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 lu kwesa 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 following the story. there are countries around the world that would go to great lengths for a 5% growth figure. but as you just laid out, this is actually one of the slowest rates of growth in several decades in china. and this comes against the backdrop of a very real slowdown, a protracted property crisis, high local government debt, weak demand, and therefore low spending. that said, the last three months of last year did see a pick—up, with the last quarter seeing growth of 5.4% compared to the previous year. and that's largely because china's leaders seem to realise how serious this is, implementing stimulus measures to try and boost growth.

and there has been some success. retail sales, a measure of consumption, rose 3.7% last month, accelerating from the 3% pace in november. even that property sector saw signs of recovery as new home prices steadied in decemberfor the first time sincejune 2023. now, i've been speaking to a number of analysts. they all said that stimulus will only be a temporary measure, and leaders need to address more structural issues. there's also a weakening currency and high unemployment, which leaders are having to contend with now. beijing has rarely missed its growth targets in the past, and it's really important for the country to ensure growth and continued prosperity, to maintain social stability. plus, there might be more trouble ahead. as you said, one major driver of last year's growth was exports. they could lose steam because incoming us president donald trump has proposed

tariffs on $500 billion of chinese goods, which is rattling markets and businesses. so growth in 2025 might be a very different story altogether. 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. i asked her how declining growth rates are being seen in china. 5% is a target, and obviously that on—target gdp performance is what markets were expecting. now the highlight actually was that industrial production especially beat estimates in the fourth quarter. so i think the focus is to, first of all, de—risk the economy, make sure that growth hits target. i think we have to use get used to the fact that china is slowing down because of

structural issues such as an ageing population. so the focus is to look at where is that new growth coming from if the traditional sectors are continue to slow down. so where do you think that new growth would be coming from then? actually a lot of exciting sectors. so technology focused of course. and we know that in global supply chains, china is becoming more and more competitive in areas such as new energy vehicles. we know that. but actually increasingly the domestic capacity, so increasing domestic travel, services sector, in the lunar new year holidays, we're likely to see a pick—up of domestic brands. really looking at a theme there in china to make sure that demand is unlocked, but particularly beneficial for those domestic suppliers. ok, let's go further afield. but it could well affect

the domestic market as well. tariffs. we've got a new us president taking office shortly. how worried are you and how worried is china about that? i think global investors are worried about tariffs, notjust china but everyone. but what we saw in the latest trade data is certainly a front loading of exports to us. so more than 10% increase in exports to the us because of the threat of incoming tariffs. but this is also really a lesson to be learnt. more resilience of chinese exporters and others as well, and also to diversify trade partners away from traditional partners. 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, donald trump's nominee for treasury secretary, would play a key role in what's

expected to be a tough economic stance on china. now, in his testimony, bessent said free trade must be balanced with fair trade and argued that china should not be allowed to flood us and global markets with its products. during questioning by republican senator roger marshall, bessent also emphasised his commitment to enforcing the 2020 trade agreement, which saw china pledge to increase purchases of us goods, including a promise to buy at least $200 billion worth of american manufacturing over the next two years. china has not made good on their purchases for four years, and if confirmed next week, i would start pushing for them to resume the purchases. and then i would conference with president trump on whether he believes that there should be a make—up provision. scott bessent also outlined 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 third, as leverage in trade negotiations. as for the use of sanctions, he said he was 100% on board increasing sanctions on russian oil majors. the hedge fund billionaire is seen by many as a safe pair of hands for one of the country's most important economicjobs, making his confirmation process smoother perhaps than some of donald trump's more controversial picks. the world bank has warned that rising trade tensions pose the biggest risk to the world economy this year. it's forecasting global growth of 2.7% — but says plans by president—elect trump to hit imported goods with tariffs could put a dent in that figure. jonathanjosephs has been talking to the bank's deputy chief economist ayhan kose.

number one fear is the possibility of escalating trade tensions between major economies stop number two, the policy uncertainty and the consequences of that on investment. number three of course, we are worried about the possibility of financial stress and interest rates remaining elevated. that charge has become even larger for the emerging developing economies. ivellum become even larger for the emerging developing economies.— become even larger for the emerging developing economies. when it comes to the potential _ developing economies. when it comes to the potential us _ developing economies. when it comes to the potential us tariffs _ developing economies. when it comes to the potential us tariffs there - to the potential us tariffs there are various scenarios saying that they will have a negative impact on google economic growth. does not tell us they are the biggest threat to global economic growth? it is to global economic growth? it is time ou to global economic growth? it 3 time you introduce restriction to global economic growth? it 1 time you introduce restriction on trade —— every time, there will be adverse consequences. and those consequences are most often borne by

the country who introduced those consequences. the big issue is that for us to be able to basically provide a quantitative assessment, we need to know how much tariffs are going to increase and we need to know what other policies they are going to introduce. this is the possibility of other countries reacting to these tariffs in fact when they react, the cost of the global economy is even larger. 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 inauguraton. 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. i don't think creators' voices are being heard. i don't think these businesses are being heard that are going to be affected by this. i think these decisions are being made again at such a high level where you just feel left out and you kind of feel powerless. even though it's something that's so important. i mean, it's truly a lifeline for a lot of people,

and i don't think that's being taken into consideration as much as you would think it would be. it's why i'm where i am today, and it's why i'm here pursuing art and entertainment in new york to this day. brands and companies, when they wanted you to do advertisements, they would want it to be on tiktok. so indirectly, tiktok was, um, majority of my income. yeah, because all brands want their stuff to be promoted on the app. i've been someone who's been on instagram primarily, and tiktok, and the audiences don't transfer as much as you think they would. i know people who have hundreds of thousands of tiktok followers and maybe only 10,000 instagram followers, which i know is still a decent chunk, but it's not a survivable amount as a creator, if that's your only source of income, influencing modelling. of income. influencing, modelling,

it's women dominated fields, so 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've never really had a voice or sharing their story. so i would hate to see all of that go. adam levitt is founding partner at the dicello levitt legal practice in chicago. he told me this is quite an unorthodox situation in legal terms. what an executive order is, it allows the president of the united states to bypass congress and implement and implement an order or a directive on a pressing issue. now, that doesn't mean it's free ofjudicial review, but it means that it lets a president act very quickly and in a decisive manner on a specific issue. when it comes to social media, i mean, there's been so much talk, hasn't there, about the digital sphere and regulation? are there are there aspects,

legal aspects, regulations, rules that we wouldn't perhaps be aware of that need to be taken into consideration? i think there's a lot of issues when you're dealing with a foreign actor like the owners of tiktok, the bytedance company. and i think that you need to deal with with really serious and i think that you need to deal with really serious issues of national security. and i think one of the things, when the argument happened last week in the united states supreme court, there was a lot of questioning on the balancing of privacy rights and national security and first amendment rights and things like that. so i think what you're 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 it really is, is that the flip—flopping happening on capitol hill, the flip flopping happening,

frankly, in president trump's own head, going from calling for a ban on tiktok to personally intervening, which is a remarkably unorthodox thing in supreme court proceedings. 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 fewer jobs 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. i think one of the things people haven't quite appreciated about the national insurance increases is just how much they hit retail work. so, for example, a £60,000 a yearjob — the increase in tax on that combination of the threshold and the ni increase

would be around 2%. the increase in the cost of a part time national living wage worker will be around 6.5%. so the axe has fallen particularly hard on those entry level national living wage jobs. and that's where the pain is going to be felt the most. and i think if i've got one ask of government, it would be phase the increase in the threshold over two or three years. give us a chance to plan and prepare and make this change in a way that is the least harmful, rather than introduce it with six months' notice. if that doesn't happenm and there's no indication that it will, what does that do to hiring intentions at companies like yours? does that mean that having fewer people? fewer hours. whether that be, you know, the same number of people working fewer hours or fewer people, it will depend on lots of different areas, but ultimately it comes down to reducing hours. what does it do to wage differentials? because clearly one of the biggest things we've seen is a raise

in the national living wage, very substantial one for 18 to 20—year—olds. and how does it ratchet up through the rest of the wage structure? well, it's it's a really good question because we're now at the point where, after over ten years, the national living wage has gone up 88%. and what that means is that that wage is now bumping up against the wages immediately above that. so it's going to cost us almost as much, raising wages above the national living wage as raising those people who are on the national living wage. the labour party came to government saying that public services needed rebuilding, they've been crumbling and that they need to put extra money into it, and the broadest shoulders had to contribute the most. yours is a company makes £1 billion a year. tesco makes two billion a year. that qualifies as broad shoulders. you have to pay a bit more. so be it. let's be clear. the government did need to raise taxes. i think the fine tuning that is needed is to look at the speed at which those changes are made.

in principle, i've got nothing against lowering the threshold for ni on part time work. there's no in principle reason why that shouldn't happen, but the speed at which it is going to happen, the lack of consultation, the fact that we were given six months to prepare for it, that is the problem. but there's also a broader worry for the economy, which is it means that sort of entry level jobs, the firstjob people go for, are going to be much harder to find. numbers of people applying for shop jobs over christmas per vacancy was up 50% on the previous year. we had 13 people for every vacancy that we had in our shops. my worry is that it's going to be harder and harderfor people to enter the workforce. so in a way, these reforms are drawing pulling up the drawbridge to entry level employment. it's very difficult to see how such a big increase in the cost of entry level work is going to result in anything other than a reduction in the number of opportunities available. finally — is this the year when self—drivng cars or "robotaxis" start to go mainstream? that's the question we're asking here on bbc news on this weekend's talking business. tech giants amazon, nvidia, and tesla are

all still in the race — but others like apple and general motors have crashed out. the leader in the us at the moment is waymo, which is owned by alphabet — the same company which owns google. it's already operating robotaxis in san francisco, phoenix and los angeles — but it's not all going smoothly. tech entrepreneur mikejohns ordered a waymo to take him to the airport a few weeks ago — he told us about what happened next. the car comes up, the door automatically opens. i actually ordered that. so the door automatically opens. you're feeling good. people are looking around. wow, that's the future! he's in there. get in the car. shut the door. the car takes off. those same people are looking. that's the funny part. those same people are looking. now the car is going in a circle. why is this happening to me on a monday? and at this point, this is probably lap four or five where you end up hearing the voice coming over the system. hi there. i'm calling from waymo support.

i actually had it scheduled and planned to do this ride with my son because he's it's going to be a normal thing for him. so i might as well start at an early age. he's only 12, so it would have been a lot different had he been in the car. why is this thing going in a circle? i'm getting dizzy. look at what it's doing. i understand, i'm really, really sorry. we're currently working with the situation of the vehicle. improving weather conditions and slower_ improving weather conditions and slower wins across southern california _ slower wins across southern california are being exhausted fire crews _ california are being exhausted fire crews some respite as they continue to try— crews some respite as they continue to try and _ crews some respite as they continue to try and contain those devastating fires across — to try and contain those devastating fires across los angeles. clive _ fires across los angeles. clive myrie is there.

this is the story of an american tragedy. another sunny day in southern california is about to turn very dark. i’m southern california is about to turn ve dark. �* , ., ., ., very dark. i'm sitting at home on the coach — very dark. i'm sitting at home on the coach with _ very dark. i'm sitting at home on the coach with the _ very dark. i'm sitting at home on the coach with the dogs. - very dark. i'm sitting at home on | the coach with the dogs. michelle comes in the house and says... i need you to come out here right now. what? _ need you to come out here right now. what? aiim — need you to come out here right now. what? all... he need you to come out here right now. what? all- - -— what? all... he had spotted a fire in the canyon _ what? all... he had spotted a fire in the canyon about _ what? all... he had spotted a fire in the canyon about the _ what? all... he had spotted a fire in the canyon about the house - what? all... he had spotted a fire in the canyon about the house in l what? all... he had spotted a firej in the canyon about the house in a suburb of los angeles. —— mike above the house. high winds were threatening a catastrophe and adobo camera captures what happened next. we discussed things that we couldn't leave behind. essentially we needed to leave as quickly as we could. bi; to leave as quickly as we could. by now, word was spreading very quickly

that danger was approaching from the canyon. neighbours went banging on doors raising the alarm. taste canyon. neighbours went banging on doors raising the alarm.— canyon. neighbours went banging on doors raising the alarm. we came out and we could — doors raising the alarm. we came out and we could see _ doors raising the alarm. we came out and we could see the _ doors raising the alarm. we came out and we could see the fire _ doors raising the alarm. we came out and we could see the fire from - doors raising the alarm. we came out and we could see the fire from here. | and we could see the fire from here. do you _ and we could see the fire from here. do you think— and we could see the fire from here. do you think they saved your life? they give us a head start. about five minutes. that makes a difference.— five minutes. that makes a difference. . , ., , difference. please, god. please, god, difference. please, god. please, god. save _ difference. please, god. please, god. save us. — difference. please, god. please, god, save us, save _ difference. please, god. please, god, save us, save our- difference. please, god. please, god, save us, save our house. . difference. please, god. please, i god, save us, save our house. five minutes, precious _ god, save us, save our house. five minutes, precious extra time to escape stop even just a few minutes later, as jeffrey and escape stop even just a few minutes later, asjeffrey and cheryl fled their home, the four had turned into a monster, becoming one of the largest that has now devastated the metropolitan los angeles area. the eaton fire. there were also multiple fire fronts and the authorities were struggling to cope. then a stroke of

luck. hurricane force winds that had fanned the flames died down which meant that... and air armada was pressed into service to douse the flames, some dropping pink coloured fire retardant. it is a round—the—clock operation, flying low at night to beat the flames. while down below, thousands of men and women are standing their ground, facing the enemy. this and women are standing their ground, facing the enemy-— facing the enemy. this is a map of all the heat _ facing the enemy. this is a map of all the heat around _ facing the enemy. this is a map of all the heat around here. - facing the enemy. this is a map of all the heat around here. but - facing the enemy. this is a map ofj all the heat around here. but even when the themes _ all the heat around here. but even when the themes are _ all the heat around here. but even | when the themes are extinguished, danger still works. it’s when the themes are extinguished, danger still works.— danger still works. it's all around us. this team _ danger still works. it's all around us. this team of _ danger still works. it's all around us. this team of firefighters - danger still works. it's all around us. this team of firefighters are l us. this team of firefighters are heat spotters- _ us. this team of firefighters are heat spotters. their _ us. this team of firefighters are heat spotters. theirjob, - us. this team of firefighters are heat spotters. theirjob, to - us. this team of firefighters are - heat spotters. theirjob, to prevent the burning you cannot see below ground, where the root systems of

trees and smoulder and die, leading to catastrophic landslides. this crew are from oregon. part of a resolute national response to this crisis. a crisis which has gripped the world. and it is the stories of loss and pain that resonate. homes and livelihoods destroyed. a landscape scarred. people traumatised.— landscape scarred. people traumatised. ., , traumatised. the house jaime was born, the house _ traumatised. the house jaime was born, the house on _ traumatised. the house jaime was born, the house on the _ traumatised. the house jaime was born, the house on the right - traumatised. the house jaime was born, the house on the right and l traumatised. the house jaime was l born, the house on the right and the left was _ born, the house on the right and the left was burning.— left was burning. michael haynes as a writer and — left was burning. michael haynes as a writer and when _ left was burning. michael haynes as a writer and when he _ left was burning. michael haynes as a writer and when he ran _ left was burning. michael haynes as a writer and when he ran out - left was burning. michael haynes as a writer and when he ran out of - a writer and when he ran out of water to save his own home, he improvised. water to save his own home, he improvised-— water to save his own home, he improvised. water to save his own home, he i improvised-_ i improvised. your logic turns off. i started being- _ improvised. your logic turns off. i started being. you _ improvised. your logic turns off. i started being. you bead - improvised. your logic turns off. i started being. you bead on - improvised. your logic turns off. i started being. you bead on the i improvised. your logic turns off. i i started being. you bead on the fire? anna toth other people into doing the same — anna toth other people into doing the same thing. the anna toth other people into doing the same thing.— the same thing. the fires fizzled out on the _ the same thing. the fires fizzled out on the edge _ the same thing. the fires fizzled out on the edge of _ the same thing. the fires fizzled out on the edge of his _ the same thing. the fires fizzled out on the edge of his property. | the same thing. the fires fizzled i out on the edge of his property. he was lucky. so many others were not.

how does this community, los angeles, all of us, how can we better prepare for a similar catastrophe? that is a question should all ponder. this catastrophe? that is a question should all ponder.— should all ponder. this most beautiful place _ should all ponder. this most beautiful place in _ should all ponder. this most beautiful place in the - should all ponder. this most beautiful place in the world i should all ponder. this most. beautiful place in the world to should all ponder. this most - beautiful place in the world to me. and now— beautiful place in the world to me. and now it'sjust gone. it's gone. that report by clive myrie. now it's time for a look at the weather. there were winners and losers when it came to the bus tour on thursday. a part of the north west england and wales, we had blue sky and sunshine, even somejanuary warmth with a high of 1a. even somejanuary warmth with a high of 14. it even somejanuary warmth with a high of 1a. it was a different story across the midlands so quite a lot of fog in the morning, that lifted to allow grey cloud, misty conditions lingering, boss of herefordshire and worcestershire, temperatures onlyjust up to 4. also

quite windy and there was a weak with a friend with a piece of showery rain to the north—west of scotland for most of us under the influence of high pressure and with light winds, the high pressure will stay with us for the next few days. further areas of fog could be an issue. that could bring poor visibility and if it lingers it will also impact temperatures. the fog shouldn't be too widespread on friday, it lifts quite readily and we are chasing condiments around particularly for england and wales. still quite a fresh wind up into the far north and west. 0utbreaks still quite a fresh wind up into the far north and west. outbreaks of drizzly rain from the week where the front but temperatures here are 11 or 12. 7 or 8 perhaps the maximum across england and wales. as we move out of friday into saturday, still under this area of high pressure, it's blocking this weather front from making that much of an impression but still the eyes squeezed together further north and west so more wind, more cloud. for england and wales it could be a

quite a cold start to saturday morning, temperatures dipping below freezing and i will be some fog around. some of the dog has the potential to linger all day across central and eastern parts of england and parts of wales. if it happens, it'll have quite an impact on the temperature. the wind out of the west breaking of the club, there will be some sunny spells and temperatures 10 or 11. but whether fog lingers, we once again could see a ofjust 4 or 5. moving out of saturday into sunday, the wind direction changes and it's the cooler source, tracking and cooler air from the cooler source, tracking and cooler airfrom the near cooler source, tracking and cooler air from the near continent so that means a colder day 1437 00:27:38,316 --> 00: