the tariffs as a negotiating tool, rather than follow through. the new tariff announcements came just hours before indian prime minister narendra modi's meeting with trump at the white house. and india may not be exempt. although trump had a warm relationship with modi in his first term, he has called india a very big abuser on trade. he outlined key areas of focus as he met with modi in the oval office. we have, i think, some very big things to talk about. number one is they're going to be purchasing a lot of our oil and gas. we have more oil and gas than any other country in the world

by far, and they need it. and we have it. and we're going to talk about trade. we're going to talk about many things. us president trump there saying india will be

is you.

between international countries and in doing so ultimately make it less efficient. those individuals in those countries actually have less ability to spend. and ultimately the economy reduces. if you go back to, say, 1930, when 20,000 tariffs were introduced by the us, you saw a halving of world trade over the following three years. ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, will be meeting us vice president, jd vance, later today at the munich security conference, with security and trade high on the agenda. the war in ukraine will have been ongoing for three years later this month, with president trump eager to find a resolution.

so if you're in a transactional mode, then you have something to give away. 0n the other hand, what we have to keep in mind is there's a big difference between having a resource and it takes a lot of time and investment to develop a mine and to bring a mine into production. jeff, what exactly are these raw materials? what are we talking about? why does america need them?

for these critical raw materials because they are essential to basically any industrial in the energy transition and for medical applications, for instance. which go into fighter jets, but are also used we talk about lithium, uh, which is obviously and we're also talking about vast resources for graphite, which is still crucial for a lubricant production, which go 0k. so there's china, but russia also saying that these minerals lie on their land.

i mean, how many players are there, who are the big players, yeah. and maybe it's good to take a step back. if you would draw a map on the table and would look where these critical raw materials are lying, you would see that they would be scattered around the world. but china, over the past decades, has taken a very central role in the processing of these

our business reporter mariko 0i is in singapore from where she explained why this develoment took place now according to reports, basically, the decision by apple and google to put tiktok back on their app stores came after they received assurances from the trump administration that they would not be held liable and that the ban wouldn't be enforced. wouldn't

be enforced yet. as you said, after mr trump returned to the white house, he signed that executive order to grant a 75—day extension to comply with the law, which required tiktok to either sell its us assets or face a ban in the country. now, of course, mrtrump originally called for the ban of the app during his first first term, but he has since changed his tone, saying that tiktok actually helped him win some younger voters and he wants to find an american buyer. but of course, us lawmakers have been concerned that it could be used by the chinese government as a tool for spying and political manipulation. the accusations beijing and tiktok have repeatedly denied. so for the moment, the app is back on people's smartphones in the united states. but they still do need to find a buyer before the time runs out in about a month and a half. let's get some of the day s other news now. the uk stock market debut of chinese fast fashion firm shein looks set to be delayed

until later this year after donald trump changed rules on import taxes. chinese retailers, such as shein and temu, have previously used the exemption to ship low—value packages to the us and have benefited from similar rules in the uk. the financial times reports the firm — which is hoping to be valued at 50 billion dollars — had earlier

yeah. i mean, to think that people are still reading these days for more than 20 or 30s away from social media is a great thought. how have you found it as an author in today's world? oh, it's completely different than when i started because i started, you know, years ago with a rented typewriter on my kitchen table. so that tells you how long ago it was. the world has completely changed. and i think for the better, i think it's given a lot more opportunity to people who want to write and have an access to having their words read. so i think it's been

a wonderful change. do you know, i remember the old mills and boon hidden under my my pillow as a teenager. under my pillow as a teenager. just thinking about young youth romance today and what the youth are reading. it just seems so morose, doesn't it? 0h. i don't know morose is the right word. i wrote for mills and boon back in the day, so... 0k. so what's your key message, then, for valentine's day? oh, i think the key message is to be a good person who is willing to give of themselves to others. and when you do that, it will be reciprocated. and have you had to adapt your writing style over the years? yes, i basically have. i first of all, i did start out writing those

mills and boons books, but as i grew older, you know,

affection, the beginning, because you can't believe it's happening to you. i grew up watching comic heroes likejohn cleese and spike milligan and peter cook on parkinson or on the programmes in which they were funny. monty python and so on. and the idea that what... not that one would dare to compare oneself with these gods, but that one would get a chance to work in the same place with them and... and of course, to have the fortune of things like blackadder to work with rowan atkinson, who's a comic genius like almost no—one else in the world. he's extraordinarily brilliant. and then it's baftas this weekend. will you be attending? i'm not going this year. no. i presented them for 12 years and i enjoyed it enormously. and it's been fascinating to watch the film world

change, to watch the kind of movies that are coming out front and centre. they're still wonderful and some great films, and it's a good occasion. but when you've done it as many times as i had, it's quite a relief to watch it on television rather

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