus legalised and regulated, taken away from criminal gangs, young people not criminalised because of this. poorly educated. but i actually want to see the strength of the stuff reduced, labelled and properly organised in out labelled and properly organised in our country. the home office says they will be no change in the law to

illicit drugs, pointing to homes and misery they can cause for families and society. coming up at 6:00 on breakfast: naga and charlie will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: at least one person has been killed and 11 injured at a food festival in the small town of gilroy in northern california. police have said the scene is still active. it's not clear if the gunman is at large. two days of clashes between pro—democracy activists and police in hong kong have ended. china's top policy unit for the territory is expected to hold a rare news conference in beijing in a few hours' time. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, will travel to scotland today, where he's likely to encounter opposition to his latest plans

to prepare for a no—deal brexit. now, it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the front page of the financial times, reporting that the owner of vauxhall is willing to pull all production from a plant in the uk should brexit render the british factory unprofitable. the moscow times reports that the doctor of russian opposition leader alexei navalny claims he may have been poisoned. mr navalny was hospitalised from jail after suffering what officials say was an allergic reaction. he is serving a 30—day sentence for violating protest laws. the south china morning post says that china's fake diamond market is threatening miners. china is the world's largest synthetic diamond producer with them costing around 50% less than a natural one. wired reports on the huge scale of the fortnite world cup the game is played by 250 million people worldwide. the tournament drew players from 30

different countries and a us teenager, kyle giersdorf, took home the $3 million singles prize. the duchess of sussex is guest editing the september issue of british vogue. the front cover consists of 15 trailblazing women of her choosing. it has to be said used to work in city hall with the current prime minister, borisjohnson. he was mayor of london, yes. the days were challenging, long, but rarely... actually, it was a time where we face a lot of challenges in the city. we had to prepare the city for the olympics, there was an issue about crime. big issues that actually, boris as now, had to learn and tackle and deal with the city of

8.5 million, 9 million