tv Business Today BBC News January 24, 2025 6:30am-7:01am GMT
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make in america orface the consequences — donald trump talks tough on trade at the world economic forum in davos. us stocks remain on the charge as the s&p 500 hits a record high. and no pay, no stay! edinburgh will decide on a new 5% tourist tax later today. hospitality businesses are worried it will put tourists off. live from london, this is business today, i'm tadhg enright. he'sjust five days in the job and the us president donald trump is once again dominating world headlines. he's given a virtual address to the world economic forum in davos, and warned fellow leaders that they must manufacture in america
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orface tariffs. in a wide—ranging speech, he also promised to cut the us corporate tax rate to 15% for those that do "make in america". he criticised the european union, saying its tariffs are too high. and he urged the oil producing cartel to "bring down the cost of oil". from davos, here's our economics editor faisal islam. donald trump's address to the world economic forum was extraordinary. it was a collision of two worlds, and one in particular, here where you have global chief executives, financiers and european leaders and other world leaders — they had hoped that some of the campaign rhetoric, some even of the inauguration rhetoric we heard from the us president would not have actually made it through to actual policies or the way in which america is going to act on the world stage.
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and so we had this curious duality from the trump speech — charm offensive in the most real sense of that phrase. charming — come to america, set up your factories here with tax breaks, buy into a booming technological miracle. that will be the america under the golden age of donald trump, as he sees it. and i imagine that would have been fairly seductive to many of the executives here. but charm offensive — also saying that if you didn't happen to want to set up your factories in the us, that's your prerogative. but in a mildly menacing way, if you don't want to do that, then be sure that your exports into the us will be tariffed. and notjust lightly — that revenue, he said, could raise hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions. and that can only be a universal tariff applied to all imports into the us at different rates, he said. but that is precisely the sort of policy mentioned
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in the presidential election campaign, which didn't come to fruition on day one, and they had hoped right here would have been parked. so what's the international reaction to trump's speech? pete earle, who's the senior economist at the american institute for economic research, believes many countries will be unfazed by trump's latest threat. well, the kinds of things that mr trump is trying to get other nations to do — first of all, they take a very long time. manufacturing is not the kind of thing that would pop up overnight — it would take years for many nations to change those arrangements. but even so, no nation is going to accept tariffs on their exports without imposing tariffs on us imports. you know, we've had decades of specialisation that led to different countries with different resources and different climates producing certain goods, while purchasing goods and services from other nations.
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it's called the law of comparative advantage, and it's worked very well. but trump seems to want to throw out 70 years of market experience and 200 years of economic theory, you know, in a very short amount of time. and, as ever, his speech covered a wide range of topics. one of the other things he did was urge saudi arabia — which is, of course, a major ally of the united states — along with the rest of 0pec to, as he put it, bring down the cost of oil. is there a way he can compel them to do so? so, first, i think trump's call for 0pec — and saudi arabia in particular — to lower oil prices is an attempt to bring pressure on russia to end its invasion of ukraine, right? you know, russia relies on energy exports to fund its war effort and it's interesting in part because, over the last few days, there have been signs in international oil markets that some traders expect prices of $100 a barrel — even though the current prices are in the mid—to—high 70s.
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so there may be high and growing doubt about trump's ability to end the war in ukraine, as he's promised. and also, it's not very clear that us oil production can get online as quickly as promised, so it's interesting that he's jawboning in this way when he's spoken all along about us production pushing prices down. well, in the past hour, donald trump's also been speaking to fox news, and in that interview, he said that he doesn't want to put tariffs on imports from china. so does that suggest, further underline the fact that all these pronouncements about tariffs are simply a negotiating position? yeah, he's been saying for a while that it's just a negotiating tactic. but the fact is that, you know, a handful of us companies have said that they're raising their prices in anticipation of higher costs. some of the companies that are announcing their earnings have cited, you know, forward stockpiling of inventories in advance of tariffs. so even if it is a negotiating
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tactic, tariffs are actually having an impact on customers, and tariff—related effects are being put in place and felt by customers right now. so it may not have a price, but it's definitely exacting a cost even before tariffs can put in place. us stocks closed at all—time highs on thursday. this after investors reacted to president trump call for 0pec to lower crude prices and said he will push for interest—rate cuts. from new york, ritika gupta reports. the benchmark s&p 500 closed at a record high on thursday, topping the 6,100 milestone. this as investors digested comments from president donald trump — including a call for cuts in interest rates and oil prices — and assessed a mixed bag of corporate earnings. at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland, trump demanded opec lower oil
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prices and central banks reduce interest rates. crude prices fell following his remarks. meanwhile, trump warned global business leaders they will face tariffs for products made outside of the us. while investors have been cautiously monitoring the new president's comments about tariffs, stocks may have got a boost from the idea of interest rates and oil prices coming down. tech shares — which weighed heavily on the market throughout most of the session — rebounded in the final stretch of wall street trading. this as trump said he signed executive actions related to ai and cryptocurrencies. one of america's leading business groups has told the bbc that broad tariffs on imports would be harmful to the us economy. the us chamber of commerce represents more than three million businesses of all sizes and my colleague ben thompson has been speaking to its head of policy neil bradley about the proposed tariffs.
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of course, they're not done in isolation — what happens on regulatory policy, what happens on tax policy in the united states will also have an impact on the overall kind of cost of goods and services. but, listen, we're concerned at the us chamber about the broad application of tariffs and what that would mean for the us economy. they have a role in certain narrow circumstances, but broad applications would be harmful. what are your members telling you about where the opportunities and the risks are in this administration? what are they excited about? at the top of the list of what people are optimistic about, it's the deregulatory nature. listen, the last four years, there were $1.8 trillion in regulatory costs imposed on the us economy — that is historic in terms of size and scope — and so that rollback will kind of reanimate the animal spirits of the economy in a very positive way. i think we're also optimistic
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about where we're going on tax policy in the united states. those combined with what artificial intelligence is going to be able to do in terms of delivering efficiency, i think means that the outlook for the future is quite bright. president trump promising to make america great at manufacturing again. and there's a certain caveat to that, isn't there? because, you know, we know that manufacturing anywhere in the world often relies on imported labour. he's also pledged to crack down on things like immigration. can the two go hand in hand? when the president returned to the oval office for the first time, he was signing a number of executive orders, and he was actually asked this question about the workforce. and he replied that he knew we needed more workers coming into the united states — legally, of course — to be able to meet his vision for increasing domestic production. so, listen, this is going to have to be a well—thought—out series of policies that not only encourage us domestic production, but reform
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the things that hold it back — excessive regulation, long—delayed permitting processes, and, yes, a lack of labour — and that's going to be something that is going to have to be addressed. and you can find out more about what president trump's plans might mean for the us economy and the rest of the world on "talking business" this weekend, right here on bbc news. the first airing is at 2230 gmt on friday. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.
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that situation turned around last year when the bank ofjapan raised its interest rate from zero to 0.25%, prompting a market sell—off. here's mariko 0i with more. this chart shows the history of the cost of borrowing injapan, and for the past 25 years it's been pretty flat. it was in 1999 when the bank of japan became the first central bank in the world to cut interest rates to zero. it was a bold move at the time. the country was experiencing falling prices — also known as deflation — and lower rates were meant to encourage spending and investment, at least in theory. but consumers weren't buying it. that's because the value of their properties and other assets were falling, so people didn't feel confident to spend money, and it slowed an entire country's economic growth. then, in 2016, the bank ofjapan went further —
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taking the extraordinary step of cutting rates to below zero. negative interest rates meant that the b0] was, in some ways, paying borrowers to, well, borrow money — and they stayed there for over eight years hoping that prices would start to rise. inflation finally arrived several years ago, but it was mainly due to higher food and fuel prices caused by the war in ukraine. in march last year, the central bank moved rates to a range of 0%—0.1% — a tiny rise, but a seismic shift in policy. the boj finally exited its negative interest rate policy. a few months later, the bank ofjapan raised rates again — this time to around 0.25% — showing their confidence in the country's economic recovery, and that inflation is finally back. but that triggered a market sell—off because investors worry that
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they may raise rates too fast, and also because of a complex impact on the value of the japanese currency. officials have been cautious ever since, but they've hiked rates to 0.5% today. that's the highest in 17 years, and economists think they may raise the cost of borrowing several more times this year. so what does today's rate hike tell us about japan's economy? earlier i spoke to chris scicluna, head of research at daiwa capital markets europe and he thinks japan's economy is showing good signs of growth. first and foremost, it tells us that the japanese economy is a lot more normal than it used to be. i think the years of deflation now well and truly behind us in japan. inflation has been above the bank of japan's inflation target of 2% now for almost three years. so, really, those years of negative inflation are really long gone. as your reporter said just now,
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well, inflation is high enough for the bank ofjapan to be thinking about raising rates beyond where we are today, back to levels that would be the highest in about 30 years. so this is very much a different economy to what we've been used to over the past couple of decades. for sure. very different, because it's not long since we described japan as the world's number—two economy. since then, it's been eclipsed by china and germany — it's in fourth place now. is there any wayjapan can claw its way back up that economic league table, do you think? well, i think there are lots of positive developments in the japanese economy right now. not only are prices rising, but wages are rising. so consumers should be getting a lot more money in their pockets, and that rising income should feed through into rising output, as well. the japanese economy is also
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now very capital intensive. the share of gdp accounted for by business investment is also now at its highest level for about 30 years. there is a lot of investment going on — whether to support digitisation projects, decarbonisation, a lot of r&d going on in the japanese economy. and, in many ways, japan is still a manufacturing powerhouse, as well. so there are lots of good things to say about the japanese economy right now. the scottish capital edinburgh — long a favourite for tourists in this part of the world — will decide later whether to impose a tourist tax. councillors recently concluded that a 5% levy on tourist accommodation was the best rate and today they're voting on whether to proceed with it. the local authority hopes to raise around £50 million, saying the move would go towards improving the city,
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but businesses fear it could damage local trade. earlier i spoke to leon thompson, who's the executive director at uk hospitality scotland and he thinks the new tax will make edinburgh less appealing to tourists. uk hospitality scotland has long argued against the introduction of a tourist tax introduction of a tourist tax in the city and the need anywhere in scotland. the reason we have argued against it is on the grounds of competitiveness. we are very expensive distillation, we have one of the highest vat rates of anywhere in europe, so having 5% is quite a chunky addition to the accommodation costs visitors coming to the city. we have the votes lifted today by the council, we know this is really a formality, so it's really a formality, so it's really now about working to get the best outcomes for our businesses from the introduction of the levy. what are ou introduction of the levy. what are you worried _ introduction of the levy. what are you worried about? - introduction of the levy. what are you worried about? it - introduction of the levy. what are you worried about? it about putting tourists for eating to
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the profit margins of hospitality businesses? it’s hospitality businesses? it's about putting _ hospitality businesses? it�*s about putting visitors off, you know, the city is already expensive, we have a height vat rate, that's the significant challenge for our businesses to manage and for our customers to manage and for our customers to manage as well, so adding this on top is going to see quite an increase in the accommodation costs for visitors. the difficulty is that visitors are likely to continue to come to the city, but we may —— but they may then spend less in the city while they're here, so we are essentially taking money out of the city's visitor economy and passing it on to the council. figs economy and passing it on to the council.— economy and passing it on to the council. as you say, taking it out of the — the council. as you say, taking it out of the economy, - the council. as you say, taking it out of the economy, giving l it out of the economy, giving to the council, the council estimated it could raise £50 million per year. tourists certainly support local businesses, no doubt about it, but they do not pay for footpaths or for road repairs and i suppose that is what the council wants them to contribute to?- council wants them to contribute to? , ., , ,
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contribute to? yes, absolutely. and of which — contribute to? yes, absolutely. and of which they _ contribute to? yes, absolutely. and of which they are _ and of which they are businesses to pay very high businesses to pay very high business rates which obviously pays for those particular things. it's going to be imperative that the money that the council raises is invested back into the distillation to keep the city of edinburgh a leading visitor destination, attracting people from all over the world into the city. and to use that money to actually increase the value of the visitor economy. that's going to be absolutely key here. one of our concerns is that money will someday be used for day to day activities. but really we need to ensure that the bulk of the money does find its way into destination enhancement and promotion.— into destination enhancement and promotion. briefly, lots of --oular and promotion. briefly, lots of popular tourist _ and promotion. briefly, lots of popular tourist cities _ and promotion. briefly, lots of popular tourist cities have - popular tourist cities have done this and i say, edinburgh is a popular tourist city. can you point and examples of where it has counter—productive?
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well, destinations have introduced charges and levies for all sorts of reasons. if you take amsterdam, they're looking at a level of 12% as they try to manage their visitor numbers down as much as anything else. other are obviously trying to destinations manage the infrastructure and so on as well. so it's all about the rationale for introducing the levy on the first place. but as i say, we are an expensive destination and this will only add to that. and we will let you know what edinburgh decides on its proposed tourist tax when that vote happens later today. uk chancellor rachel reeves has said plans to abolish non—dom tax status for people with high incomes earned overseas will be amended, to allow a more generous phase out of the tax benefit. reeves told an audience at the world economic forum in davos that changes would be made to upcoming legislation, to increase the generosity of a facility to help non—doms repatriate their funds to the uk.
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stay with us here on bbc news. the 0scars nominations are out with the brutalist being one of this year's most nominated films with 10 nods including best film, and best actor for adrien brody. he's hoping for a second academy award after winning in 2003 for the pianist. 0ur entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, has been talking to the cast. post—war america, and this hungarian immigrant is trying to rebuild his life to his work as an architect. speaking rather a property surrounded by the brutalist buildings of london's barbican centre, adrian brody explains how the role as a personal residence. it is an opportunity for me to
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honour my ancestral struggles. my honour my ancestral struggles. my mother and my grandparents was' hardships and loss, fleeing hungary in the 50s, and the details and hardships that they experienced that very much parallel the lived experience of my character.— parallel the lived experience of my character. felicity jones -la s his of my character. felicity jones plays his wife _ of my character. felicity jones plays his wife but _ of my character. felicity jones plays his wife but says - of my character. felicity jones plays his wife but says it - of my character. felicity jones plays his wife but says it can l plays his wife but says it can be a struggle finding female parts like this where the character is independent and intelligent. we character is independent and intelligent.— intelligent. we are at oxford to study english! _ to study english! i have to find someone who has some _ i have to find someone who has some kind _ i have to find someone who has some kind of spun or has some fight _ some kind of spun or has some fight in — some kind of spun or has some fight in them, or have some sense — fight in them, or have some sense of— fight in them, or have some sense of defiance, that is siikx _ sense of defiance, that is silky. when i read script it howled _ silky. when i read script it bowled me over. dish-mac that is so key- _ bowled me over. dish-mac that is so key- they _ bowled me over. dish-mac that is so key. they do _ bowled me over. dish-mac that is so key. they do not - bowled me over. dish-mac that is so key. they do not want - bowled me over. dish-mac that is so key. they do not want is i is so key. they do not want is here! ., ., , , ,
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here! the relationships in the film might — here! the relationships in the film might be _ here! the relationships in the film might be intimate - here! the relationships in the film might be intimate and i film might be intimate and personal but they set against the back drop that is epic in so many ways, not least the film's length. it clocks in at over three and a half hours. will audiences be put off by something of this immense length? something of this immense lenuth? ., ~' length? for me, i think the lenath length? for me, i think the length of— length? for me, i think the length of a _ length? for me, i think the length of a movie - length? for me, i think the length of a movie is - length? for me, i think the length of a movie is similarj length? for me, i think the i length of a movie is similar to the lengths— length of a movie is similar to the lengths of— length of a movie is similar to the lengths of a _ length of a movie is similar to the lengths of a book. - length of a movie is similar to the lengths of a book. a - length of a movie is similar to i the lengths of a book. a double album. — the lengths of a book. a double album. you _ the lengths of a book. a double album, you know, _ the lengths of a book. a double album, you know, a _ the lengths of a book. a double album, you know, a painting i album, you know, a painting with— album, you know, a painting with the _ album, you know, a painting with the big _ album, you know, a painting with the big canvas. - album, you know, a painting with the big canvas. at- album, you know, a painting with the big canvas. at the l album, you know, a painting i with the big canvas. at the end of the — with the big canvas. at the end of the day, _ with the big canvas. at the end of the day, especially - with the big canvas. at the end of the day, especially becausel of the day, especially because the film — of the day, especially because the film has _ of the day, especially because the film has an _ of the day, especially because the film has an intermission, i the film has an intermission, it's only— the film has an intermission, it's only 100 _ the film has an intermission, it's only 100 minutes - the film has an intermission, it's only 100 minutes on i the film has an intermission, | it's only 100 minutes on each side — it's only 100 minutes on each side so — it's only 100 minutes on each side so it's— it's only 100 minutes on each side so it's not— it's only 100 minutes on each side so it's not so— it's only 100 minutes on each side so it's not so bad. - it's only 100 minutes on each side so it's not so bad. the i side so it's not so bad. the film gathered _ side so it's not so bad. the film gathered ten - side so it's not so bad. film gathered ten oscar film gathered ten 0scar nominations including a best actor nod for adrien brody. even before they were announced, brodie said how thankful he was for the recognition the film has gained. i recognition the film has aained. ., ., , , gained. i did not realise these imaaes gained. i did not realise these images were _ gained. i did not realise these images were still _ gained. i did not realise these images were still available. i images were still available. i'm just really grateful, and i'm just really grateful, and i'm very appreciative of having
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had a chance to flourish in a work of dedicated a life towards, and that is received with respect and appreciation. it is very rewarding. injust over a month's in just over a month's time, adrian brody will find out whether he has won a second best actor 0scar whether he has won a second best actor oscar and whether the film has won best picture. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello, there. a rare red weather warning has been issued by the met office for northern ireland and scotland for storm eowyn. a red warning means that there will be significant disruption from this storm — even the potential for a loss of life. if you do not have to travel during friday, it is best to not do so. now, this area of low pressure, storm eowyn underwent
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a rapid intensification during the early hours of friday morning. it's throwing a lot of heavy rain ahead of it, and some damaging gusts of wind, some snow to higher ground, but it's here where the centre of the low is — that's where we'll have the strongest of the winds during the morning rush hour. so that's when the red warning is in force across northern ireland — that'll continue until 2:00 in the afternoon, and then the strongest of the winds transfer into the central belt of scotland. widespread gusts close to 90mph, possibly some isolated gusts of 100mph. we've also got amber weather warnings quite widely across the northern half of the uk. damaging gusts of winds here. there are numerous weather warnings right across the uk — do go to the bbc weather website for further updates. but as we go through the day on friday, the rain across england and wales will ease quite quickly, and then it's a day of sunny spells and gale—force gusts of winds. a rash of showers and longer spells of rain as the low crosses scotland. here, it's going to stay pretty miserable —
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six or seven degrees, highest values of 12 further south. but, as i've already stated — if you don't have to travel in those red weather warnings, it is best not to do so. if you do have travel plans on friday — well, be prepared for those damaging winds. there could be some disruption with power cuts, structural damage, travel disruption. tune into your bbc local radio station for further updates. now, the storm will start to ease away. still a windy day on saturday, but elsewhere, it's a slightly quieter story. so we keep the gales into the far north, and some of these showers will be wintry in nature, but elsewhere it's a case of sunny spells, lighter winds on saturday, before more wet weather pushes in from the west. but it will be noticeably colder, as well. that rain is going to sweep its way steadily east, so that benign, quiet weather story looks likely to be a thing of the past. keep watching the weather forecast for further updates.
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live from london, this is bbc news. a gust of 114mph recorded as storm eowyn reaches ireland and the uk. a red "danger to life" warning is in force across the entire island of ireland, the isle of man, and laterfor parts of scotland, with schools and public transport shut down. the authorities say they're prepared for today — as prepared as they can be — but they're asking people to make their own preparations, too. two key messages — stay at home, and don't travel — to stay safe today. this is the scene at largs in scotland. the met office says the storm will bring very dangerous driving conditions with fallen trees on roads. we'll bring you all the latest as the storm sweeps across the region. also coming up... a judge temporarily blocks president trump's order to end automatic citizenship for babies born in the us, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional".
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