around both to the south of this weather front and indeed to the north, but some brightness and some sunshine too. and scattered showers in northwestern scotland, parts of northern ireland, and a little bit more sunshine than recent days further south of our weather front. but there are a few sharper bursts of rain on our weather front, which only slowly meanders its way southwards overnight. we've also got a weather front approaching from the south, so it might be that the frost is more limited here and perhaps the fog more limited overnight, but it instead looks a bit chillier further north of our weather front, where the showers continue mostly around the coast and bright weather again tomorrow away from the showery north west. we've still got a couple of weather fronts in southern areas, so quite a bit of cloud. any patchy fog or frost will lift, and probably a little bit more cloud than today, and temperatures will be just a degree or so lower. but for most of us, rounding about average actually for the time of year. so that weather front clears away from the south. and as we go through the night into thursday, you may have seen that first weather front approaching. so not as cold for northern ireland, but certainly a chilly one elsewhere with some

brightness or sunshine first thing. but again, it doesn't last. this is not the storm system, but this is the first significant rain, really, that we've had for all parts for some time. and it will turn to snow over the hills because it's encountering our current cold air, about 5—9c, but i think it will still feel chilly because it will take a time for those temperatures to recover. and here comes storm eowyn. by the time we get to friday, widespread gales, heavy rain for a time, snow over the hills as well temporarily, and certainly in the showers following on behind. all of us will experience a very windy spell of weather, but in some parts where the warnings are out currently, northern ireland, scotland, gusts of 70—80mph could cause some disruption, of course, and some damage as well. there's more as ever on the website.

global leaders react to donald trump's threat of new tariffs on mexico and canada as soon as february. a mixed picture on global stock markets, as investors remain cautious over the details of those new tariffs. and airport expansion — britain considers building new capacity at heathrow and gatwick airports. but how long will it take? welcome to business today. i'm ben thompson. leaders around the world have been reacting to donald trump's new tariff threats.

last night the president suggested 25% levies on the united states�* neighbours canada and mexico could come by february the 1st. canadian prime minister justin trudeau reiterated that his government is ready to respond to all scenarios, whilst mexico's president, claudia sheinbaum, called for cool heads. meanwhile at the world economic forum in davos, the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, said europe has entered a new era of harsh geostrategic competition, with president trump playing a protectionist game. the director general of the world trade organization, ngozi okonjo—iweala, also speaking in davos, says she favours a "calm" approach at the start of the new trump presidency. my attitude and approach is, "keep calm." let's see what policies are actually enacted and implemented before we get over—excited. that's the first thing. you know, cautious optimism. i know it's coming down and tariffs will be pronounced, but look

at what is being done first. let's go live now to our north america business correspondent, michelle fleury. world leaders all trying to work out what this means for them, but it will be felt particularly acutely, mexico and canada first in the cross hairs of that trump administration. i hairs of that trump administration. ~ , ., , administration. i think people will be surprised _ administration. i think people will be surprised there - administration. i think people will be surprised there won'tl will be surprised there won't tariffs on day one of his administration, particularly given his rhetoric on the campaign trail but late in the evening, in the oval office, as he was signing a flurry of executive orders, he was asked about this byjournalists and said he was considering 25% tariffs on canada and mexico starting on the 1st of february. we are used to this kind of sabre rattling from jump. he said before for example that there would be tariffs from day one and we haven't seen them. —— sabre rattling from trump. it was part of his approach and what is fascinating is that this is

a second trump administration and world leaders in some cases are becoming more familiar web trump's playbook so if you look at comments from president justin trudeau today, he said, donald trump likes to keep the people he is negotiating with off balance and watch this space for more going forward. we sought the reactions from the president of mexico, cloudier sheinbaum, who said we will take this step—by—step and it is important to stay calm but said she would keep mexican interests at the forefront and we are interested to see what this trump administration does next. —— claudia sheinbaum. we next. -- claudia sheinbaum. we know that _ next. —— claudia sheinbaum. we know that the pick for treasury secretary is said to be confirmed and he has spoken out in the past against tariffs so he could be a bit of a moderating force when it comes

to imposing these levies.- to imposing these levies. there are these competing _ to imposing these levies. there are these competing forces - are these competing forces within the administration and they are worried that inflation could kick off if tariffs aren't implemented correctly and so certainly scott basson is one of the moderating forces if you are kind of keen to study this carefully and do it's the right way, if you like and there are others who believe more strongly that a hardline approach needs to be taken and i think we are seeing right now that struggle play out as to who will ultimately win and if you look at the markets's reaction, investors clearly think it is people like scott bessent you are familiar to them as a hedge funder and so if you look at the markets and the dowjones industrial average, it is up about 400 points or i% this morning in part because they feel reassured that the language on tariffs was a bit softer than they were anticipating, and we also got some news on foot�*s own nomination as treasury

secretary. he was voted through the 16-11 secretary. he was voted through the 16—11 in favour have this position going forward —— scott bessent. it is worth pointing out one of the objections to his appointment came from democratic senator raffaella warnock who said he was concerned about tax giveaways to billionaires and you will remember that there was that conversation last week during his confirmation hearing where scott bessent said tax cuts were the number one priority. did you talk to you, michelle, and you bring up the point of what the stock markets have made of all of this. they have been relatively muted today, as investors try to digest what us president donald trump will do on tariffs. shares in the us and europe opened slightly higher, while those in asia saw modest gains. the ftse100 closed up slightly by 30 points at 8,550. the dollar, which had fallen on monday after the inauguration, regained some

ground against some other major currencies, including the pound and the euro. chris turner is global head of markets at ing in london. good to have you here. what have we seen today? as i have said, we are trying to work out a direction of travel about what everything that has been or could be enhanced by donald trump will mean for business. yes, i think it has been a bit of a cold may day and there has been some volatility yesterday and going into the election and inauguration they expected their to be tariffs hitting the ground running on day one and then there was the threat of 25% tariffs by february for canada and mexico sending the markets back the other day so a lot of volatility on the first day but today i think we are just settling down and seeing wavell will —— whether we will see off—the—cuff declarations

on x. see off-the-cuff declarations on x. ~ . . ~ see off-the-cuff declarations onx.~ ., ., ~ on x. we have talked about tariffs which _ on x. we have talked about tariffs which would - on x. we have talked about i tariffs which would essentially push up the prices for american consumers with the idea that they bite what local stuff but that could fuel inflation and cause further problems. we know he wants to drill more fossil fuels like oil and gas and we assume that would bring down prices but also things like the strength of the dollar mean that firms that are mixed up in the usa and sell it overseas are less competitive so it is hard to work out with the direction of travel is right now. ., y direction of travel is right now. ., , now. one of my contacts in washington _ now. one of my contacts in washington described - now. one of my contacts in| washington described these policies as uncertain and inconsistent, especially with relation to the dollar, and we are looking at foreign exchange markets and all the policies we hear from the trump team, policies essentially lowering tax rates to affect growth and hurting your trade partners by implying tariffs to them and

those policies have actually strengthened the dollar since early october but at the same time it makes us goods is competitive in the global system, basically, so trying to reconcile those dollar positive policies but trying to also run a weaker dollar doesn't add up at the moment and i think investors will have to grapple with that this year.— investors will have to grapple with that this year. thank you for speaking _ with that this year. thank you for speaking to _ with that this year. thank you for speaking to us, _ with that this year. thank you for speaking to us, global - with that this year. thank you | for speaking to us, global head of markets at ing. the british government is considering backing expansion of airports capacity, including a third runway at london's heathrow airport. that's a controversial proposal that's so far been rejected by previous governments. the treasury is also looking at whether to approve a second runway at gatwick and increase capacity at luton airport — as part of its push for economic growth. our business correspondent theo leggett has been looking at how quickly any of this might happen.

the government as fixed its targets on growth and expanding airports is one way to do that because bringing in more tourists and flying planes in and out in and of itself creates jobs but the downside of that is in regards to the environmental effects and also increasing noise around the airport and so on. expansion of heathrow has been on the cards for a decade and a half at least and has always been controversial and has been government policy officially since 2017 but hasn't got anywhere yet but these three different proposals are all at different proposals are all at different stages.— different stages. lets talk about the _ different stages. lets talk about the timeline - different stages. lets talk. about the timeline because different stages. lets talk . about the timeline because it is one thing to get approval to build this thing and another thing to actually get planes taking off on these runways so how long could it take?

two of the proposals could happen relatively quickly. gatwick, where they want to move an existing runway so that it fulfils international requirements and they can then use two runways for taking off and landing at the same time, that has already been through the planning process. it's applied for what's called a development consent order, which just needs now to be signed off by the secretary of state for transport, so if the government is in favour, that could happen fairly quickly, and spades could be in the ground before long. likewise with luton airport, the building of a new terminal, the expansion of an existing one, consents have already been applied for. that could happen relatively quickly. the big one here, though, is heathrow, where the airport wants to build a third runway. that will involve demolishing at least 700 houses, building a tunnel under a motorway. there's all sorts of other things that need to be done. it's a £10 to £20 billion project and it has always been controversial because it is opposed by local authorities, it is opposed by environmentalists, and different governments have weighed in one way or another with their own support, so that one is the most controversial. it's also likely to be the one that takes the most time to get

to fruition. that is your business today. see you very soon. goodbye.