this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. tense times for global trade — as the us and china meet for talks — ahead of a new wave of tariffs next week. plus — billion—dollar breakdown. general motors faces its biggest labour dispute in more than a decade as a strike by $50,000 workers heads for a fourth week. and for financial markets there's only one story in town — the trade talks in washington — stock brokers worldwide will not be taking any coffee breaks as they try and profit from every twist and turn.

year we start in washington — where top level talks are due to take place later between the us and china over their increasingly damaging trade war. there's growing concern a deal is still a long way off — with reports that there's been little progress behind the scenes this week — and that the chinese team plan to leave the talks a day early. that's been hitting financial markets in the last few hours. the us and china together account for more than 40% of the world's economy. but their standoff is affecting the whole world — as global supply chains are disrupted and components go up in price. let's take the iphone for example: designed in the us but assembled in china. if the trade war isn't resolved by december, the us will impose a 15% levy on the iphone among other tech products made in china, so prices around the world could rise.

germany is europe's biggest economy — almost half its output comes from exporting — and trade tensions are helping push it into recession. this week the new boss of the international monetary fund warned that by next year — trade wars could have shrunk the global economy by 700 billion dollars. that's equivalent to wiping out the whole of switzerland's economy. we have spoken in the past about the dangers of trade disputes. now we see that they are actually taking a toll. global trade growth has come toll. global trade growth has come to almost a standstill, in part because of trade tensions, worldwide manufacturing activity and

investment have weakened substantially. there is a serious risk that services and consumption could also soon be affected. shirley yu is a senior visiting fellow at the institute of global affairs at the london school of economics. nice to see you again. what are your expectations for these talks? the good news is the world's two largest economies are continuously talking because can you imagine the consequences if they won't? this sort of dialogue mechanism keeps the world one step away from a terrible comprehensive decoupling through the us and china. in terms of specific outcome, there has not been a lot of expectations for a comprehensive deal to come out of this particular round of trade talks or perhaps many rounds of trade talks up to this but because china has tabled a partial

trade your solution. president trump wa nts a trade your solution. president trump wants a compensable trade deal. he wa nts to wants a compensable trade deal. he wants to address the structural economic issues within china and the implementation mechanism so i don't think the two countries on the same page. they don't seem to be, with lots of tit—for—tat escalation going on ahead of these talks and just this week alone. what if we were to see this, move from trade or goods to investment. what are we talking about in it would go into that level. i think that is the real danger. two weeks ago, if we would to go to president trump's press conference, he basically said, had my opponent one, we would have been second right now so the message is very clear, the trade war is not going to stop the us feels absolutely confident that china is

no longer a threat to the us‘s global economic primacy sir peter navarro came out last week and said, delisting of chinese stocks from us exchanges is fake news but actually that conversation has happened in the white house, and so 180... 180 chinese companies listed across the major boards in the us and perhaps 120 or so chinese companies listed on over—the—counter exchanges, the market, well over $1.2 trillion us. have we not been able to effectively prevent the trade want to escalate into that investment area, the potential impact is seismic, it's far than potential impact is seismic, it's farthan simply potential impact is seismic, it's far than simply talking about moving trading routes around. that's

fascinating, thank you for coming m, fascinating, thank you for coming in, surely. we will talk to you again. we will keep a close eye on those talks. expected to take base tomorrow as well if china doesn't intend to cut short. let's stay in the us — where auto giant general motors is facing its worst labour dispute in more than a decade. almost 50,000 workers at gm plants across the country walked out on strike on the 16th of september — demanding more pay and job security. they are angry in particular at gm's outsourcing of production overseas — and worried that changing technology will mean fewer workers. the strike has already cost gm $1 billion — and there are concerns about its impact on the wider us economy. samira hussian is in detroit.

people honk their horns and support. after all, this is carpentry. billy brewer has worked at gm for 42 years and was with the company during the financial crisis when the carmaker had to be bailed out by the us government. it was scary. you didn't know if they were going to be open 01’ know if they were going to be open or closed. we didn't know. and then when they were bailed out, i mean, workers took a hit. we did. we took a hit. that's why we are going to stand strong now because we feel we deserve our share now because we took a hit back then when they were losing. we saved them. so they need to step up and save us. the impact ofa to step up and save us. the impact of a strike goes just beyond the workers and general motors. the auto industry is the largest employer in michigan and thousands of other businesses rely on it. so if the strike goes on too long, it could plunge this state into a recession.

normally these trucks would be hauling gm parts but they stand idle. 90% of the trucking business comes from gm and it's already cut 120 employees. it's bad, it's really bad. i mean, we had to go through oui’ bad. i mean, we had to go through our savings and probably we have a couple of weeks of savings and we have to figure out another plan. but ending the strike doesn't mean everything will be ok. despite an eye watering $8 billion in profits last year, the car industry is facing an uncertain future. all of the trade stuff is up in the air. we don't know when electrification and automation will take cold and gm is spending a lot of money on it in the way people get mobility, do they buy a car 01’ way people get mobility, do they buy a caror by way people get mobility, do they buy a car or by mobility as a service, thatis a car or by mobility as a service, that is a big risk for gm. even before this strike, the american manufacturing sector was slowing down. this strike makes it worse, stoking more fears that a recession

is just around the corner. let's go to asia now, and another trade dispute betweenjapan and south korea. the two sides are scheduled to meet this friday in geneva. rico hizon is following the story. it's a busy time for trade talks. two of the world's biggest technology giants up racing off at the world trade organisation and this is after south korea launched a complaint with the wto overtired to export controls involving crucial hi—tech materials. tensions between these long—time rivals intensified injuly when these long—time rivals intensified in july when japan announced stricter restrictions on exports on basically three products used by south korean to companies to make memory chips and smartphone displays. japan has not really explained in detail what is driving its trade actions against south korea. reports have suggested

tokyo's decisions could be in retaliation against the ongoing dispute over forced labour during world war ii. both countries buy from each other tons of electronic parts and if this trade fight continues, the trade of these high—value items could be disrupted. ijust want high—value items could be disrupted. i just want to mention the story we've got today, that being that workers on farms and plantations that supply some the big supermarkets in the uk are being subjected to poverty and human rights abuses according to 0xfam. a charity conducted research in india and brazil, surveyed workers in five other countries and says poor conditions are right on farms. supermarkets including tesco's, sainsbury‘s and morrisons, blaming a relentless drive for profits. that isa relentless drive for profits. that is a story i've mentioned is on bbc on line. i'm going to tweet that story for you if you follow me on twitter. it's a good old—fashioned

story about big names in retail not checking their supply chains. if the bookshelf in your home happens to have a copy of harry potter and the philosopher's stone, you might want to check whether it is a very rare first edition hardback. a copy of the wonderful wizard's inaugural adventure is being auctioned off later today, and although it only cost 10 pounds 99 when it was released in 1997, it could fetch up to more than £50,000. tim muffett has more. a struggling author, a story rejected by most publishers. 22

yea rs rejected by most publishers. 22 years later... it is a landmark in children's literature. this is the very first edition, first impression of the first harry potter book. there are only 500 were printed and it's in virtually pristine condition. published in 1997 with an original price of £10 99, the book is being auctioned today. i'm guiding it at £25,000 — is being auctioned today. i'm guiding it at £25,000 - £30,000 is being auctioned today. i'm guiding it at £25,000 — £30,000 but it is pretty unusual to see one in such good condition and i wouldn't be surprised if it doubled that and got 40, 50 or even more. the sellers of the book are remaining anonymous. they were given it as a present for their children but kept it safe as potter mania grew. how do you know that it's a first edition in one of the first run? here on page 53, famously we have one wand listed twice on this list. so that was a mistake? that was a mistake that was removed later. also, philosopher's

is misspelt. but the crucial thing, this number one running from ten down to what is the most important thing. if that publication line stops. paperback first editions will also be going under the hammer. less row, but they could fetch £3000 each. time to check the bookshelf. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: there's been international criticism of turkey's military assault on kurdish—led forces in north—east syria. france, germany and britain have requested a meeting of the un security council. at least ten civilians are reported to have been killed. the british prime minister is to meet his irish counterpart leo varadkar later on thursday for talks about brexit. hopes are fading that they'll find enough common ground on arrangements for northern ireland to arrive at a deal.

protesters in ecuador have clashed with security forces in the capital, quito, during a nationwide strike. indigenous groups are demanding the end of austerity, the return of fuel subsidies and the resignation of president lenin moreno. there is a lot to talk about today. now, it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with state—backed trt in turkey and its reporting of the country's offensive in syria, which it says is a peace operation. a free paper in london has this story about the new tax rules being proposed by the 0ecd. that would stop the likes of amazon and apple from avoiding tax

in the countries they make their profits. ba boss willie walsh features in the daily telegraph — he's hit out at so—called flight shamers, saying environmentalists are forgetting all the good things that come from flying. another story that has everybody talking this morning on twitter. it's the advice from the top doctor here saying there should be a ban on eating food on public transport to tackle obesity. and, finally, it's the footballer‘s wife turned detective — colleen rooney filling up the front pages and twitter feeds after fake stories she posted turned up in the sun newspaper. the twist? she says only one person could see the posts — fellow wag rebekah vardy. the plot thickens.