voice-over: this is bbc news. the headlines: thousands of displaced palestinians are prevented from returning to their homes in the north of the gaza strip as israel accuses hamas of breaching the terms of their ceasefire deal. donald trump praises british prime minister keir starmer and says he will call him in the coming 2a hours. the democratic republic of congo has severed diplomatic relations with neighbouring rwanda, accusing it of backing m23 rebels who've been advancing on the eastern city of goma. the united nations and others also accuse rwanda of fuelling the conflict with its own troops and weapons. in the last few days, thirteen soldiers serving with peacekeeping forces in eastern congo have been killed in clashes with m23. and the rare alignment of five planets offers stargazers a spectacle in the skies.

now on bbc news, talking business. welcome to talking business. here's what's on the programme. crowd cheers he's back. donald trump is once again in charge of the world's biggest economy. but what will that mean for the us and the rest of us? new tariffs against its biggest trading partners, the prospect of tax cuts and drilling for more oil. just some of the ways america is set to change over the next four years. we'll assess what trump 2.0 could mean for the world economy with our panel of experts this week. this week, the head of policy at the us chamber of commerce gives us their assessment of the impact on business and trade. a former head of the american government's energy agency explains what, "drill, baby, drill," really means for energy prices and supplies. and this leading expert on government finances crunches the numbers of tax cuts and spending plans and what it could all mean for the value of the dollar.

plus all change — the boss of one of the world's biggest law firms tells us how his company is helping others keep up with a changing world, and those policy shifts that president trump has promised. wherever you're watching, welcome to the show. now, donald trump is back in the white house. after months of planning and speculation, he's been sworn in for a second term as president of the united states. it is, of course, the world's biggest and most influential economy. he's got a further four years to reshape it in his vision and that will have an impact both in the united states, but also for millions of people around the world. some of the changes could happen pretty quickly, perhaps even between us recording this show and you watching it. but before we delve into the issues, let'sjust remind ourselves of the state of the us economy that he's inherited from joe biden. well, inflation has been a top concern for millions

of americans over the last four years. as you can see, it's fallen a long way from its peak, but prices are still rising faster than the 2% target, hitting 2.9% in december. another thing that's come down under president biden is the unemployment rate. it's now 4.1%, as a strong jobs market reflects companies' confidence in the economy going forward. as a result, the central bank is cautious about making more cuts to interest rates any time soon. whilst the cost of borrowing has fallen in recent months, it's still much higher than at the end of president trump's first term. he's often measured his success by the value of stock markets and over the last year, the s&p 500 index of america's biggest companies has repeatedly hit record highs, something he wants to see again. so first of all, let's hear a little of what president trump had to say about the economy and trade. i will direct all members of my cabinet to marshal

the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices. i will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect american workers and families. instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens. let's pick up on that now with the head of policy at the us chamber of commerce. it represents more than 3 million businesses of all shapes and sizes right across the across the united states. neil bradley, welcome to the programme. and i think it's fair to say the american consumer has been a bit of a bright spot in the global economy the last couple of years. and i wonder, we've got, you know, a returning resident of the white house —

what does he need to do? what does the us need to do to keep those consumers as that global bright spot? yeah, you're exactly right. american consumers have been a big, bright spot. that's largely been supported by growing wages in the us economy that have allowed families to kind of keep up with levels of consumption. the things that the new administration needs to be worried about is a return to inflation. trade is particularly top of that list, but here in the united states, workforce is also incredibly important to making sure that we can maintain the supply and demand balance that we need to support a growing economy. yeah, i want to talk about that inflation issue, though. it's what, 2. 9%? the target of course is 2%. it's still some way off that. and the reason it gets interesting, not only for the us but the rest of the world economy, is because of the potential impact that has on things like interest rates. how much is inflation on the minds of business right now, when they make decisions about what they will do next?

it's very much on business leaders' minds. so, you know, we have to recognise that the bout of inflation that we've gone through for the last couple of years really hasn't been experienced by most american business leaders in their professional lifetime. it was kind of a shock to the system. now, we're not going to return to the days of kind of free money, zero interest rates that we've had since most of the period since the great recession in 2008. but a normalisation of inflation right around 2%, doesn't have to be exactly 2%. and interest rates with a normal cost of money is going to be really critical to sustaining long—term growth. and so people, you know, will be forgiven for being a little confused about some of what we've heard from donald trump when it comes to things like tariffs, because the entire point of tariffs is to make stuff imported from overseas more expensive. that's all well and good when you can produce all that

stuff domestically, but we know that biggest trading partners — canada, mexico, china — all in the crosshairs of the trump administration when it comes to things like tariffs. stuff will cost more and that will push up inflation, won't it? it will. and so, tariffs are a tax. they increase the cost of goods. and so in that way it can be inflationary. 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 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. manufacturing anywhere in the world often relies on imported labour. he's also pledged to crack down on things like immigration. can america be a great manufacturer again without immigration? 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 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. hopefully businesses can stop worrying about washington and start growing their business. manufacturing anywhere around the world often relies on imported labour. this also pledged to crack down on things like immigration. can america be a great manufacturer again without immigration?- be a great manufacturer again without immigration? when he returned to _ without immigration? when he returned to the _ without immigration? when he returned to the oval _ without immigration? when he returned to the oval office - without immigration? when he returned to the oval office for| returned to the oval office for the first time he was signing a number of executive orders. he was asked this question about the workforce and he replied that he knew we needed more workers coming into the united

states, legally, to be able to meet his vision for increasing domestic production. this is going to have to be a well thought out series of policies that not only encourages domestic production but reform the things that hold it back. excessive regulation, long delayed permitting processes and yes, a lack of labour and thatis and yes, a lack of labour and that is going to be something that is going to be something thatis that is going to be something that is going to be something that is going to be something that is going to have to be addressed. neil bradley, it's been really good to talk to you. thank you. so what do president trump's plans to drill more oil and gas and have more dependence on fossilfuels mean for renewable energy? the inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices. and that is why, today, i will also declare a national energy emergency. we will drill, baby, drill. cheering so how easy will that be? i've been speaking to a former energy adviser to president obama, who also served as the head

of the energy information administration. it's the us government's independent agency for analysing the energy industry and its economic impact. adam sieminski, welcome to the programme. and we know that on the campaign trail, donald trump has promised a renewed focus on fossil fuels. he said, "drill, baby, drill." america already produces record amounts of oil and gas. how much more can it produce? well, the president said even during his inaugural speech that he would try to open up federal lands, offshore alaska to more drilling. the industry itself is pretty much working at full capacity right now. so we could keep producing the amount that we're doing now, but it's not going to be really all that easy to produce a lot more. yeah, and that's partly because of an infrastructure issue, isn't it? i don't think the us has

built a new refinery in, what, something like a0 years. i mean, it's one thing getting it out of the ground. how does it get it in the form that it needs to the people who need it? well, the refining is not going to be a huge problem. i think pipelines to move natural gas around the country, to generate more electricity for the big data centres that are being developed all over the country is going to be very important. so one of the things that the president talked about in his speech was easing up on permitting requirements so that we can build more electric generation facilities. is this also a way that the president can keep down prices for consumers domestically? we know some of his promised trade tariffs could push up prices of imports. and so is he simply trying to offset some of that by making energy — a big component in any business — but by making that energy cheaper? well, during the campaign, the president said that he would get grocery prices down and he would cut energy prices in half. that's not going

to be very easy. economists always focus on food and energy as one of the key aspects of inflation and dropping energy prices is a really, really difficult task. bob mcnally, who worked for president bush some time ago, said that he looked for the magic wand that would lower energy prices, and it didn't exist. i kind of did the same thing for president obama back in 2012 and came to the same conclusion. there is no magic wand to get oil prices down. we know that demand for energy is only going in one direction, um, given especially things like ai that is hoovering up energy at a rate of knots. does america have enough energy in the pipeline? i'm thinking particularly of electricity, of course. and if not, are fossil

fuels the answer? i think the answer is all of the above. chris wright, trump's pick for energy secretary, said that he would like to focus on things like nuclear, commercial nuclear technology and battery improvements. trying to single out fossil fuels as the only answer to the climate challenges we're facing is really not, uh, not going to work. there are too many people in the world that don't have enough energy. all of this is going to require more energy. so we have to find some way to deal with the emissions associated with those fuels, rather than trying to pick a favourite fuel that really is not going to be capable of doing the job by itself. adam sieminski, so good to talk to you on the programme this week. thank you for being with us.

0k, ben, thank you. that limits america's ability to have diversity in the way gets energy?— gets energy? some of the comments _ gets energy? some of the comments the _ gets energy? some of the comments the president l gets energy? some of the i comments the president has made. — comments the president has made, for example, if you want to unleash _ made, for example, if you want to unleash domestic energy production that normally means higher— production that normally means higher prices, not lower prices _ higher prices, not lower prices if— higher prices, not lower prices. if you want to build more — prices. if you want to build more electric power facilities that— more electric power facilities that might mean higher prices for electricity and not lower. there — for electricity and not lower. there are _ for electricity and not lower. there are a lot of contradictions here. i think that— contradictions here. i think that ultimately, the system, the government in the united states— the government in the united states is_ the government in the united states is going to try to push a lot— states is going to try to push a lot of— states is going to try to push a lot of different solutions. i think— a lot of different solutions. i think what they don't want to do is —

think what they don't want to do is have massive subsidies for forms— do is have massive subsidies for forms of energy. adam sieminski, so good to talk to you on the programme this week. thank you for being with us. 0k, ben, thank you. bye. one of the big shadows hanging over the us economy is its massive debt burden. it grew significantly under president biden and in donald trump's first term. it is now around $36 trillion. one way to slash the debt is to cut government spending and that is something he touched on at his inauguration. the american dream will soon be back and thriving like never before. to restore competence and effectiveness to our federal government, my administration will establish the brand—new department of government efficiency. let's pick up on that with the executive director of the bipartisan policy center's economic policy programme. now, that's a washington—based think—tank that tries to work with both democrats and republicans on long—term solutions. shai akabas, welcome to the programme.

and let me start with what we know so far. how would you characterise president trump's approach to the economy? because we know he said he wants to cut taxes, so therefore the government will earn less in revenue. but at the same time, he says he'll spend less. so therefore the numbers add up. is it that simple? so, we have had a long—standing fiscal problem in the united - states. this year, the big item - on the agenda is tax policy. that's one of the top items - for president trump as he comes into office, and republicans . in congress, because the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act, i which were passed during the first year of president trump's first term, much| of that is set to expire. and if it does, tax rates - would go up across the board. republicans do not want to let that happen. - so they are already starting. the process of figuring out how they are going to extend much or all of those tax cuts. - what's really important here, though, is the fiscal- impact of this. if it is extended, unpaid for, for the full decade, - that could be a cost.

of $4.5 trillion added to the national debt. let's talk, though, quickly about spending, because we know that president trump wants to spend less as well. where will that cut in spending come? do we know yet? the president has set up - a department of government efficiency, which is going| to look at places to make the federal government more efficient, which i think- is a great place to start. the problem for many years, . though, has been policymakers on both sides have been. reluctant to touch the real drivers of the federal debt. those are the programmes that are growing the fastest, - specifically the entitlement i programmes that primarily go towards america's seniors. so, social security and medicare. - and the most recent - president, president biden, as well as president trump, i have said that they do not plan to touch those programmes. and without making adjustments to those programmes, _ there's really no way- to wrap our arms around the problem that we have. yeah. and so neatly, that gets us on to that national debt. at $36 trillion, it's a huge number to get your head around. it is growing all the time. and so president trump says,

yes, we need to get a handle on this. we need to tackle it. how? that really is the $64,000 i question here, or, you know, close to the $64 trillionl question, given the debt that we have accumulated as a country _ for too long, policymakers on both sides have been. reluctant to tackle i this challenge, partly because it is tough politically. - people don't like when their benefits are cut l or their taxes are raised. ultimately, that's - what it's going to take. economic growth can help, - but you need to make the tough choices to get there. right now we have a national debt that is stacking up - interest at a remarkable pace. by the end of the decade, l depending on what happens with those tax cuts, - the interest costs that we're paying on the debt could be eating up a quarter of all. the revenue that we're i bringing into the country. that is not sustainable. the other double—edged sword in all of this, of course, is the strength of the dollar right now. and president trump hailing that as a sign that america's economy is firing on all cylinders. but of course, we know that makes american exports more expensive. how do you square that circle? how does president trump maintain america's place

in the global financial system, whilst also making its businesses more competitive, globally? it's a really tough circle to square and that is i what the president and his team are thinking about as they - approach tariff policy, - as they approach fiscal policy. of course, the fed and monetary policy plays a role _ in this as well. but ultimately, getting our. arms around the national debt and figuring out what we're going to do to tackle that l challenge will have - impacts on the strength of the dollar moving forward. the debt drags down economic growth by pulling investmentsl into less productive purposes ofjust buying up us - treasuries, instead of being . deployed in the private sector and facilitating. economic growth. there's also an element. of uncertainty to all of this. the president has come - in with an agenda, but how that agenda will be implemented remains unclear. _ shai akabas, so good to talk to you on the programme this week. internationally we know it has

huge repercussions knowing that interest rates may not be falling as quickly as people bought. it seems like the dollar will say stronger for a bit longer. that has all sorts of implications. do you get a sense that the white house is concerned about those implications or if we believe the rhetoric, it is america first? , first? recognising the impact ofthe first? recognising the impact of the decisions _ first? recognising the impact of the decisions we _ first? recognising the impact of the decisions we make - first? recognising the impact| of the decisions we make that first? recognising the impact i of the decisions we make that a strong dollar can have significant impacts on countries that borrow in us currency and if we are having an impact on the us dollar that it can make their operations much more challenging. those are ultimately things we need to be concerned about the hollows the whole economy is connected and it will impact the prospects not only for americans domestically but our impact on the global stage. shai akabas, so good to talk to you on the programme this week. thank you for being with us. thanks so much for having me. as well as cutting taxes, president trump has said he'll cut regulation as part of his efforts to boost growth. details of the new laws are still emerging, but the pace of change was clear. today, i will sign a series of historic executive orders. with these actions,

we will begin the complete restoration of america and the revolution of common sense. so what does it mean for firms that are charged with helping firms navigate rules and regulations? here's the boss of one of the world's biggest law firms. that's a&0 shearman, which was created last year by a merger of allen and overy with the new york—based shearman and sterling. welcome to the programme. it's great to have you with us and talk to me about this week. we've had president trump return to the white house. he's promised to change just about everything, if you believe some of that campaign rhetoric. what does it mean for you and your team, given that a lot of the changes could come in things like laws and rules and regulations on? on laws and regulations, it's tough to speculate what will happen. look, market sentiment is that trump's plans to reduce

the regulatory burden that certain industries face, along with, you know, plans to lower taxes, to decrease the overall size of the federal government will have a positive impact on business. the incoming us administration is also set to review things like merger control regulations. so, you know, the anti—trust environment is certainly expected to become more pro—deal, more pro—business. that should be more favourable for activities such as m&a, which is a lot of what we do. so i would certainly expect opportunities for a lot more transactional activity in the us and beyond. how important is it for what you do, for you and the other lawyers you work with, to have a handle on the pace of change, given what we've seen already from president trump? how do you and your team navigate a market, an industry, that is changing so quickly? actually, this is an issue that's faced by our clients, our international clients. they see more global opportunity than ever before. but they're also, as you mentioned, navigating

an increasingly complex world. there's heightened scrutiny, greater regulatory burden, more investment challenges than ever before, growing geopolitical tensions, the energy transition, technological transformation — i could go on. so businesses that we deal with rightly expect their legal advisers to support them in meeting these challenges, navigating their way through this increasingly complex environment. i'd say that was the thesis for our merger — to be global, to be uniquely global, uniquely integrated and to provide a service that no other law firm has been able to provide to our clients. we know that compliance can be time—consuming. it can be expensive. deregulation, of course, is designed to free up business to just get on with, you know, the matter at hand. but is it an oversimplification to say that deregulation is, across the board, good for business? i think deregulation, you know, does create more opportunity for businesses, but it also creates risk. and that is what our

clients are sort of facing increasingly. you know, navigating a world that is increasingly complex, increasingly risky. and frankly, the reason why, you know, our clients get lawyers involved, you know, early on isn'tjust to kind of deal with disputes or deal with regulations. it's really to kind of ensure that the problems that they may face are anticipated, they're assessed and they are addressed, whether, you know, in an environment that is overregulated or under—regulated. a consistent theme on this programme is access to skilled labour. that firms tell me theyjust don't have enough people to do the jobs that they have available. have you got enough trained lawyers? yes, absolutely. look, as ever, you know, for us, when it comes to talent, it's about serving our clients. the lawyer talent market at the moment, particularly in the us and the uk, is very hot. it's very, very competitive. frankly, it's driving up salaries, particularly, as i say, in the uk and in the us. you know, we embrace that.

i know one of the moves that you've made to sort of free up some of those lawyers is to start implementing ai in what you do. how much of a game—changer could it be? every conversation i have with a business leader will inevitably turn to the topic of ai. jl inevitably turn to the topic of ai. , , ., ., inevitably turn to the topic of ai. it is pervading all aspects of our lives _ ai. it is pervading all aspects of our lives and _ ai. it is pervading all aspects of our lives and businesses. l ai. it is pervading all aspects i of our lives and businesses. we embraced ai early on and we have put that as a key component of our strategy. day—to—day, what differences are making? what are you getting the ai are making? what are you getting the al to do? don't exect getting the al to do? don't exneet ai _ getting the al to do? don't exneet al to _ getting the al to do? don't expect al to be _ getting the al to do? don't expect al to be directly - expect al to be directly responsible anytime soon but by late 2025, i expect most firms to be fully embracing ai tools for tasks like legal research, like contract analysis, document review. that drives efficiency, that drives cost savings. and we want to free our lawyers to work on more value add tasks, such as strategic thinking, problem—solving, decision—making and leave other tasks, more routine work,

more processing work, admin work, you know, to ai. khalid garousha of a&0 shearman, really good to have you on the programme this week. thanks for being with us. my pleasure. thanks for having me on. that's all for this week. you can keep up with all the latest on the global economy on the bbc news website and smartphone app. we'll see you for another edition of talking business very soon. bye—bye for now. hello. saturday was a day where the clean—up could begin from that incredibly powerful storm eowyn that battered parts of the uk and the republic of ireland on friday. a much calmer end to the day saturday. we had a fine sunset across southern areas. it was quite cold across northern portions of the uk on saturday, cold enough for some snow in the showers across high ground. now, eowyn is continuing to disintegrate just to the west of norway, but this is our next weather system that's coming in off the atlantic.

and this is another named storm. it's been named by the spanish authorities as storm herminia, and it's going to be bringing wet and windy weather over the next few days, with rainfall totals building up, particularly across parts of wales, the midlands, and south—west england, where we could see some localised flooding concerns as we head into the early part of the new week. now, at the moment we've got a little trough pushing eastwards, bringing rain, a bit of sleet and hill snow, mostly above 200m elevation across northern england and scotland, could be a few centimetres actually in scotland and a risk of some icy surfaces wherever we see a frost. so, into sunday morning, actually most of us having a fairly decent start to the day. there will still be some showers and blustery conditions for conditions for northern scotland, and it won't be long before we see the rain and winds pick up across england, wales, and northern ireland. gusts through the irish sea coast reaching around 60 to 70

miles an hour. winds that strong could topple one or two trees, bringing some localised disruption, but it won't be on the same scale of disruption that eowyn brought on friday. that really was an exceptional system. monday, the same area of low pressure is with us. we've still got further outbreaks of rain and the wind is still blowing at the same kind of levels around coastal areas. it will be, i suppose, a fairly mild kind of day, but probably not feeling so, given the strength of those winds. by tuesday, a lot of the rain will start to work a little bit further northwards, affecting parts of scotland by this stage. but the worst of the weather should clear through from wales and south—west england. still a few showers left over, still breezy, but the worst of the wind, the worst of the rain should start to push away. temperatures ranging from around seven to ten degrees, so a few degrees above average for the time of year. now, looking later in the new week, it looks like the weather should tend to settle down as the week goes by and into the following weekend, it might be dry for most of us.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with sarah campbell and ben thompson. our headlines today: preventing another attack like southport, the home secretary tells tech giants they must remove extreme videos from social media. tens of thousands of homes across the uk remain without power two days after storm eowyn hit. on the eve of holocaust remembrance day, we hear from an auschwitz survivor 80 years on. in sport, liverpool keep the rest of the premier league at bay. another win, this time over ipswich, maintains their six—point lead, and takes them a step closer to the title. good morning, storm veneer will bring wet and windy weather the uk

today and it will cause further