the eu's trade chief tells the bbc he's open to a reset of a crucial condition of the uk's brexit deal. and as president trump escalates his campaign against diversity, we take stock of his impact on business so far. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. the new european union trade chief responsible for post—brexit negotiations has told the bbc "that a pan—europe customs area is something he could consider" as part of "reset" discussions between the uk and eu. some businesses say it will help britain rejoin complex supply chains that have been hit by customs barriers. faisal islam sat down with him at the world economic forum

in davos. has been trying trade because the consequences of a trade war out severe may would be to but there is generally uncertainty. on the other hand there is optimism on what he us economy can do and in particular the tech giants and and that is spreading across the economy. and how it is tech investments. i have been trade commissioner about all of this and he was

president saying, which is part there is donald trump focuses of him, some discussion. court but expressed interest in a close relationship, there are

moves arrangement to us president donald trump has escalated his campaign against diversity programmes — he is now pressuring the private sector to join the initiative. he's also told government employees in offices administering these types of programs that they would be placed on paid leave. civil rights advocates have argued the programmes are necessary to address inequities and structural racism but trump and his supporters say they discriminate against other americans. as donald trump pushes ahead with his plans to transform the us economy, one of the issues investors will be watching closely is the efforts to slash the federal budget. led by multi—billionaire elon musk, the department of government efficiency — which is known as doge — has been tasked with finding ways to cut costs. musk has said he would like to follow the example of argentina. under presidentjavier milei, the south american nation has reduced government spending by an estimated 30% — roughly in line with the level of cuts doge is aiming for in the us. the milei administration has laid off thousands of federal workers, eliminated government agencies, scrapped subsidies and halted public works projects.

last year, the government brought in more money than it spent — the first time argentina has achieved this in ia years. so, can the same be done in the us? for more, let's speak to prof steve hanke from johns hopkins university who advised argentina's economic officials in the 1990s. he told me more about these cuts. ~ . . ~ he told me more about these cuts. ~ . ., ~ ., cuts. we are talking about argentina. _ cuts. we are talking about argentina, the _ cuts. we are talking about argentina, the country - cuts. we are talking about| argentina, the country that cuts. we are talking about - argentina, the country that for 60 years has built up a very tangled, fascist economic system where the government is involved deeply in all economic decisions and activity. that is one aspect of argentina. the other is the size of the government relative to gdp is not that great, 15.5% of gdp. in the us, for example, it is at the all—time high of 23% of

gdp. the regulatory wave is not as great as in argentina. he has been successful in getting this fascist economic control and web, these regulations out the system. that's has been his big success and its popularity has gone up since he was a lack did a yearago, has gone up since he was a lack did a year ago, so the light of the land is quite different now. ———— elected. if you look at the us and what they are trying to do with the stowage commission, i think it would be great if they control government spending and i think if they got it down to about 15% of gdp, about where it was before the second world war in the united states, that would be great. however, the

experience with these efficiency commissions and so forth in the united states has not very good. we had a commission, hoover commission, in 1947, a second in 1943, and all they did was reorganise the government. donald trump has stepped up pressure on russia to end the war in ukraine. ritika gupta has more from new york. his warning made in a social media post call by name. he said he should make a deal soon or else he tariffs and sanctions on russian imports to participating countries. it is not clear what goods would

trump threatened or. the trump administration could potentially target russiaa move. the us to dissuade some key trading partners such as india to scale back its purchases. if you look at how much russia sell to the us, it is very little. in the first 11 months of last year the us imported a little less than one tenth of 1%, and a reduction of about 90% from, the year before the trump campaigned on promises to end the conflict that invasion of ukraine which has killed time is

one of the first things donald trump did as president was to extend a deadline for tiktok to find a buyer or be banned in the us over national security concerns. trump has said he is open to the idea of x owner elon musk buying it, while other billionaires and big firms are circling the wildly popular app. but tiktok�*s owner has repeatedly said it has no plans to sell it. let's get more from tech industry expert dan ives. this is uncharted water and hey get the popcorn out moment, a lot of twist and turks —— turns ahead. why is tiktok so valuable — its reach, it's algorithm? valuable - its reach, it's algorithm?— algorithm? the fastest growing social media platform - algorithm? the fastest growing social media platform out - social media platform out there. the question is bytedance will never sell with the algorithm. likely any sale without the algorithm is probably worth 40 to 50 billion, a golden acid, probably ten or 12 bidders over

the next two or three weeks. who do you see as the frontrunner? i who do you see as the frontrunner?_ who do you see as the frontrunner? i think the frontrunner _ frontrunner? i think the frontrunner is _ frontrunner? i think the frontrunner is elon - frontrunner? i think the i frontrunner is elon musk, frontrunner? i think the - frontrunner is elon musk, given trump and elon musk, given his ironclad relationship with trump. musk could be front and centre but oracle is clearly in the running on microsoft will probably be a long shot. we believe there is a 95% chance, a game of high—stakes poker going on. isn't there a conflict of interest for musk given he owns x? given his relationship with china and president trump? there is a lot of conflicts, a lot of area to navigate but we are in uncharted waters as we talked about and i think the reality is that they get a deal done, there needs to be someone thatis done, there needs to be someone that is hand—picked from beijing but also trump

lighthouse and that is why i think elon musk, it was a bit for the ages betting on trump and now would clearly benefit. south korea's economy barely grew in the last three months of last year, following a political crisis. present your was impeached and suspended from duties for trying to impose martial law. —— president yoon. before we go, a quick check on us markets and the main indexes of all street with the s&p 500 hitting an all—time high. investors seem to be cheering netflix�*s quarterly performance and donald trump's multibillion—dollar support to bolster ai infrastructure. and that's it for this edition of business today. thanks for watching. back at the top of the hour with more news. sports is next.

iam here i am here with the catch up. netflix gets more expensive and a jetlagged cat. we start with prince harry is the owner of the sun gives him a full and unequivocal apology for what they called serious intrusion into his private life. news group newspapers also admitted incidence of unlawful activity, private investigators working for the newspaper. they say there are some controls so it can't happen now. they are also paying damages likely millions of pounds to settle years of legal battles with the prince. his lawyer says it is good for other alleged victims also. this represents a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were strong—armed into settling without being able to get to the truth of what was done to them. some other stories now. tributes are being paid to a 12—year—old boy stabbed to a 12—year—old boy stabbed to death in birmingham.

leo ross was attacked whilst walking home from school. his head teacher said leo was funny and sweet. a 14—year—old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder. next, netflix is putting up prices for some users after adding nearly 19 million new subscribers in the final months of last year. there are increasing costs in the us, canada, argentina and portugal. when asked about the uk, netflix said there is nothing to share right now. time now for ten seconds of a jet—lagged cat. mittens made three between new zealand and australia just 24 hours after being forgotten on a plane. thankfully, she is now back on solid ground and reunited with her owner. that is adorable. you all caught up now. see you later.

hello and welcome to sportsday with me gavin ramjaun. drama in paris: manchester city drop a 2—goal lead to lose against psg. their champions league hopes hang in the balance. ruben amorim said he made a mistake by ripping into his manchester united players immediately after their defeat against brighton. and chelsea have smashed the women's transfer record again. naomi girma is heading to the wsl. hello there and welcome along to the programme, and another exciting, enthralling and exhilarating night to bring you in the champions league on wednesday, and an incredible turn of events in paris as psg came from two goals down to beat manchester city — a result that leaves the premier league champions, in the elimination spots ahead of the final round

of group phase games. city were two goals up in quick succession