this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. trade talks during the g7 summit, with the us and uk leaders promising a "very big deal" post—brexit. and the us and japan agree on the nuts and bolts of a trade agreement, with plans to officially cross the t‘s and dot the is in september. and markets tumble as trade tensions between the us and china show no signs of slowing.

trade was a big part of the talk at the g7 summit in biarritz. and us president donald trump was at the centre of the wheeling and dealing. he and british prime minister boris johnson spoke about a "very big" trade deal once the uk leaves the eu. but mrjohnson tempered expectations, saying the us would be tough negotiators and that he wouldn't rush talks, and there's a lot to discuss. us goods and services with united kingdom totaled an estimated $2613 billion last year. let's hear what both men had to say about a possible agreement. we are going to do a fantastic deal. we are going to do a fantastic deal. we will get over some of the obstacles we will get over some of the o bsta cles in we will get over some of the obstacles in our path. we are going to do some fantastic, many deals. many different deals. we are having a good time. as far as the uk under united states, we are working on a

very big trade deal and i think it is going to work out very well. —— and the united states. meandhwile, the us and japan agreed to the core elements of a trade deal that they hope to ink in new york next month. it covers agriculture, industrial tariffs and digital trade, though car tariffs would remain unchanged. japan agreed to buy excess us corn that is burdening farmers because of the tariff dispute between washington and beijing. trade between the us and japan was just over $217 billion last year, the us being japan's most important trading partner. here's what president trump had to say. it is billions and billions of dollars. tremendous for the farmers. one of the things that prime minister abe has agreed to is, we have access corn, in various parts of our country. —— excess. with our farmers. because china did not do what they said they were going to do. dan kemp is chief investment officer

at morningstar investment management. good morning, and thanks very much for being with us. my pleasure. good morning. what do you make of the details we are hearing about the japan— us trade deal?” details we are hearing about the japan- us trade deal? i think details of the most important word there. we can talk about these big deals, and that is what has been happening over the weekend, but if you did a little bit deeper, there is clearly a lot more work to do. that was acknowledged by prime minister abe over the weekend as well. president trump was talking about the japanese buying corn from us farmers, and it seems prime minister abe backpedalled a little bit from that, saying it was a private—sector issue. again, we have these big headlines, but really, as investors, we want to dig into the details and see whether anything is really changing in terms of the fundamental picture. do you think the notion that it could be signed and all agreed in weeks, if not months, a bit ambitious? it is certainly ambitious. that doesn't mean it won't happen. the question

is whether it will be as big as the president is talking about, or whether we will see something a little bit smaller. and we sort of saw that in the conversations between the uk and the us as well, where president trump was talking about mini deals rather than that one big deal. talk about that in more detail. how do investors see this notion of a uk—us trade deal? we have heard big talk over the weekend, we have heard borisjohnson saying it is ambitious to think it could be done within a year, but donald trump, you know, is very gung ho about it. how do investors deal with that on a long—term basis? that's the real question. it is all about the long—term, notjust that's the real question. it is all about the long—term, not just what is in front of us. so, as investors, we wa nt is in front of us. so, as investors, we want to take a step back and look out to be headlines —— look at the headlines, and through the headlines, and through the headlines, into the details and the long—term impact of this. so, yes,

we're looking at but announcement over the weekend and saying, ok, these are some big headlines, but how will that really translate through to the detail. there isn't very much at the moment. there is clearly lots of work to do and differences of opinion. so again, there might be the bones of a deal done over the next year, but whether thatis done over the next year, but whether that is a deal that really has an impact on the uk or indeed the us remains to be seen, or whether it is just a sort of broad statement of intent. so i think as investors, we wa nt to intent. so i think as investors, we want to try to put aside as much of the noise around these deals as possible, and look at the fundamentals that are happening at individual companies and asset losses. how do investors look at me g7 now? it used to be a meeting, generally, of minds. now we are not really seeing that. it is much more one—on—one meetings between different leaders, not a general communique that you can take something substantive from. yes, of course we used to talk about the gh not long ago. before russia was

expelled. —— g8. not long ago. before russia was expelled. -- gb. so as we move from gs to g7, expelled. -- gb. so as we move from g8 to g7, and as you say comedy talks seem to be much more bilateral in nature, following the us refusing to get involved in the communique last time around, and this time there is not a joint communique. it does feel much more like a collection of bilateral conversations. a colleague said earlier it is like a country club. you know, just people having individual conversations who just happened to be in the same place. and so that means that from an investor's perspective, it is a reminder that it is a much more complex world now than we used to deal with. there isn't this one unilateral group that tends to act together. we have to be much more cognisant together. we have to be much more cognisa nt of together. we have to be much more cognisant of individual relationships and individual trading partnerships. down, thank you very much for your analysis and thoughts. —— dan. president trump had quite a busy summit. he was asked if he had regrets about the mounting us—china trade war, and the president answered "sure, why not?"

the white house later clarified what exactly he meant, as chris buckler in washington explains. president trump left washington from france having fired off the latest shots in this trade war, but when he arrived at the g7 summit he was asked by reporters if he had any regrets in taking that decision to raise tariffs on chinese goods by 596. raise tariffs on chinese goods by 5%. and the president did seem to indicate that yes, he did have some regrets. however, one of his officials was quick to step in and clarify that what the president was actually trying to say is that he regretted not raising the tariffs even higher. that might be an indication that this battle between washington and beijing is far from over. the big question is, what happens next? the us treasury secretary, steven mnuchin, says president trump is still determined to try to force some concessions from beijing. meanwhile, all of these officials have been trying to clarify some of the comments made by mrtrump on clarify some of the comments made by mr trump on friday, in which he

ordered, and that was the word he used, he ordered american companies with interests in china to look elsewhere to base their operations. mrtrump has elsewhere to base their operations. mr trump has been saying that he believes he does have the power, if he were to declare a national emergency, to force them to do just that, to look elsewhere and to base their interests elsewhere. however, he said he was not considering declaring a national emergency at the moment. besides, there are a nalysts the moment. besides, there are analysts who are doubtful that he has the power to do anything about existing direct foreign investments. and those trade tensions between the world's biggest economies are having a significant impact on markets around the world. let's go to our asia business hub, where sharanjit leyl is has been following the ups and downs, but mostly downs. fill us in? that's right. asian equity markets thinking, the chinese yuan hitting an 11 year low, this after donald trump ramped up tariffs on $500 billion worth of chinese imports. it is the latest salvo in the us china trade war. he also

called for american companies to pull out of the largest economy in asia after china said it would impose retaliatory tariffs on us goods. this flight from risky centres to safe haven saw some assets rising. the likes of gold, for instance, jumped to a six year high per ounce, while the japanese yen, also considered a safe haven, was at its strongest level since the end of 2016 earlier today. however, sentiment hasn't somewhat improved. that is after the chinese vice premier reportedly said in chinese media but the country is willing to resolve the trade disputes through dialogues, with a calm attitude. —— said that the country. we have seen the yuan edging back from its lows, and this latest turn in a trade war comes during an already very tumultuous month the financial markets. amid all those concerns of slowing economic growth. investors are slowing economic growth. investors a re really slowing economic growth. investors are really taking a wait and see

attitude, until the market eventually stabilises, but they —— about may not happen after all the trade rows are resolved. as we know, there has been very little sign that will happen anytime soon. now let's brief you on some other business stories. the european union is reportedly planning to simplify its budgetary rules to give governments less strict debt targets. according to the financial times, this is to help struggling economies in time of instability and downturns. brussels has come under fire for enforcing the rules with some countries and not with others. walt disney and target announced a collaboration that will see 25 disney stores open within the target locations by the beginning of october. a further a0 stores will then open by the end of next year. disney said the "shop—in—shop" would feature an array of more than a50 items from the company, which saw some disney only store closures earlier this year. that's it for the business

briefing this hour. but before we go, let's take a look at how the markets are doing. asia is trading significantly lower today as fears over the us—china trade war continue to grow. the chinese premier told a state—backed newspaper today that he's willing to resolve the dispute through calm negotiations, but so far, those comments haven't had much of a calming effect. and as we heard from sharanjit, the yuan down to near 11—year lows. millions of bags of peat are sold each year for use as garden compost. even though it helps the growth of plants, campaigners in the uk are calling for a legally—enforced ban, because of the damage the production process does to the environment. our reporter sam fenwick has more. we have been digging up peat to

using compost for 70 years, and we get through a lot. every year, uk gardeners and commercial growers use enough to fill nearly olympic size swimming pools. it is great for growing things, but peatlands take thousands of years to form and they are thousands of years to form and they a re really thousands of years to form and they are really important for the environment because they store vast amounts of carbon. it worries me to that we buy from the local garden centres have peat in, because we are concerned for the environment. ten yea rs concerned for the environment. ten years ago the government told the horticulture industry but they had to reduce the amount of peat in compost. and they gave them until 2020 to do that. today, a bag of compost like this will contain about 56% peat. so —— some will have more, some will have less. that figure has dropped by 2% in eight years. the industry say they are working hard to reduce the use of peat and come

up to reduce the use of peat and come up with alternatives. peat is a very, very good natural product for growing plants. so there has been a lot of time and money spent in the last ten years researching the alternative. creating a new, viable and sustainable products that can replace peat. the government says they will review what peat alternatives there are on the market at the end of the year. if they think progress has been too slow, they will consider legislation. and coming up at 6:00, breakfast. charlie stayt and louise minchin will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: g7 leaders are set to unveil a new plan to protect the amazon, offering technical and financial support to fight fires in the rainforest. it comes as record numbers of wildfires sweep the region in bolivia, more than 10,000 square kilometres have been destroyed in days.

police in hong kong have fired a warning shot at protestors as anti—government demonstrations spilled into violence. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with le figaro which leads with the g7 summit being held in biarritz. president macron, it asserts, is trying for a diplomatic breakthrough on iran. on the sidelines of the summit, the paper continues, the iranian minister of foreign affairs arrived in biarritz to discuss the nuclear treaty. and this story also makes the front page of the gulf news which suggests the arrival of the iranian minister caused high drama at the summit as president trump, who withdrew the united states from the deal with iran, was caught off guard. the president, they report, responded to the arrival by saying ‘we will do our own outreach‘. and still at the g7, the independent reports on the meeting between borisjohnson and the european council president, donald tusk, about brexit. the paper quotes the british prime minister saying, "it's going to be

touch and go over a deal" and says he has been accused of ‘gaslighting' voters over brexit talks while offering nothing new to the eu. the south china morning post illustrates the increase in violence in hong kong's anti—government protests with a photograph of a policeman pointing his revolver at protesters. it reports that at least three police officers who were being chased by protesters pulled their revolvers, with one firing a warning shot into the air. the paper adds that water cannon were deployed for the first time against protesters. the guardian has the story that british mps are pushing for clear workplace policies to protect women going through the menopause — which, they say, exacts a hefty personal and professional toll on as many as one in four women. they report that the mps say the policy should be as commonplace as maternity schemes in businesses and organistaions. and finally, the story which leads almost all of the london papers — england miraculously still in with a chance of winning the ashes cricket series. the i says ben stokes saved the ashes in one of the ‘greatest