hello. this is the business briefing. trading threats. tensions rise in davos as the us warns it could hit written‘s carmakers with ta riffs over could hit written‘s carmakers with tariffs over its plans for attack tax on the likes of facebook. echoes of sa rs tax on the likes of facebook. echoes of sars as china battles the mystery coronavirus. could the economic contagion be as bad as 2003? and on the markets, asian shares fall as investors remain nervous about the extent of that virus outbreak. oil prices tumbled to seven—week lows on concerns about its impact on air travel.

hello. very warm welcome to the programme. we will start in the swiss ski resort of davos, where trade tensions have flared up between britain and the united states at the world economic forum. the us treasury secretary, steven mnuchin, has threatened to hit uk carmakers with new tariffs after the chancellor, the finance minister in the uk, sajid javid, refused to back down over plans to tax tech giants including facebook and amazon. this i’ow co m es including facebook and amazon. this row comes just over including facebook and amazon. this row comesjust over a including facebook and amazon. this row comes just over a week before britain leaves the european union, with a trade deal with the us a top post brexit priority for the uk government. from davos, our economics editor reports. the virtual business giants of the tech world have a very physical

presence on the streets of davos at the world economic forum, where they need to keep the world's powerbrokers on side. taxing them has been tricky and is now a global diplomatic incident, with britain committed in april to a 2% tax on the uk's sales of the likes of facebook, google and amazon. here, the chancellor under pressure internationally, in particularfrom president trump's treasury secretary. and they get a trade deal with you if they insist on introducing a digital tax in april? we will be having some private conversations about that. i'm sure the president and boris will be speaking on it as well. if people wa nt speaking on it as well. if people want tojust speaking on it as well. if people want to just arbitrarily put taxes on our digital companies, we will consider arbitrarily putting taxes on car companies. another trade power play from the us, the chancellor for now sticking to his guns. we plan to go ahead with our digital services tax in april. it will fall away once there is an

international solution. brexit next week means freedom to do international trade deals. what seeing here is that freedom is constrained. it requires trade—offs and choices to get those deals, the americans in particular piling on the pressure for a u—turn on the digital sales tax, the united kingdom dropping hints that it will prioritise an eu deal before a us one. that was welcomed by the eu commission president, who said a quick deal needed quick choices. do you think the real deal can be done by the end of the year? we will see. it isa by the end of the year? we will see. it is a question of course of what the uk chooses for itself. so how close it wants to be to the single market, this is betterfor good access to the single market, or if they do not want to have a level playing field, and of course they will be more distant, and it will be more difficult. everyone says they wa nt more difficult. everyone says they want trade deals, but it is trade barriers on the up, at a time when the uk now needs to make fundamental

trade choices. well, let's stay with those global trade tensions, because the body which is supposed to resolve such disputes, the world trade organisation, is facing paralysis. president trump has called for dramatic reform of the organisation, and the us is blocking the appointment of newjudges to its decision—making structure. the wto's head has been speaking to my colleague at the world economic forum. roberto azevedo told her that it will have to make major changes. it will change, there is no doubt about that. we need to make changes, we need to make pretty significant changes. it is not an adjustment here or there. changes will be necessary and may take a little bit of time but i'm quite hopeful that we will fix it. so can you elaborate on what the president is suggesting in terms of change,

and what you can agree on in terms of change? i cannot, because he didn't say. he mentioned generally the fact that he feels that the wto has not been working the way it should, that the us in his words has not been treated fairly, and that he wants to see changes, but he didn't specify which. one suggestion is something that he might like to see, and other members, is reclassification of china and india so they're no longer seen as developing countries. is that something that you would consider, do you think it is necessary? this conversation is ongoing. it's not the first time we hear about it. the us delegation made the case. it raised the issue at the general council level, and other members are reacting to that. how concerned how concerned are how concerned are you about the state of global trade right now, given the war we have seen with the us and china? even here in davos,

the us treasury secretary talking of new tariffs, perhaps, in europe. well, it's a world that is more unpredictable than before. i think the tensions that we have seen are here for a while. i don't think that there is any kind of agreement that they may reach between countries today that is going to, you know, all of a sudden turn everything... that we are going to be facing blue skies and, you know, easy sailing from this point on. this is going to be rough for a while. what do you make of the phase i deal between china and the us? this is a particular agreement that was very much welcomed, because it kind of signals that these tensions can be contained. they can diminish. because the perspective that we had before was of more tariffs, more trade disruption, more inefficiencies. davos speaking to -- roberto azevedo speaking to sally in davos. in china, authorities have suspended transport in and out of the city of

wuhan in response to an outbreak of coronavirus which has so far killed i7 coronavirus which has so far killed 17 people. later today, the world health organization will decide whether to declare a national emergency. it has brought back unpleasant memories of the sars epidemic of a few years ago. more than half of the world's 500 gas companies have investments in wuhan, which is home to some 11 million people. that is more than greater london. shares in chinese drugmakers have risen sharply. airline and hotel shares, though, have taken a hit. and the outbreak has come at a dangerous time, with vast numbers of people travelling ahead of chinese new year this weekend. close to 7 million chinese tourists travelled abroad for the celebration last year. more than 50 times that travelled within the country. now, the sars epidemic in 2003, which spread to 26 countries and killed almost 800 people, could have cost

the world economy some $40 billion. that's according to one estimate. let's speak to the business co nsulta nt let's speak to the business consultant and author rachel cartland, whojoins consultant and author rachel cartland, who joins me consultant and author rachel cartland, whojoins me live from hong kong, which is on high alert. just give us a sense of... we say hong kong is on high alert. how much of that is affecting you and others there? what sorts of things are they doing? not tremendously big effects on the general public at the moment. we have had two confirmed cases of this new coronavirus. those patients are in isolation, and the people have been treating them and their contacts and have been put in the isolation facilities that have been opened up for contacts. we have done the same as in the sars emergency. a couple of recreational holiday camps have been closed down from that usage and opened up so that contacts can live there. mask supplies are running out, but the general advice currently is simply avoid wuhan, and

obviously everyone is going to do that now. wash your hands more, and wear a mask that now. wash your hands more, and weara mask in that now. wash your hands more, and wear a mask in crowded places, especially on public transport. so the effect is quite small for us at present. and although people are concerned, we have had this practice run, if you like, with sars, and so the government should be well—equipped to cope. the government should be well-equipped to cope. 0k, we have got a slightly crackly line to you, rachel, apologies for that, but we will persist. how important is it for businesses that their staff and collea g u es for businesses that their staff and colleagues are able to travel across china, to and from wuhan, for example? well, china, as you know, is an enormous place, the world's second—largest economy, and immensely populous. so although as you correctly described, wuhan is a very big city, with big international investments, it's not as if it is the only city of that scale and size. so i don't think it

will make a massive difference to international business. and then, when we... we will keep across any more developments and bring those to our viewers here on bbc world news, but for now, rachel cartland, thank you very much indeed. we will now brief you on some other business stories, and tesla's stock market value has passed $100 billion, meaning it has overtaken volkswagen as the world's second most valuable car company after as the world's second most valuable car com pa ny after toyota. its as the world's second most valuable car company after toyota. its share price has more than doubled since october. despite the investor enthusiasm for electric car maker, tesla remains a fraction of the size of its rivals, delivering around 360,000 cars last year, paired with volkswagen's 11 million. —— compared with volkswagen's 11 million. coming up with volkswagen's 11 million. coming up next, news briefing. don't go away.

let's get more on our top story now, that shutdown of public transport in the chinese city of wuhan. public health england says precautions are in place to minimise the risk from coronavirus. the world health organization will resume a meeting later to consider whether to declare a public health emergency. keith doyle has more in the uk's response. at heathrow last night, a china southern airline flight direct from wuhan landed. it's one of three weekly direct flights to the uk from the chinese city at the centre of the chinese city at the centre of the outbreak. passengers arriving have been subject to enhanced monitoring, according to the government, but some who arrived last night said they did not notice

any checks. i've been through essentially no screening process, at all. so there was no screening at wuhan and there was no screening as i've landed. this woman, on the same flight, i've landed. this woman, on the same flight, said there were checks at wuhan airport. she said they took people's temperatures, and on the plane, people wore facemasks. this man arriving at heathrow showed a leaflet given to passengers from public health england, explaining what to do if they feel unwell. that's one of the measures introduced at heathrow. plans arriving from the chinese city are taken to an isolated area of terminal 4. on—board announcements tell people to inform crewmembers if they feel unwell, and that information is passed on to public health teams which meet each direct flight. health teams which meet each direct flight. these passengers are the last to arrive from wuhan, where all public transport, including flights, have now been stopped. public health england says the risk to the uk population is low. the world health

organization will decide later today if it will declare an international public health emergency. there will be more on that story coming up on breakfast. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the chinese city of wuhan has shut down public transport as part of effo rts down public transport as part of efforts to contain an outbreak of a new respiratory illness which has infected nearly 600 people. democrats set out the details of their case against president trump, on the second day of his impeachment trial. ijust want i just want to bring you ijust want to bring you some breaking news. it has been confirmed that three people have died after a firefighting plan in australia lost contact with air traffic control and crashed. this was in the snowy

monaro area. the hercules c130 was helping with the firefighting efforts, described technically as an air tanker, but we have got confirmation that three people have died in that plane crash, and we will bring you any more details as we get them. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. many of the international newspapers this morning carrying the story of the coronovirus. the new york times international edition has this photo of travellers in beijing wearing face masks. the business pages of the gulf news focus on markets rebounding the business pages of the gulf news focus on markets rebounding after measures were taken to deal with the outbreak. the story features heavily in british papers also. the i says britain is on virus alert, and the times headlines how airports are bolstering security as the threat from the virus grows. the telegraph says british chancellor sajid javid will press ahead with a new tax on tech giants despite warnings it could spark a trade war with the united states.

the chancellor was speaking at the gathering of the world's business elite in davos. the daily mail says that 80,000 canadians won't pay for the sussexes. according to the paper, taxpayers have signed a petition saying they shouldn't have to pay for harry and meghan's multi—million pound security bill. and finally, the times is just one of many british papers this morning running an obituary for actor and writer terry jones. the driving force behind monty python's flying circus has died from dementia at the age of 77. died from dementia at the age of 77. so let's begin with. with me is david buik, market commentator with core spreads. good spreads. to see you, david. good to see you, good to see you, david. good to see you, ben. many papers carrying coverage of the coronavirus story, new york times has the image of people trying to get about but with these facemasks. it's interesting,

these facemasks. it's interesting, the market reaction