this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the art of a deal — france's president emmanuel macron warns the uk may not strike a trade agreement with the eu before the december 31st deadline. australia under pressure — how the country is facing the challenges of migration and a lack of water in 2020. and on financial markets, concern over the spread of the new coronavirus outside of china is pulling down stock markets. the kospi in south korea is down by over 3%.

let's start with a word of warning from french president emmanuel macron, who says he's not sure a trade agreement between the uk and european union will be reached by the 31st of december. that date is officially the end of the brexit transition period. macron said negotiations starting in march will be tense, with fishing rights a potential key sticking point in negotiations. the comments come as the uk government signalled it would publish its mandate for the trade deal later this week. the uk is still keen to negotiate a ‘canada style‘ agreement with the eu. that deal removes tariffs from most goods traded between the two sides. however the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, has stressed such a deal is unlikely to happen. i'm nowjoined by jonathan charles from the european bank for reconstruction

and development. we knew these negotiations would be difficult. they begin officially in march, but macron setting out the stall from the start. these will be tough, and the french are trying to bring the french are trying to bring the eu 27 together. they want this level playing field commitment, and tough wording in there. most trade talks are about bringing countries closer together. this one is about removing what is now the deal — benefit membership of the european single market, which continues in the transition for the united kingdom — to something which is a more distant relationship, and that's always going to be very difficult, because the two sides are starting out with different visions of where they wa nt to different visions of where they want to end up. as we've said many times, the clock is ticking — the timeframe to agree all this detail is very tight indeed. do you think

emmanuel macron is right, that we won't meet the 31st of december? it's very tough. you've got to remember full trade deals take years to negotiate. this one clearly is going to be really hard in the timeframe. i suspect where we might get to by the end of the year is some sort of headline agreement — so there will be some sort of had nine agreements with a lot to be agreed later. —— headline agreements. boris johnson has been clear we will end the transition. no matter what come the end of this year, and it's that kind of bust threat. he has that he will not renew the transition. there are ways of not renewing the transition without calling it the transition. again, if you get a headline agreement, it might be possible to begin a standstill, so we possible to begin a standstill, so we should be careful. words really matter in this discussion, and we are going to see a lot of words in the months ahead. it's interesting that fishing has been called out as one of the problems in these negotiations. we have

known that since the beginning of this whole process — it is similarto of this whole process — it is similar to the northern ireland border, as it were. but with fishing such a small part of the uk economy about so emotive and difficult to overcome between france and the uk in particular. there's a real problem with this trade negotiation, that it will have to be ratified by all 27 parliaments in the european union and the european parliament itself. so single government is looking for its own thing. the french are making it clear, as are some other countries, they want access to british fishing waters, something that is very totemic for the british government, that it would be ha rd government, that it would be hard for them to give away without looking weak. other governments, the spanish for example, are saying no trade deal unless we change the rights over gibraltar. the greeks are saying possibly they wa nt greeks are saying possibly they want the elgin marbles back. every government is going to wa nt every government is going to want something, and that will make this hard, because although they will all agree

that a level playing field matters, there will be many other side issues which will make this very tough. by the way they are all saying at the top line that britain is too big to have a canada style agreement, too close to the european union. it needs to have something that is much more bespoke. thank you for now. jonathan is back soon for the news briefing — we will see you shortly. we will squeeze in some more business stories before then. millions of chinese firms are facing collapse due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. a survey of small and medium—sized firms conducted this month showed that only a third had enough cash to cover expenses for a month. sharanjit leyl now joins us from singapore. what is happening? that's right, sally — you said it. this new survey essentially finding china's small and medium—sized privately owned businesses are the ones really bearing the brunt of the coronavirus crisis, with many likely to go out of business. much of china's economy is

still stalled as authorities try to contain the epidemic which has infected more than 75,000 people, and that essentially means millions of companies across the country are now struggling to stay afloat. this survey by the chinese association of small and medium enterprises essentially said that around 60% of businesses could only really cover regular payments for one to two months before running out of cash. only 10% said they could hold out for six months or longer. this is worrying because china's private businesses account for some 60% of the economy and 80% of thejobs in china. we know of thejobs in china. we know of course that china's government has been trying to stimulate the economy to try to mitigate the damage the coronavirus has inflicted. they cut interest rates, they ordered banks to boost lending, they loosened criteria for companies to they loosened criteria for com pa nies to restart operations, but many of china's private businesses say they are unable to reap the benefits of any of that. they can't access

the funding they need to meet deadlines for debt as well as things like salary payments. it's really clear that some may have to shut for good, which will push china's economy into yet more of a slowdown. 0k, yet more of a slowdown. ok, thank you for now — something we will unpack further in our news briefing as well. people and water are among the challenges facing australia in 2020. about 400,000 migrants settle each year, but there are fears rapid population growth is stretching resources — especially water in a time of drought — and putting increasingly clogged cities under strain. the bbc‘s phil mercer reports from sydney. these are crunch times for the world's driest inhabited continent. water in australia is increasingly scarce. a long drought continues, and the dams that supply sydney are less than half full. residents are under the toughest water restrictions seen in a decade.

this is one of the fundamental challenges for humanity — how does it deal with its water resources ? does it deal with its water resources? we hear a lot, and rightly, about the impacts of climate change, but the grip of water scarcity is just as big an issue for humanity, and places like australia and syd ney places like australia and sydney need to really get to grips with that. sydney's population is growing rapidly, but its reservoir levels are falling. securing water supplies for more and more people is a big challenge. the next 12 months will be critical. will the droughts in the big dry finally come to an end, or will australia's biggest city face even tougher water restrictions? a new light rail network is helping sydney to absorb a growing population. every week about 1800 people, mostly every week about 1800 people, m ostly fro m every week about 1800 people, mostly from overseas, move here. gary is a software

co nsulta nt here. gary is a software consultant from tamil now do. six months ago she chose australia over california. skilled immigrants are welcome here. i am very excited, because i see various opportunities, but it's up to me now to decide which way to go. i like the laid—back balance between work and personal life. immigration is good for the australian economy, but it is making the city is more congested than ever. governments are benefiting significantly from increased migration from increased migration from increased tax revenue, but they have not been very good at reinvesting that revenue into roads, into local services, into trains, to accommodate that population growth, so that has been a challenge. in 2020 australia's economy is forecast to slow even further. migrants will again be expected to do their bit to boost growth, but cities like sydney are struggling to cope with the

weight of immigration, while water supplies are under immense strain. now let's brief you on some other business stories. finance ministers from the world's richest 20 economies have warned the coronavirus outbreak is likely to have a negative impact on global growth. speaking at the g20 summit in riyadh, us treasury secretary steven mnuchin added central bankers were ready to act if required. the international monetary fund also warned the epidemic is likely to shave off 0.1% from the global economy this year. the owner of the uk's best—selling newspaper, the sun, lost £68m last year as sales fell and the company continued to deal with the fallout of the phone—hacking scandal. daily sales of the sun fell by 8% in the year tojuly. its owner, news group newspapers, also revealed a £26] million legal bill related to phone hacking.

the organisation fairtrade says the average woman cocoa farmer is paid as little as 23p a day, highlighting a massive gender pay gap in the global chocolate industry. the group wants governments and chocolate brands to join an alliance to increase women's pay. fairtrade says the uk chocolate industry is worth at least £4 billion a year, with brits consuming more per person than any other european country. up next — news briefing. for now, that is you up—to—date on the latest business stories.

entertainment venues, businesses and local authorities could be required to put in place anti—terrorism measures under government plans to keep the public safe. the home office says it's going to begin a consultation about the new law. our home affairs correspondent, dominic casciani, reports. sathia sheikh, convicted last friday of an extraordinary plot against the public. she wanted to ta ke against the public. she wanted to take a bomb inside saint pauls cathedral at christmas, a woman so dangerous pauls cathedral at christmas, a woman so dangerous she was a top priority for m15 last year. major landmarks and venues have long been a target for terrorism, including in 2017 the manchester arena bombing that killed 22. now ministers have announced a consultation into hell places used by the public can be legally compelled to review their security and how they would prepare and respond to an attack if it happened to them. the announcement is

happened to them. the announcement is a happened to them. the announcement is a victory for a campaign in the name of martin hett, one of the victims manchester. his mother says martin's law will save lives. we live in an age when terrorism is unfortunately present, and i never thought it would happen to us, but it did. there is no guarantee for any of us. i think it really is important we move along with the way terrorism has changed, and we need to change our approach. the most recent attack in the uk this month was attack in the uk this month was a knife attack in the streets in south london — an example of how complex the threat of terrorism has become. the final shape of the law won't be clear for months, but ministers say they want it to be proportionate and sensible without being a burden on businesses. coming up at six o'clock on breakfast: dan walker and sally nugent will have all the day's news, business and sport.

this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: south korea raises its disease alert to the highest possible level, as the coronavirus outbreak claims seven lives. italy imposes quarantine restrictions and the venice carnival closes early to contain europe's largest outbreak. india gets ready for donald trump's arrival — as narendra modi and the us president consider plans to break down trade barriers. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the financial times, and a warning about a potential coronavirus pandemic as parts of italy go into lockdown, and four new cases are confirmed in the uk. the arab news reports on the g20, finance ministers meeting in saudi arabia where policymakers pledged to tackle global economcic inequality and foster sustainable growth.

the daily mirror has its own investigation into american chicken farms where birds are crammed into sheds before being slaughtered and washed in chlorine. the independent says a team of scientists have confirmed daily portions of fruit and veg can reduce the risk of the most common types of stroke by 13%. and the times poses an important transport question — are e—scooters the green option for moving round our cities, or are they a menace to society? you have been very vocal on that subject this morning. with me isjonathan charles, from the european bank for reconstruction and development. let's look at the financial times. the global coronavirus spread, is in most front pages, a different angle on this story. i think most people are pointing out this will be a real test of a europe now, because there is huge amounts

of free movement around