this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. bracing for impact. more us businesses and farmers say they are suffering from the trade war with china — as they prepare for the fall out from a new round of tariffs coming in on sunday. as the city's set to see the thirteenth weekend in a row of demonstrations, we look at the impact hong kong's protests on companies. and on the markets, asia stocks bounce back amid positive signals from beijing on us—china trade.

we start our programme in the us — where trade tariffs will be hiked yet again on more goods on china. the latest round will affect another $125 billion worth of products — everything from smartwatches to flat screen tvs, footwear to bluetooth headsets. all in all — it will take the total of goods traded to $550 billion that will now fall under tariffs imposed by president trump. american companies and their consumers, are feeling the pain. a coalition of us industry organisations has asked mr trump to reconsider his plan. china — this time — has indicated it won't immediately retaliate with tariffs of its own. in fact, the chinese commerce ministry says beijing and washington are discussing the possibility of talks next month.

let's speak to the market analyst craig erlam. why are the latest tariff hikes different? we have to remember that when you implement these tariffs you look at your imports and say what will be least damaging on our economy and which will take its greatest toll? naturally you will save those for the end when you wish to inflict the most damage. we have now hid this uncomfortable point whereby the trade war has grown so far you are now entering territory you would rather have avoided and this is the consumers. the reason why donald trump suspended over half of these four september. the last thing he wa nts to four september. the last thing he wants to do is upset the voter base less tha n wants to do is upset the voter base less than 12 months before an election and heading into the busy christmas period where they will already be feeling the pinch. christmas period where they will already be feeling the pinchm christmas period where they will already be feeling the pinch. is it fairto already be feeling the pinch. is it fair to say that donald trump is risking a recession in his own

country because of his policies?m isa country because of his policies?m is a risk and the market perceives that that way. i'm sure we have spoken plenty about these flashing signals of recession that have last materialised in 2007. he is risking it, the question is will it happen before or after an election. and also, what can be done to avoid it. previous housing crisis and .com bubbles happened but this feels avoidable that mike avoidable. bubbles happened but this feels avoidable that mike avoidable! bubbles happened but this feels avoidable that mike avoidable. . at the moment we have seen the first decline in business investment in the united states for three years. the manufacturing sector has been in contraction since december. companies are sitting on their cash, aren't they? what impact does that have on people around the world? aren't they? what impact does that have on people around the world ?m isa have on people around the world ?m is a self—sufficient filling prophecy the more you talk about recession the more you fear it. when

you talk about trade war, you influence people. at some point it will take its toll on the consumer if the consumer is constantly reading about reception maybe they save a little more that munt —— recession, maybe they save a little more that month. and hopefully it does not escalate because suddenly you face the possibility of recession. many of these countries are now facing a real prospect of recession. does the current path of co nsta nt recession. does the current path of constant escalation in this trade war actually increase the likelihood of any kind of rake through ordeal? you would hope so but really the breakthrough will come more from the us than from china and donald trump is probably looking at a few things. 0ne is probably looking at a few things. one will be his population polls. if it plays well with his voter base he will not feel the need to compromise. he focuses on the

market. and we have seen him comment on that. and the other thing is economic indicators. those three things are still healthy in the us at this point in time and as long as that remains the case, i don't think he will see a reason to compromise. the chinese will be looking at november next year and wondering if they can inflict enough pain, maybe they can inflict enough pain, maybe they will deal with the new administration and that will be much easier. this weekend will mark the thirteenth week in a row of protests in hong kong. companies in the city have been on edge, under pressure from beijing to stop workers taking part in the demonstrations. the biggest business casualty so far has been flag carrier cathay pacific. it's seen two bosses resigning and some of its staff fired. for some this was the event that changed the landscape for businesses in the region. 0ur asia business correspondent karishma vaswani reports. because this is guaranteed by the basic law!

what can you do when your personal beliefs could get you fired? in hong kong, they come out to the streets. today, no gas masks or tear gas here. just ordinary workers trying to make their voices heard. chanting. like rebecca tsai, who was fired from herjob at cathay dragon airlines, she says, for supporting pro—democracy protests on her private social media account. we have never seen this happen before. they should consider our background, our qualifications, not about our political stance or what we say or what we post on the social medias. it's not fair at all. but more than that injustice, is the fear that their way of life in this city will change. this is still one of asia's great financial cities. for the most part, the protests here are limited to the weekend, during the week, people get on with work, get back to business. but there's a new reality emerging

for companies here that they're having to adapt to. for decades, multinationals have flocked to hong kong for its stability and access to china, but now they're having to make some difficult decisions about the future. the decision is, does toeing the line with beijing now damage my global market, or do i — do i kowtow now and protect my position on the mainland? that is the big decision people are making. it's a contrast that veterans here have always understood. allan zeman built this city's iconic entertainment district he has seen it all: from colonial hong kong to a china—backed one. i have been in china for more than 35 years. i understand that these are the rules if you want to do business here, then abide by our rules. but the rules in hong kong have

always been different from those in china. that's what's helped hong kong thrive. now many are asking what happens when that line is blurred? karishma vaswani, bbc news, hong kong. now let's brief you on some other business stories. japan's factories staged a comeback injuly — with output rising by 1.3%. the figures were boosted by increased production of cars and chemicals, offsetting a decline for oil products. however, retail sales fell at a faster pace, suggesting that domestic demand may be weaker than previously thought and signaling possible strains for private spending in coming months. a usjudge has partially dismissed a lawsuit by investors in general electric. the multi—national conglomerate had been accused of concealing $24 billion in insurance liabilities and using fraudulent accounting to prop up its power business. thejudge has now granted the shareholders permission to amend their complaint.

later today india will reveal its latest growth figures, and they are expected to show that the world's seventh biggest economy is expanding at its slowest pace in more than five years. let's cross now to mumbai. two ratings agencies have lowered their forecast for india recently — what's driving this slow down in india? india is opening its doors to a host of foreign brands. we picked three product. to explain how these new rules are a game changer. until now, retailers like h&m and uniqlo had to source at least 30% of their materials from india. that was difficult. they were either unavailable or of lower quality. now those rules have been relaxed, making india an easier place to manufacture, and that will also boost exports.

companies like ikea can now expand faster, since the changes make it easier to set up factories here. and that means morejobs, too. you can soon buy apple products online, the new rules allow single brand retailers to set up online stores without having to set up physical stores first. apple can now import high—quality components more easily, and third—party manufacturers like foxconn, and can also start making the latest iphones here. that makes india more attractive to investors. they're looking for more places to make their goods as the us—china trade war shows no sign of letting up. all this is an effort to drive investment, createjobs and make india a manufacturing hub, and the government hopes it will kickstart india's sluggish economy. that's it for the business briefing this hour but before we go, here are the markets. shares climbed across the asia pacific

region on the final trading day of what have been a tumultuous month dominated by the trade war. japanese bonds slipped after the bank of japan cut purchases in its regular operations. shares in sony rose as much as 1.6% on friday after the company sold its stake injapanese medical equipment maker 0lympus, following calls from a us activist investor to offload its non—core assets. a mother, who won a major court case on bereavement benefits, says it's "shameful" the government hasn't acted on the ruling a year on. siobhan mclaughlin,

from county antrim, wasn't married to her late partner and so wasn't able to claim an allowance for widowed parents. in 2018, siobhan won a challenge against that decision in the supreme court. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page reports. four children lost a father when john died in 2014. he had lived with their mother, siobhan mclaughlin for over two decades. she was denied widowed parents allowance because they were not married. 0ne widowed parents allowance because they were not married. one year ago she won a challenge against the decision in the supreme court but she has not received any money and says the government must bring in new legislation. it really is shameful that they haven't. at the end of the day, these are children we are about, you know? they have lost a parent. siobhan mclaughlin says she took the case not for herself but for the children of all unmarried parents who find themselves in the same situation. according to bereavement charities, thatis according to bereavement charities, that is a few thousand families a

year. some of them have contact did the solicitor. we are telling these families to apply for the benefit but we are now at the stage where they now have to consider bringing their own challenges and you wonder how many grieving families will it take? the department for work and pensions as it is actively considering options following the ruling. it says it has widened the support for bereaved families in addition for help for cohabiting couples. this time last year, these women hope their battle with the state was over. but their campaign is still on. for that story and more, breakfast is coming up at six o'clock with jon kay and steph mcgovern. they'll have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the brexit battle heads to the courts — a first verdict‘s due on whether the uk government can suspend parliament.

pro—democracy activists in hong kong say two of their leaders have been arrested — a day before a banned demonstration. new evidence about the risks of breast cancer — for women taking menopausal hormone therapy. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the i, it reports that conservative rebels are preparing to vote down borisjohnson‘s brexit plan to avoid a no—deal conclusion. it says the prime minister is "heading for defeat" in the commons next week. it also features ruth davidson as she stands down as scottish conservative leader. staying with british politics, and the free paper, the metro, has this picture of opposition leaderjeremy corbyn as he pledges to thwart the shutdown of parliament and a no—deal brexit. the paper says he denounced mrjohnson‘s "smash—and—grab raid on democracy".

moving on to the times now and a story that's in several of today's papers: the hormone replacement therapy for the menopause, or ‘menopausal hormone therapy‘ as it's known, is twice as likely to cause cancer than previously thought. 0nline tech publication, techradar, is looking at the ongoing dispute between the us and china. google says because of the us government ban on sales it cannot licence its apps to the chinese phone company. that means huawei customers will be left without access to some of the world's most popular apps. and finally onto the ft, and news that formula one world champion, lewis hamilton, is investing in ‘neat burger‘ the first plant—based sustainable burger chain of its kind. working with teams of chefs from beyond meat the new restaurant will open in london on monday and will be serving up 3 core burgers — all meat—free — and water and soya—based