plus, a tax onjobs? the boss of next says uk government policies mean young people have fewer opportunities. so is it time for a rethink by the chancellor? live from london, this is business today. i'm lukwesa burak. we start in china, where economic growth slowed last year, to its weakest, outside the pandemic, in well over three decades. the world's number two economy has been struggling since its post—covid recovery fizzled out and there could be worse to come. let's just show you the numbers. china's economy grew 5% in 2024, according to official data out in the last couple of hours. that's down from 5.2% in 2023.

economists polled by reuters expect growth to keep slowing, to 4.5% this year. compare that to the peak before the global financial crisis, when china's economy as growing at a rate of more than 14%. so what's going wrong? our asia business correspondent suranjana tewari is covering the story. suranjana, things are tough for china what reactions has a beam to the figures?— the figures? there are countries _ the figures? there are countries around - the figures? there are countries around the l the figures? there are - countries around the world that would go to great length for a 5% figure but this is the slowest rate of growth for

several decades in china. a protected property trust, hi government debt, weak demand and therefore low spending. that said, the last three months of last year so a pickup with last quarter seems growth of 5.4% compared to the previous year and that is larger because chinese leaders seem to realise how serious this is, implementing stimulus measures to implement growth. that has been some success. retail sales, a measure of consumption rose, exhilarating in november. even if that property sector saw signs of recovery is new home prices steady in december for the first time sincejune 2023. i have been speaking to a number of analysts and they all say stimulus will only be a temporary measure and leaders need to address more structural issues. there is also a

weakening currency and high unemployment which leaders are having to contend with. it is really important for the country to ensure growth and continued prosperity to maintain social stability. plus, there may be more trouble ahead. a major driver was exports and they could loosely because incoming us president donald trump has proposed terrorism $500 billion of chinese goods which is rattling markets and businesses. growth in 2025 might be a very different story altogether. thank you very much. on thursday trump's pick for treasury secretary, scott bessent, signalled a tough stance on trade with china, when he faced questions from the senate. michelle fleury has the details. if confirmed, scott bessent

will play a key role in what is expected to be a tough economic stance on china. in his testimony, scott bessent said free trade must be balanced with fair trade and argue china should not be allowed to flood us and global markets with its products. during questioning by republicans, scott bessent also emphasised his commitment to enforcing the agreement which saw china pledged to increase purchases of us goods, including a promise to buy at least $200 billion worth of american manufacturing over the next two years. american manufacturing over the next two veere— next two years. china has not made good — next two years. china has not made good on _ next two years. china has not made good on their— next two years. china has not l made good on their agricultural purchases forfour years made good on their agricultural purchases for four years and if confirmed, next week, i would start pushing for them to resume the purchases and event i would conference with president trump on whether he believes that there should be

inaudible.— believes that there should be inaudible. ., �* ,, ., inaudible. scott bessent also outline how — inaudible. scott bessent also outline how the _ inaudible. scott bessent also outline how the trump - outline how the trump administration could use tariffs for several purposes. firstly to address unfair trade practices, second, as a tool to raise revenue for the federal budget, and that, as leverage in trade negotiations. as for the use of sanctions, he said he was 100% on board, increasing sanctions on russian oil makers. the edge fund me is seen by many as a safe pair of hands for one of the country's most important economicjobs, most important economic jobs, making most important economicjobs, making his confirmation process smoother than some of donald trump's more controversial pics. some think china could be heading for decades of economic stagnation, like japan suffered after its boom turned to bust in 1990. jinny yan is chief china economist at icbc standard bank. welcome to the programme. your thoughts on that figure that

was released earlier — 5%? 5s was released earlier - 5%? 596 is a was released earlier - 596? 596 is a target _ was released earlier — 5%? “3:96 is a target and obviously they're on target gdp performance is what market were expecting. the highlight was that industrial production especially beat estimates in the fourth quarter so i think the fourth quarter so i think the focus is to de—risk the economy, make sure growth hit target. we have to get used to the fact that china is slowing down because of structure issues such as an ageing population. the focus is to look at where is that new growth coming from. if the traditional sectors are continuing to slow down. where do ou continuing to slow down. where do you think _ continuing to slow down. where do you think it _ continuing to slow down. where do you think it would _ continuing to slow down. where do you think it would be - continuing to slow down. where do you think it would be comingj do you think it would be coming from? �* . ., , do you think it would be coming from? a . , . do you think it would be coming from? a ., , ., ., do you think it would be coming from? a ., ., ., from? actually a lot of exciting _ from? actually a lot of exciting sectors. - from? actually a lot of - exciting sectors. technology focus, of course, and we know that in global supply chains, china is becoming more and more competitive in areas such as unit energy vehicles, but

actually increasingly the domestic capacity so increasing domestic capacity so increasing domestic travel, services sector, in a lunar new year holiday, we are likely to see a pickup of domestic brands, domestic services, really looking at a theme in china, to make sure demand is unlocked that particular beneficial for those domestic supplies. let's no those domestic supplies. let's go further _ those domestic supplies. let's go further afield _ those domestic supplies. let's go further afield but _ those domestic supplies. let's go further afield but it - those domestic supplies. let's go further afield but it could well affect the domestic market as well. tariffs, we have a new us president taking office. how worried you and how worried is about that? i worried you and how worried is about that?— about that? i think global investors _ about that? i think global investors are _ about that? i think global investors are worried - about that? i think global i investors are worried about terrace, notjust china, but everyone, but what terrace, not just china, but everyone, but what we saw terrace, notjust china, but everyone, but what we saw in the latest trade data is a frontloading of expositor usa more than 10% increase in exports to the us because of the threat of incoming terrace. this is also really a lesson to

be learned, more resilient and others as well and also to diversify trade partners away from traditional partners. —— tariffs. from traditional partners. -- tariffs. ., ~' , ., , from traditional partners. -- tariffs. ., ~ , . tariffs. thank you very much indeed. let's stay with those us china tensions because the us supreme court is expected to rule later on whether to uphold a law banning tiktok in america on grounds of national security, unless its chinese owner sells off its american operations to a non—chinese buyer. as it stands, tiktok will be banned on sunday, just a day before president—elect trump's inauguration. but there are growing indications that the president—elect may give tiktok a reprieve. his incoming national security adviser mike waltz told fox news there's provision in the law to delay the ban for 90 days if it looks like a buyer can be found.

elon musk, former us treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, and even online personality mr beast, have all been named as possible buyers of tiktok�*s us business. many of the 170 million americans who use tiktok are hoping a ban can be averted. the bbc has been hearing from two influencers who have built their careers on the app. ido i do not think creator voices are being heard, businesses, i think these decisions are made at such a high level you just feel left out and powerless, even though it is something so important. it is truly a lifeline for a lot of people and it is not being taken into consideration as much as you would think it would be. it is wh i'm

would think it would be. it is why i'm here _ would think it would be. it 3 why i'm here pursuing entertainment in new york to this day. brands and companies, when they want you to do advertisement, they would want to be on tiktok. indirectly, tiktok was the majority of my income because all brands want their staff to be promoted on that app. i their staff to be promoted on that a- -. ., , their staff to be promoted on thatau. ., , ., that app. i have been on instagram _ that app. i have been on instagram primarily - that app. i have been on instagram primarily an l that app. i have been on - instagram primarily an tiktok and the ideas do not transfer as much as you think. hundreds of thousands of tiktok follows and maybe only 10,000 on instagram. it is not a survivable amount. . survivable amount. influencing modelling. _ survivable amount. influencing modelling. it _ survivable amount. influencing modelling, it is _ survivable amount. influencing modelling, it is women - modelling, it is women dominated field said tiktok is putting a lot of money into women's pockets and so i would hate to see that go people are finding community, people who never really had a voice are sharing their stories so i would hate to see all of that

go. adam levitt is founding partner at the dicello levitt legal practice in chicago. welcome to the programme. i don't know if you could hear the opinions of some influences. tiktok social media influences. tiktok social media influences. when it comes to banning tiktok and the possibility of this reprieve and wonder if we could start off with this executive order. what exactly does it mean and what power president have. what exactly does it mean and what power president have. .an . an executive order is it allows the president of united states to congress and implement an order or a directive on pressing issues. it does not mean it is free of judicial review but it meant it allows a president to act quickly and in a decisive

manner on a specific issue. when it comes to social media, there has been so much talk about the digital sphere and regulation. are there legal aspects, regulations, rules, that we would not perhaps be aware of that need to be taken into consideration? i aware of that need to be taken into consideration?— into consideration? i think there's a _ into consideration? i think there's a lot _ into consideration? i think there's a lot of _ into consideration? i think there's a lot of fishes. - into consideration? i think. there's a lot of fishes. when you are dealing with a foreign actor, like the honours of tiktok, and i think you need to deal with serious issues of national security and one of the things, when the argument happened last week in the us supreme court, there was a lot of questioning on the balancing of questioning on the balancing of privacy rights and national security and first amendment rights and things like that so i think what you are seeing is a pretty interesting balancing act playing out in real time

and i think that one of the things that makes this really interesting or shows how interesting or shows how interesting it really is, is that the flip—flopping happening on capitol hill, the flip—flopping hoping frankly in president trump is mccone had, going from calling for a ban on tiktok to personally intervening. —— president trump's had. we are seeing a lot of interesting things on a lot of interesting things on a lot of interesting levels pay—outin lot of interesting levels pay—out in real—time. lot of interesting levels pay-out in real-time. just to take that _ pay-out in real-time. just to take that point _ pay-out in real-time. just to take that point forward, - take that point forward, obviously tiktok is a money making machine. we heard that from those influences. —— influencers but does national security trump everything? i think first of all, four or five hours ago president biden announced he had no intention

of going forward with the law. and tiktok has announced they intend to go dark on sunday. i am not sure whether they get a reprieve on monday after president trump is inaugurated but i think what we will see, or what we could possibly see, is shutting down the tiktok presence in the app stores so they cannot be any updates, that could be something along those lines but i do think that because... i those lines but i do think that because- - -— because... i am so sorry, we have run _ because... i am so sorry, we have run out— because... i am so sorry, we have run out of— because... i am so sorry, we have run out of time. - because... i am so sorry, we have run out of time. thank| because... i am so sorry, we i have run out of time. thank you very much for that. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

to the uk economy now, because the boss of retail giant, next, has warned that a rise in the minimum wage and taxes on employers will mean fewerjobs for young people. lord wolfson's warning comes amid growing pressure from business on the uk's

chancellor rachel reeves, over her handling of the economy. he's been speaking to the bbc�*s business editor simonjack. 0ne one of the things people have not quite appreciated about the increases is just how much they hit retail work. for example, £60,000 a yearjob, increasing tax amount and combination of threshold would be around 2%. increase in the cost of a part—time national living wage worker will be around 6.5% part—time national living wage worker will be a