no deal! striking boeing workers reject the latest pay offer from the aerospace giant. we'll look at what it means for the new boss�* plans to turn around the business. the imf tells the bbc tariffs could spark a trade war with huge global consequences. you could end up with a loss of gdp close to 7%. so these are very large numbers. i mean, 7% is basically losing the french and german economies. that is the size of the last.

—— the loss. and tasting sweet — unilever food sales are boosted by it's ice cream division as it prepares for a spin—off. welcome to business today. i'm ben thompson. we start in the us where striking workers at boeing have reject the latest pay offer and opted to continue their strike action that has lasted nearly six weeks. the news comes as a fresh blow to the chief executive of the aerospace giant in his attempts to turn around the embattled company. boeing offered the striking machinists a 35% pay rise over four years in a new deal they hoped would end about 33,000 workers, mostly in seattle, took part in the vote. they have been on strike since 14th september, halting production of the firm's 737 max and its 767 and 777 planes. it's thought the strike has cost boeing $5 billion so far. 0ur north america business correspondent ritika gupta has been following the story.

a huge blow at boeing, machinists rejecting those strikes. the latest contract offer, thereby extending those strikes. 64% voted in favour of rejecting the deal, so it wasn't even close. there are no current talks set to take place, but the union bossjon holden wants to change that and wants to get boeing back to the negotiating table promptly. he said they will be reaching out to the white house for some assistance in facilitating those talks. he emphasised that the lack of a pension was still at the heart of this dispute. 0n offer was the 35% increase in wages over four years, but the unions wanted a 40% increase in wages and also a restoration of that traditional pension plan that was frozen a decade ago. so what happens now that this offer has been rejected? well, it's likely that both sides will need to get back to the negotiating table as those strikes continue. but it is a huge blow to the new ceo, kelly 0rtberg,

because those restructuring plans are likely to have to stall and the production of the key jets that's been halted, those delays will continue, and we already know it's a huge financial strain for boeing, who have reported a $6 billion quarterly loss. but even outside boeing, there are repercussions. if you look at some of their suppliers, they could have to reduce production, there could be some more lay—offs there. this company is important to the us economy so they could be wider economic implications. we will keep a close eye on that. so where does it leave the new boss, who took over in august, and his plans to revive this troubled aerospace giant? but will those plans work? here's the view of one expert.

he's recently said that boeing needs to to take a look at what they want to be five years down the road, what kind of company they want to be. he has said they need to change their culture. they need essentially to go back to the culture they once had a couple of decades ago, that it probably needs to be a leaner company. so at least there seems to be a recognition of the need to make a number of changes in a number of arenas at boeing. and hopefully, he's the right person to make this happen. are you then optimistic that this could be resolved soon? i don't know if you would call it soon, but it will be resolved eventually. i mean, i do expect boeing to be a company that will keep on making aeroplanes. i think they have something like a $500 billion backlog of aeroplane orders. so there's certainly a need for their product out there. and they're going through a rough patch right now, but i think they will eventually come out the other side of it.

and down the road aeroplanes will be coming off the assembly line. a challenge ahead for them for their workforce and turning around this. let's turn our attention to sales at the consumer goods and food giant unilever rose 4.5% in the last quarter, thanks in large part to sales of ice—cream. the maker of cornetto, magnum and ben &jerry�*s, as well as other cupboard staples like marmite, dove and persil says it will now spin off that icecream business by the end of next year. sales of those ice cream brandsjumped nearly 10% compared with the same period last year, well above the forecasts. let's get more. michael field is european equity strategist at morningstar. good to have us us. it is one orderly set of figures at one company but i wonder what it tells us about the state of

consumer behaviour it now? indeed. i think we are at a pivotal point and we are at two years of high inflation and consumers in cash strapped as a result of that. _ consumers in cash strapped as a result of that. so _ consumers in cash strapped as a result of that. so see _ consumers in cash strapped as a result of that. so see a - result of that. so see a positive outcome here kind of bodes well generally speaking for the consumer.— for the consumer. interesting that the escomb _ for the consumer. interesting that the escomb sales - for the consumer. interesting that the escomb sales went l that the escomb sales went well. in many parts of the world it was not a great summer. —— make the ice cream sales. we saw the warm weather as an excuse to eat ice cream but people eat it anyway and it is not weather dependent. i think it is fair. ice cream sales increasing is about focus. i mentioned for the last two years we had high inflation and consumer groups were focused on getting prices up and making sure they were not going to lose money. now they can focus on promotional activity. you have seen a lot

more of that in supermarkets and shops which is one good explanation of why we are encouraged to buy more asking. promotion and marketing are a big part of what these consumer brands have to do. there are so much choice out there but they want us to choose their brands are not those of their rivals. we know it costs money and in these big consumer goods companies, it is spending money to make money?— to make money? that's fair. the results are _ to make money? that's fair. the results are coming _ to make money? that's fair. the results are coming through - to make money? that's fair. the results are coming through and i results are coming through and we have is seen volume growth and consumers are encouraged to buy more than they had done in the last year and it has happened now. if you look at the budgets, they are continuing the spending. so they are continuing only promotional side. interesting -lan promotional side. interesting plan about — promotional side. interesting plan about the _ promotional side. interesting plan about the ice _ promotional side. interesting plan about the ice cream - plan about the ice cream business. i wonder what it tells us about the strategy because these brands have so many names and some a market

that if one does not do so well it is compensated elsewhere. with is spinning off the ice cream business do for them? they have been saying that the unilever ice cream does not fit with deodorants and other products. the margins are also lower... so they have had an incentive for a while and they are doing the right steps. they have boosted sales and made the business that more attractive so now it is in a better position to be bought off or spun off. position to be bought off or spun off-— position to be bought off or sun off. ., ., ~ ., spun off. good to talk to you, michael- _ spun off. good to talk to you, michael. he _ spun off. good to talk to you, michael. he is _ spun off. good to talk to you, michael. he is from _ michael. he is from morningstar. from planes to electric vehicles, and tesla has more than pleased investors with its latest sales and profits news. the car giant, run by boss elon musk, beat market expectations and shares in the company jumped 7% in after hours trade. those profits are up sharply despite, or maybe because,

it's dropped its vehuicle prices in recent months. here's our north america technology correspondent lily jamali at tesla's base in silicon valley. there were indications that the company was poised to post its first—ever annual decline in vehicle deliveries in 202a. that appears to no longer be the case, the company saying it is forecasting slight growth for this year and blockbuster growth on the order of 20% to 30% for next year. when you hear about elon musk, tesla ceo, talk about the company these days, he's trying to position it as not just an electric vehicle maker, but a company that is more focused on a broad array of technologies, including artificial intelligence and self—driving technology. we saw the glitzy roll—out of the cyber cab at a hollywood lot in los angeles. but the safety of the company's technology has been a persistent issue for tesla. just last week, a us safety regulator announced that it is opening a probe

into the company's driver assistance technology. there's concern that its self—driving ambitions are untested. and then there's the issue of elon musk�*s politics in this us presidential election. he has thrown his support behind former president donald trump. some say that's a bit of a turn—off for would—be tesla customers. we set lily in silicon valley. growth of the size of the french and german economies put together could be squandered, if international trade tariffs persist. that's the warning from the imf. the organisation that monitors financial and economic global activity says heightened trade wars and tariffs would emerge if donald trump 5 plan to levy 20% tax on all imports comes into force if he wins the us election. into force if he wins the us election. take a listen. if you look at the group of g20 countries, the us is the only country where the level of gdp is higher now than we had predicted before the pandemic. we said, well, in 2024,

we had an estimate of what...the projection of the level of gdp would be in the us in 2024, it is higher than that. but one of the flip sides of that is high levels of debt and ongoing deficit into the future, even before the presidential election. are there any concerns about are there any concerns about the us and its fiscal position? the us and its fiscal position? one of our main messages one of our main messages at these meetings is at these meetings is that the world is sitting that the world is sitting on very high levels of debt, on very high levels of debt, and also, we are projecting and also, we are projecting the debt will continue to grow. the debt will continue to grow. right now the world is sitting right now the world is sitting at about $100 trillion of debt, at about $100 trillion of debt, it is the point we have made it is the point we have made that given how strong that given how strong the us economy is, it doesn't the us economy is, it doesn't really need this level really need this level of fiscal. . .size of fiscal. . .size of fiscal deficit, of fiscal deficit, that is being provided. that is being provided.

0ur recommendation always, 0ur recommendation always, this is true for all countries, is that this is the moment to rebuild your fiscal buffers. we don't want to be drawn too much into the presidential election, if at all, but in general terms, when you have a potential policy, notjust of targeted trade barriers but general 10%, 20% tariffs on everything from every country, what is that going to do to the economy from the economists' perspective? we have looked for instance, if you have small levels

we have to look at the bright side, which is it is a world that has been resilient after some very tough knocks, inflation has come down, growth is at 3.2%, we would love it to be higher, but it's not bad to be higher, but it's not bad given all the shocks given all the shocks the world has faced, but we the world has faced, but we have to prepare for what may have to prepare for what may come in the future. come in the future. more on the app on the website. more on the app on the website. that is business today. see you that is business today. see you soon. soon.