>> coming up on "bloomberg best ," the stories that shaped the weekend business around the world. , decisions.ecisions the world was on watch for surprises as central banks made interest rate decisions. >> we learn to janet yellen is the perpetual dove. ondutch voters put populism cause while the u.s. comes down hard on hackers. and bruising battles rage on capitol hill. >> this to me is a very shortsighted budget. >> our president said this from day one on the campaign and i am

not surprised. >> in the midst of a turbulence, business and financial leaders speak out. >> we need to maintain option reality. >> and positives in new policies for u.s. automakers. >> i believe it will have a greater impact on the environment and we will be more efficient. >> it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ erik: hello and welcome. ," your "bloomberg best weekly review of the most important business news, analysis and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. any of this week's most important events have been on the calendar for months, notably central-bank policy meeting on monday, political

therises were the order of day. ♪ we have some breaking news because the congressional budget office has released its scoring, its assessment of the house gop alternative to obamacare. some of the big headlines, the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion. however, it would cause a 14 million more people to be we have some breaking news because the congressional budget uninsured in 2018. what is your snap judgment? >> this is a win, the fact that they are producing the federal deficits by $337 billion. that is something the white house will be pushing for. again, the fact that it would increase the number of people who are currently in short, they would be uninsured, that is a number the democrats are going to pounce on. without question, the fact that they are saying it would reduce the federal deficit is the take away for the white house. >> if you will back federal

subsidies for health insurance by a lot, as this bill would, there are two natural consequences. one is fewer people have health insurance and the other is the government saves money. in that sense, cbo's estimate should not be surprising to anyone. ♪ brenton -- >> britain is headed for another vote on brexit. >> i will seek the authority of the scottish parliament on the details of a section 30 order. >> medium-sized deal or not so big deal? cost -- is wanting the call another referendum. >> she is nothing if not a canny politician. she will not make that kind of call, she is confident she can win this. for may, it will not stop brexit article 50, but it could complicate things significantly for her. it will give the european commission that ammunition to

say look at the divisions in your own country. i think this is a lot more than an empty threat. ♪ >> the prime minister is preparing to trigger brexit in the last week of march according to two officials familiar with the plans. legislation toed invoke article 50 of the lisbon treaty. >> we remain on track with the timetable i set forth six months ago. i will notify when i formally 50 >>.ed article bloomberg has been told by officials familiar with the plan that the end of the month is still on track and one official said the most likely date between march the seventh and 27-30.0, -- march the house of commons rejected the amendment put forward by the house of lords.

>> let's go to kathleen hays at the federal reserve in washington. >> federal reserve raises .enchmark to 0.75% the president in minneapolis said he didn't want to hike the key rate. hikes this year, but it is a stronger consensus. >> we continue to respect that the ongoing strength of the economy will warn gradual increases in the federal funds rate to achieve and maintain our objectives. >> what did you learn in the press conference? >> not much. we learned that janet yellen is the perpetual dove, even when rather hawkish in terms of full employment and employment growth and stock market at an all-time heat. -- peak. i don't think that is

inappropriate, i think because of the higher leverage in the u.s. economy and global economy, the global banks have to proceed in a gradual way. she is a dove and that is why the markets reacted as they did. kepte bank of dubai unchanged today. they are maintaining the pace of asset purchases. how much creative can governor kuroda get? he decides to cap at 10 year yields. what does 2017 bring? >> he probably feels that the ball should be in the court of the corporate side, not his side. he is not a magician that can bring out rabbits all the time. their deep pocket is not there is much as it used to be. you can see the reaction of the financial market, it is showing signs that boj is running out of cards. >> a record high as the pound

declines, moments away from the bank of england's monetary decision. a decision that leaves rates unchanged at 0.2 5%, and asset purchase program docketed at $445 billion. kristen forms of votes for a 25 basis point interest rate hike. the bank of england with rates unchanged. >> what i am surprised about from these minutes is the discussion about the survey evidence of activity was almost lost over. there was no like evidence. we know there has been. we have seen business investments intentions fallen off sharply. not as much as we thought they would. i think we are going to see the data start to roll over. ♪ >> historically deep cuts, that is what president trump is proposing in his legit.

the president so-called skinny budget was released overnight and would touch almost every federal agency and program. >> president trump wants to boost military spending by $54 billion and he would look to offset that increase by cutting federal -- several key agencies. to move awayng from some of the domestic priorities and move to protecting us. again, our president said this from a one on the campaign and i'm not surprised. >> this to me is a very shortsighted budget. i heard my friend mick mulvaney say this morning that this was taken from president trump's campaign speeches. if that is what he got out of trump's campaign speeches, he ought to be a translator at the united nations, because i don't think anyone can get this out of what he campaigned on. ♪ >> president trump and angela merkel are meeting for the first

time in washington, d.c. there is concerned about a u.s. ship toward protectionism. -- shift toward protectionism. >> you could not have two more polar opposite global leaders in terms of immigration and global immigration regarding the middle east than angela merkel and president donald trump. a lot of attention focused day trade policy as well as immigration. >> i think her main mission -- message really is, don't look at trade as a zero-sum game. she has said in various ways in the last few weeks in the buildup, and ever since trump won the election. it is seen in germany as a protectionist agenda. >> i think it is a clever move to bring the ceos of bmw, siemens and tesla with her. all three of them stand for german companies and investment in the united states that add up to more than 600,000 jobs u.s..

if you start to impose a border adjustment tax or any other measures, you are also at risk to lose a good chunk of that tradition. i think that is a language, someone that is constantly bragging about his business skills, would understand. ♪ erik: still ahead as we review in thek, and election netherlands flipped the script on european populism while another candidate stumbles in the french presidential race. plus, axel weber tells us what kind of brexit he is expecting . autonomous cars are coming down the pipe, and intel pays a premium to enter the fast lane. >> this deal is immediately accretive to our earnings per share. erik: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ this is "bloomberg best." let's continue our local tour of the week's top business stories with a big deal. one of silicon valley's stalwarts went shopping in israel. dominate the to technology for self driving valued atl in a deal $15 billion cute shares are up a whopping 29%. it is insanely expensive. this company is paying $15 billion. it is a free cash flowing happening, it is no snapchat, but they are paying through the nose for the company because it is the leader in this emerging field of automated driving, self driving cars. it is a very high price tag for

this company, but that is what intel thinks it has to do to jump start their efforts here. >> we knew this was a hot space. gathering of these technologies and building on this platform was important. deal, although large is immediately accretive's to our earnings per share and our free cash flow. it was a good deal from that perspective for intel. ♪ >> hsbc has named mark tucker as its chairman. he will succeed douglas flint from october 1. what more do we know at this point? >> mark tucker will be the first external higher to take on the role of chairman and hsbc. when hsbc said they were looking for replacements for douglas flint, they had said there would be an external higher and a nonexecutive role. we knew that was what they were looking for.

for severalig ceo years. comes into this role as chairman, and he will have to find a replacement for the ceo, who is also on the way out. >> we're talking of course about the slew of chatter, the coming out oft is investment and factory investment. >> more surprising from china. the retail sales number increa sing 9.5%. the estimates have been 10.6% over that period. it is not that growth, but it compares to double digit growth in previous years. >> do you think we are reaching a peak when it comes to china's growth stabilization? pbi, yes. comes to

i don't think it will rise much further because what is happening was global commodity prices. it will be hard enough to raise interest rates further, but we are not far from the peak. ♪ shiv -- talk about to toshiba. >> they made the announcement to delay the release of third-quarter earnings for a second time. remind is what is causing the delay. >> today was supposed to be the day that the company finally reported its earnings for the quarter ending in december. instead, it's a can't produce those results and saw an extension of a few more weeks to calculate the numbers. at the same time, is looking to sell a majority stake in westinghouse. they are trying to get around how deep the problems are with the nuclear unit. it has been struggling to

complete nuclear plant construction budgets in the united states, years behind schedule right now. company says it will need to take a write-down of probably about $6 billion, it could be bigger than that. its auditors will not sign off on the books. the company is investigating whether management at westinghouse exerted undue pressure as they try to cut a deal to buy nuclear construction. they have problems there trying to get their hands around. ♪ >> bank of england deputy governor has quit. parliamentary committee said she did not meet the standards required for the role. lawmakers were concerned that she did not can -- reveals that her brother works at barclays. give us a sense of how embarrassing this is for the bank of england. >> this is quite uncomfortable and embarrassing. this is one of the cases where it is more perception than actual conflict of interest. lawmakers have said they don't

believe she the literally misled anyone with the connection to barclays. there has not actually been a conflict of interest while she has been chief operating officer, but now that she is deputy governor, the standards that they expect for that position machine is not met those. that is why they said she did not meet the standards. because she was essentially the pic? >> i think it is a case of she was an appointment by mark carney and is seen as being close to mark carney, and he is using a loyal ally. ♪ >> valeant shares are down in the premarket as activist investor bill ackerman cuts his losses. he is cashing out and makes the challenges faced by the company more difficult than before. we've learned he is sold his entire steak at a loss and is leaving the board. how much of the story is about

bill ackman, and how much is about hedge funds more broadly? >> i think it is both. i think bill ackman has built up -- he is a polarizing figure, even among activist investors, which is a polarizing category of investors. he makes these very big bets and he is very outspoken and there have been a number of situations where he has been criticized for holding on to long or letting his ego get in the way and not wanting to give up on something that arguably should've been given up a lot longer go. this could be another one of those situations. ♪ >> the u.s. government is pointing the finger at russia for another high-profile cyber attend -- attack. charging a pair of criminal hackers in a wide-ranging scheme in a breach at yahoo! >> this is the russia equivalent doj release

against china. helps them be much more effective than they might be on their own, and a devastating picture of what happened inside yahoo! these guys got access to internal systems that allow them encryptedly create code on the machines and access any of the users in mail accounts anytime you wanted over a period of years. president trump's second travel ban has been locked in a court in hawaii. this is the second, another defeat. tell us what led up to the ruling today. >> the attorney general of hawaii, supported by a number of other agencies across the country, argued that the travel ban is unconstitutional because despite of the resistance --

revisions to the order, the impetus remains rhetoric from the campaign, where the president called for a muslim ban and registry. the questions raised by the judge is why he should consider those arguments. justice department was not able to sway him to ignore them, and he ruled to ban the travel ban. >> let's turn to the g-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in germany. trade top of the agenda. >> for those gathered here, trade is not normally central to the agenda that it has become a sticking point in coming up with assure thetor to g-20 is a cohesive group. some have faced off over the word fare, whether global trade should be rules spaced or just

open and free. the chinese do not want fair, the u.s. and others have come up with compromises, but nobody has agreed on anything and it will be a major topic of discussion this afternoon. >> the men at the center of everything, steve mnuchin, how is he doing so far? >> so far in public he is doing ok. is talking about corporation, getting along with his colleagues. we've heard other finance ministers describe the negotiations between their deputies and u.s. officials as extremely difficult. ♪

♪ erik: welcome back to "bloomberg best." at a meeting with auto executives in michigan this week, president donald trump announced he had ordered a

midterm review of industry regulations, including fuel standards put in place by the obama administration. david westin discussed the implications with gm chairman mary barra. important it is so that we look at all the progress that has been made in the last five years in technology, how consumer trends have changed and look at the whole environment. because we can do things that are going to improve the environment, are going to not threaten jobs. thatnk we can do things will create jobs and strengthen the economy, but do the right thing for the environment. these are not at odds. we can be more effective, more efficient and i think it will have a greater impact on the environment. >> this is something you and your colleagues asked for. to go back and take another look at this. the regulations go to 2025. at what point, if they had not changed the pack, would gm have

to change? be able to give customers the choice we give them today. they choose if they are going to buy an suv or an electric vehicle. we are full range. we are continuing to invest in the chevrolet volt ev. we are very proud of it and it is doing well. we are making investments to have the right products. there is more change happening right now in the industry that has happened in the last 50 years. when you look at the legislation five years ago, before we were even talking about autonomous the way we talk about it now. data drivenuse, be and look at what are the right standards, how can we improve the environment and the most effective way, i think makes all the sense and is what we agreed to back in 2012. thes there a version of border adjustment tax that general motors could live with? >> i think your point is, it

depends on what exactly is it. we don't know. want -- we are a long lead, high capital business so we need to understand what the rules are going to be so we can make smart investment. sometimes the investments we put 20 years in in 10, position. we need to find out the positions we can support our company in this new tax environment. i think there is a lot to be learned yet and we are waiting to understand it. ♪ erik: coming up on "bloomberg best," more of the weeks compelling conversations. ubs says european integration is still at risk and a mexican competitor is holding nothing back and talking about donald trump. moves towardand another vote on independence, a leading politicians of the economy should hold well on its own. >> there is an underlying

strength in the scottish parliament based on bravery. erik: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ the issue of housing affordability and prices is the mismatch between supply and demand. it is not the function of an investor credit bubble. they are real prices and real values, and we are putting downward pressure on those rising prices by addressing the supply challenges and working with state governments to achieve that. doing inxactly are you terms of creating the right conditions where more supply comes on? >> that is what we will outline in our budget in may.

what we will be outlining our measures right across the housing affordability spectrum. morrisont was scott discussing government efforts to stabilize his nations red-hot property market. an exclusive interview with bloomberg markets: asia. now as scotland considers a referendum on independence, its leaders must evaluate prospects for economic success outside the united kingdom. guy johnson discussed that topic this week with scottish first minister -- >> there is an underlying strength based on brains. scotland has more universities in the top 200 than any other country, except one. >> are you certain scotland could rejoin the european union? >> i think what you'll find is that over the next few months a distinct perspective will open

up for scotland and europe. i think you will see how scotland can secure its position , and then we will have a friendly reception across europe. scotland has many, many friends in europe. the u.k. has virtually none left. in 2014, as first minister of scotland -- i couldn't. meeting in december with jean-claude juncker, there is an attitude change because people know scotland is pro-european and are exasperated with the government in london reckless brexit course. >> you discussed it? >> we did not discuss scotland joining th europe.

an rules are you have to be exchange-rate mechanism for two years before you can apply to join the euro, and being a mechanism is a voluntary act. that is why sweden is not in the euro. scotlanduldn't expect to expect to join the single currency? >> correct. >> full membership? transitional membership? logic ofsee, but the -- that referendum is is what will emerge over the next few months. the negotiations about scotland will be a good deal easier than the negotiations in london on brexit. leaders fromal

across the eurozone came together at events around g-20 finance ministers. we caught up with them.

-- i think what we need to do is manage risks. we have to be prepared for every eventuality, so in terms of planning, we need to look into these options. the key is not to take a certain decision. the key is to maintain as much as we can functionality, so we do not want to take decisions we regret. at the same time, we cannot afford to wait with our decisions, so for us, a key point will be the triggering of the article 50, which at that exit of britain and irreversible trajectory for the next two years, then we look markethopeful we can be

access continues. i think it would not continue on the basis of the old arrangement. britain needs a new arrangement with the eu. any grandfathering except for a short transition time is not in my expectations. >> how likely is it that we that andagreement on when you expect it will be? questions,e lots of but most importantly, let me state that it is my understanding and feeling that these meetings keep on narrowing , discussing things, and all those meetings have progress, so it is important that we have a global agreement. it would be good for the banking industry. the banking industry wants clarity and certainty and regulation, so we as regulators, we are clearly under pressure to produce over time an agreement,

to have an agreement, you need to compromise. we need to look for common ground from a german perspective. we are looking for common ground with everybody else, and i am confident we will have an agreement in due course, but we are under no time pressure. erik: as the u.s. and mexico navigate diplomatic challenges, the early front runner in the year's presidential election has some harsh words for donald trump. i sat down with him in new york this week, and he blasted trump's campaign of hatred against mexican immigrants. --, but alsolutely strident, confrontational. that policy is not good for the united states, and it is not good for the world. becauset good for him if he continues like this, he will lose the next election.

he will not be reelected. with that that type of president, how can mexico renegotiate the free trade agreement, nafta? , without beings disrespectful to the president of the united states donald trump. independence, with sovereignty commit because mexico is not a colony of any foreign government. trump insists on imposing tariffs on imports, how should the mexican government respond? >> we have to appeal to the andrnational trade bodies pursue complaints. it donald trump continues with

his hate campaign against mexican migrants, when those things happen, we will go to the united nations and report the united states government for violations of human rights and racial discrimination. ♪

watching are "bloomberg best". i am erik schatzker. close attention to elections in the netherlands of this week, as well as drama and france's presidential campaign. >> let's talk about france. france, fillon denied any

wrongdoing and announce the investigation as a plot by his political opponents. is this enough to sink him? >> probably not. we knew this was coming. fillon gave a press conference saying he had been summoned in this case of hiring family members as parliamentary aids. he said he expected to be charged after that investigation. i think that damage has already been done. he was the front runner before the revelations about this affair broke. back quiteing quit a bit. 7 wouldn't make the may runoff. he has to get these revelations behind him. that's always spoken about for the past month. liberalism has won the day lists, a voteopulac

against extreme party. parties will form a government here in the hague. the liberals, they are the victors . of thect the formation government, but it could take up to 200 days. was up, but boat still barely 12% of the vote here. the greens did well, nearly quadrupling their seats up to the rainmakerd be here. the question for markets is half the dutch built this firewall? right?e this dutch election was

always going to be a good test to see which way the populist wind was blowing. in thehe first test region, and it looks like those strong as we as thought they would be. the euro has rebounded aggressively. clears andtical mist people realize they were too worried about the risk of populism in europe, the euro is likely to grind higher this year and we may see ecb tightening in the second half of the year once those political clouds clear, giving an outlet to the single currency. >> what do you think as far as the reaction we have seen in the bond market? is this a sigh of relief? >> certainly we are seeing a bit of relief on the results and think when you try to extrapolate this and

transfer it to rance, then the two are very different, so i think it is a bit of a relief today. i think the market will start to focus on france again. investors have learned from brexit and the u.s. election that the risks are there and you have to focus on the tail risks as well. relations between the u.s. and asia were also in the spotlight this week with rex tillerson the secretary of state making his first official trip to japan, south korea -- >> robert -- the said he agreed with the president's assertion that the u.s. could do better negotiating deals. he mentioned china as a key issue for the u.s. pick for u.s. trade

representative has plenty to say on china. shares many similar views with trump about china and things trump will be able to shake things up. >> between now and the time i leave, and you will say you were right. he really will change the paradigm on china. i believe he will change the paradigm on china. if you look at our problems, china is right up there. also said the u.s. needs imaginative solutions on trade litigation. the debby keough is not effective and china's overcapacity in steel and aluminum is troubling. known as a tough negotiator, and experienced one, so if he does get confirmed, it will be an interesting argument between him and china on how things will pan out in terms of trade. we have the chinese premier

speaking right now at a press conference in beijing. he is wrapping up his two weeks of political pageantry, the parliamentary session known as the national people's congress. china and the united states should expand their they tenderests, that to have inevitably agreement and disagreement, though there are strong prospects when it comes to sino-u.s. cooperation. also saying the one china policy is the foundation of china-u.s. ties. >> it is interesting he highlighted the one china policy. he talked about it as the foundation. reliefts to this site of that happen in china after that phone call between the two bank presidents, where trump did say he would support the one china policy, asked previously, questioning whether that should be part of bargaining for the u.s. when it approaches trade with china. the fact trump came out and said

we will stick to the one china policy, from the chinese perspective, that is the bedrock now and everything else they can move things forward. state rexry of tillerson in tokyo ahead of talks with prime minister shinzo abe and his japanese counterpart. >> we are outside the ministry of foreign affairs where talks will happen later this afternoon, as well as a meeting with prime minister shinzo abe. theh korea will be top of agenda, also issues with china, but don't forget about japan. the united states is withdrawing from the tpp and there have been calls by president trump to japan shoulder a bigger load for its defense bill, the defense blanket that the united states provides. japan'smeeting with finance minister, rex tillerson address the escalation of the

north korean program and how he helps china can rain that in. >> we look to china to implement the sanctions called for in the united nations resolutions. we will be having discussions with china as to further actions they might consider taking that would be helpful to bringing north korea to a different attitude about its future need for nuclear weapons. >> what is he proposing here? how big of a chain in tone and policy is he proposing towards north korea? >> frankly i don't hear anything different. this is standard u.s. policy with respect to china and north korea. we pressure the chinese a lot. we think the chinese have the most leverage on north korea. nothing has happened. andex tillerson is just south korea. we saw him land a little while ago. north korea is a major headache for this region. what needs to be done which is different? thehe policy options for

united states are limited other than trying to apply leverage to china. this trip i'm afraid were not see any significant breakthroughs. this is a fact-finding mission. he will be cautious, careful, and tried to establish the parameters of the u.s.-china relationship. got a look aton north korea today and had a warning for the regime. demilitarized zone between north korea and south korea. tillerson says the u.s. is considering all alternatives to counter north korea's threat. he did not rule out a preemptive strike. >> all the options are on the table. certainly we do not want things to get to a military conflict. quite clear in that in our communications. if north korea takes actions that threaten south korea or our own forces, then it will be met with an appropriate response. ♪

>> the weather, it is pretty cold. the bloomberg has all kinds of different tools to examine the weather, including fancy weather maps. you can toggle between temperature. it will be really called. precipitation, there will be a a lot of it in our area. a lot of different ways to explore the storm. if your stock in the office and sleeping under your desk and you want to see what is going on with the weather, type it in. erik: there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoyed showing you our favorites on bloomberg television or it may be they will become your favorites. here is another function you .ill find useful, quic

it takes you to our quick takes where you can get comments and insight into timely topics. this week's quick take examines the republican proposal to replace obamacare. unbelievably complex subject come nobody knew health care could be so complicated. ♪ president donald trump the republican-controlled congress rolled in on day one with an imperative to repeal and replace the affordable care act, or as the rest of us call it, obamacare. 45 days into the administration, house republicans took a 1st avenue, calling it the american health care act. >> this is the american health care act. >> or the world's greatest health care plan of 2017. while paul ryan expected the bill would cause a rift with democrats, he is expressing one with republicans as well. the affordable care act was signed into law in 2010 and took full effect in late 2013. under obamacare, 20 million gain

coverage, the largest through medicaid. the uninsured rate fell by half. the number of people signing up to the exchanges keeps growing. it was an until took office and the republicans move to repeal it, that obamacare became more popular. likeny, it's looking more repeal and revise. the bill keeps the popular under 26 provision and pre-existing conditions policy. certain republicans are livid that he gives tax credits to make insurance more affordable. although based on agents that of income, and it leaves medicaid expansion in place. millions of americans don't like what they see. isthe grand daddy measure the repeal of obamacare's least popular provision, the individual mandate. >> we are doing away with this obamacare penalty.

the tax has been such a burden on many americans. >> the main color of obamacare, the individual mandate, requires every individual to have qualifying health coverage or face a tax penalty. it would replace the mandate with continuous coverage. people can choose to not buy insurance come instead pay higher premiums if they pay later. >> we are saving families that have been caught in the death spiral that is obamacare. individualing the mandate could produce the death spiral many republicans of fear, when the healthiest drop out and leave behind a sicker population. insurers raise premiums, which forces out people, making the remain insured population sicker and so on. nonpartisan congressional budget office does not predict the death spiral, but for dekes 24 million americans would lose health insurance within a decade

, but trimmed $337 billion from the deficit. many obstacles remain to the passage. trump has urged wayward conservatives and moderates to get in line for what is sure to be a bitter fight for approval. complicated process, but it is actually very simple. it is called good health care. erik: that was just one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. you can also find them at bloomberg.com, along with all the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be all for "bloomberg best" this week. thank you for watching. i am erik schatzker. this is bloomberg. ♪

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