this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. free trade and friendly cooperation. borisjohnson promises business a bright future after brexit. but he could face years of negotiation over eu rules and market access. plus — the trade war takes its toll. china's growth slows to its weakest in more than a quarter of a century. and on the markets: sterling fell as investors fret over boris johnson's chances of pushing his brexit deal through parliament, while asian markets were mostly down after that data from china.

we start with brexit — because while prime minister boris johnson is working out how he will sell his new brexit deal to parliament — businesses are weighing up how it could affect future trade between britain and the eu for decades to come — that's if the deal gets approved. mrjohnson has written an open letter to businesses trying to reassure them. it says the deal is the basis for a new relationship with the eu — based on free trade and friendly cooperation. in the political declaration — the two sides have agreed to aim for a trade deal with ‘no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions‘ — in other words, avoiding limits on the amount of goods. they have also pledged to ensure a ‘level

playing field' for businesses. this could mean the uk abiding by many eu rules — a big concession from the uk side. so what might that mean? the declaration promises both sides will uphold current ‘common high standards‘ on business rules on state aid and fair competiton, as well as employment, the environment and tax. this though is likely to be the subject of massive negotiation. how about the overall economic impact? according research from think tank uk in a changing europe — replacing eu single market membership with a looser free trade if they want big market access and need strong regulatory environment and you can‘t have one without the other. we are back to the discussion and we know that borisjohnson is much in that camp but he will soon discover that is not exact on offer. sharmila whelan is

from aletheia capital. what effectively seeing actually on this has done to foreign investment in the uk? not a whole heap. the numbers speak for themselves, if you look at portfolio and foreign direct investment, flows, the average 30 billion since the referendum up and up billion since the referendum up and up until the second quarter of this year. if you look at the same flows in the run—up to the referendum. in the six years to bring up to the referendum, the average 23 —— i7 billion. so in other words, the uk has remained an attractive destination forforeign has remained an attractive destination for foreign investors despite the uncertainty of political inviting. so essentially what you're saying is money overseas is coming into the euchre, what about four uk firms who may be making decisions about whether to invest, take on new

staff, has there been any impact on that? absolutely, gdp growth has slowed but it‘s held up relatively well. in fact, slowed but it‘s held up relatively well. infact, it‘s slowed but it‘s held up relatively well. in fact, it‘s held a bit of the euro area the last six courts, the euro area the last six courts, the growth in the area has slowed just slowed shortly and sharper. the draggers government investment spending. which salter grown. the property market has been going but companies in the face of uncertainty have been holding back and it expands. with that in mind, whenever isa expands. with that in mind, whenever is a deal that the uk government and eu are happy to go ahead with, subject to it being approved by parliament, visitors now have the certainty that they need in order to spend money and take on new staff?” think yes, is the short answer to your question. how quickly the investment spending recovers from here will also depend very much a

british policy makers and they‘re not talking about the backup of the easing policies but crucially, policies, that create the economic incentives for companies to invest that includes releasing and easing the revelatory burden, the cost of doing business, basically it‘s hank —— hatching competitiveness. —— enhancing competitiveness. let‘s go to the us now, where it‘s been confirmed that from today, $7.5 billion of european goods will be hit by import taxes of as much as 25%. it follows a ruling at the world trade organization that the eu illegally subsidised plane maker airbus, and that the us could retaliate. vivienne nunis in new york has more. americans have a preference for italian cheese, french one, scottish

whiskey, spatulas, even european power tools, can expect to pay more for those goods from today. after a trade dispute that lasted 15 years, the us canal "back some of the financial loss that incurred in the french aeroplane manufacturer abbas received illegal government subsidies. the world trade 0rganisation subsidies. the world trade organisation has allowed washington to impose tariffs on a record $7.5 billion on your pen explodes and as importers paid more to get those goods into the us, prices could go up goods into the us, prices could go up by goods into the us, prices could go up by 25%. eu officials tried to convince the us to think again and previous settlement but this because i got previous settlement but this because igotan previous settlement but this because i got an answer. the watch this space, the us is found to be illegally subsidising its playmaker boeing and black with bass tariffs on goods sold in europe from next year. let‘s go to asia now, and the trade war with the us is continuing to take its toll on china‘s economy. growth in the three months to september slowed more than expected to 6% — its weakest in more than 27 years. the bbc‘s asia business correspondent, karishma vaswani, is looking at this for us.

slow down, to many countries of the growth of 6% would seem fantastic but relative —— relative to what china has had in previous years, the significant hit and they‘re attributing it to the us china trade well. they themselves aren't attributing it to the us china trade well, but they do recognise and have acknowledged chinese officials that external, the external situation has become a lot more difficult and any conversation as you and i know about the chinese economic figures has to come with caveat. this of the government wants you to know, wanted to believe. the economy is going out, —— independent economists believe it‘s much less on that but what is important for us to pay attention to is a direction of growth. as you point out it is the slowest level on 27 years. but beyond china‘s economy has been slowing down, the government has

planned for it to move in that direction, now however ben, the economy is being hit on three major fronts. the treadmill, as you pointed out, domestic consumption, people back at home in china, are not spending as much money as they had in the past and also there is theissue had in the past and also there is the issue of the global economic environment which means currently it is very difficult for china to use the things it has done in the past to help push the economy out of a slump to do that again. it is not a pretty picture for the chinese economy at this point. thank you very much, andy. —— thank you very much indeed. now let‘s brief you on some other business stories. saudi arabia‘s aramco has delayed the launch of its share sale, according to reports. the state—owned oil giant was to have begun marketing early next week for one of the biggest ever initial public offerings that it hopes will value the firm at $2 trillion, but sources have told reuters and bloomberg it wants to rebuild investor confidence after a drone attack last month temporarily knocked out half its crude output

the head of the national basketball association in the us has said financial losses from its row with china have been substantial. earlier this month, the manager of the houston rockets, daryl morey, tweeted support for pro—democracy protesters in hong kong. as a result, chinese firms suspended sponsorship deals and broadcasters took nba games off the air. basketball is china‘s top sport, and the nba is hugely popular, with around 800 million fans. renault has further cut its financial forecasts for this year, saying sales will drop 3—4% because of difficulties in markets such as turkey and argentina. the french car giant has been reshuffling its top management, ousting ceo thierry bollore last week as it tries to draw a line under the scandal surrounding former boss carlos ghosn. carmakers around the world are also struggling with a broad—based slump in auto sales.

and now, what‘s trending in the business news this morning? on business insider — martin luther king‘s daughter slams mark zuckerberg for invoking the civil rights movement. zuckerberg gave a speech arguing facebook is a vital tool for freedom of expression. bernice king says disinformation created the atmosphere that led to mlk‘s 1968 assassination. bloomberg tells how the world‘s longest flight aims to beat the curse ofjet lag. qantas will ditch the traditional in—flight service routine for this weekend‘s marathon non—stop trip from new york to sydney. apparently lights will be bright and food will be zesty. and the wall streetjournal has more on aramco. saudi crown prince mohammed thinks his oilfirm aramco is worth $2 trillion, but investors have other ideas. and don‘t forget, let us know what you are spotting online.

use the #bbcthebriefing. up next: news briefing. we‘ll take you through ther stories making headlines in the global news media today. police have arrested more than 700 people during a week—long operation to tackle so—called county lines drugs gangs across the uk. in total, drugs with a street value of around £a00,000 were also seized. here‘s our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds. across the country police forces urban and rural have been working together. to move in on the county lines drug gates. this was a joint west midlands operation. suspected

dealers from birmingham involved in the supply of drugs to worcestershire. 0perations like this ta ke worcestershire. 0perations like this take enormous resources in cooperation but it seems to be working. in the week—long bush, 743 people were arrested, more than £420,000 worth of drugs were seized, and 49 phone lines used for deals we re and 49 phone lines used for deals were disrupted. the police say they will be more to come. we know more than we have ever known about the gangs and those people that get exposure as part of this activity of because we have requires co—ordination now between different forces up and down the country. just asa forces up and down the country. just as a police have changed their tactics, it‘s likely the gangs will too. they‘re shown they‘re prepared too. they‘re shown they‘re prepared to protect the trade with half £1 billion a year. and they seem to be here to stay.

scientists say they‘ve developed a technique to help them spot big groups of whales that have washed up on the shore from space. they‘ve been using satellites to investigate the largest ever recorded stranding, involving 340 whales which washed up on the coast of chile four years ago. no—one fully understands why it happens, and previously it‘s taken several weeks to find them. for more on those stories, breakfast will be coming up at 6am with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: 0vidio guzman, son of the jailed drug lord el chapo, is arrested in a fierce street battle, then released by security forces "to protect lives". the eu and the uk have agreed a new brexit deal. the british prime minister now needs to win support in parliament with the vote looking extremely tight. a 5—day in fighting in northern syria has come into operation.

first turkey, now the kurds, say they will honour. now it‘s time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with catalonia‘s la vanguardia newspaper covering the violent protests on the streets of barcelona and the catalan president‘s renewed plans for an independence referendum, but the headline says "torra stands alone with his promise". let‘s look at the guardian and the two business stories it has on the brexit deal. it covers the imf boss saying she jumped forjoy at news of a deal, but also an article on how the uk will lose £130 billion in growth if the deal goes through. facebook makes the headlines in much of the media. here, cnbc explains how the company‘s boss mark zuckerberg thought about banning political ads, but decided against it. the sun here in the uk looks at london commuters turning on extinction rebellion climate activists who disrupted public transport.

its headline "mind the scrap" — a play on the announcement mind the gap. and finally, a new fad in silicone valley — dopamine fasting, covered in vice. could 24 hours without social contact, entertainment or stimulation give you a neurological reset? 0ras or as they used to say, a day off. with me now is melianie eusebe, to go through some of those stories. —— melanie. it is interesting because theissue melanie. it is interesting because the issue of catalonian independence was very prominent year or so ago and it seems to have gone quiet and now we are seeing these very, very stark protests happening on the streets. most definitely, and it is unexpected by all across the world so the title of the article torra stands alone is