♪ "bloombergp best." donald trump has obviously decided that skill set notwithstanding, it is important to him to have equal who agree with him. >> at the end of the day, he makes his own decisions. if you decide you are not going along with his program, you are fired. >> goldman sachs sets best reach for a ceo succession. blockbusters lot bac bid for qualcomm. >> this notion of rock, as a chinese company is nonsense --

this notion of broadcom as a chinese company is nonsense. >> you need access between countries, it is called fair trade. >> they always talk about trade wars, but i think it is overdone. >> i don't think it will do anything ridiculous. host: and, canadian prime minister justin trudeau insists that his country will continue pushing back against protectionism. >> we will be firm and polite because we are canadians. host: this is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best."♪ ♪ >> hello, and welcome. i am david westin. this is bloomberg best, your weekly review of the most important business news and analysis from around the world.

on friday last week, it was reported that lloyd blankfein would step down as ceo of goldman sachs at the end of 2018. he brushed off reports on twitter, but last monday, the story came back to the four. >> more on the line of succession at goldman sachs. so solomon -- david solomon is in line to be the next ceo and harvey schwartz is stepping down. namedmonths ago, lonmin -- goldman named two chief operating officers and the obviously decided that david's element will be the next -- david solomon will be the next ceo. we believe that lloyd blankfein most down in 20 19, and that 150th anniversary of the creation of goldman sachs. solomons strength is on the strength of the investment banking side. es has the best rolodex

around. the challenge and opportunity for goldman sachs to better leverage this corporate relationships to build business across the farm, not just in investment ranking, but also on the treating side. >> this is still lloyd blankfein's term. he will step down as ceo when he wants to come on his timetable. we just know who his clear number 2 is, and it will be up to him to grow goldman beyond what we know of it now. >> broadcom ceo meeting with treasury officials today. his goal was to address u.s. government concerns that his did for qualcomm threatens national security. >> it sounded like it went well, they were able to make their cifius. sif

>> it sent shockwaves through the technology industry yesterday after issuing an executive order blocking broadcom from acquiring qualcomm. saying that it "friends to impair the national security of the united states." is this the end? >> there was no appeal process. once the president ways in and blocks the deal, that is generally it. >> if you find a company these days that doesn't have chinese connections -- this motion of broadcom is a chinese company, it is nonsense. they are a company that has a legal adjust in singapore for tax reasons -- legal address in singapore for tax reasons, but there are u.s. company in essence area i know that is trumpeted -- company in essence. it is just hogwash that they are chinese company. >> president trump announcing

his decision to fire secretary of state tillerson and replace him with cia director mike pompeo. >> we disagreed on things. when you look at the iran deal, i think it is terrible. he thought it was ok. >> it is amazing he lasted this long. you disagree with president trump on the iran deal, the paris climate accord, even the saudi blockade of qatar. it was issue after issue after issue. the president and rex tillerson did not see eye to eye and when that happens, the president usually wins. >> cannot is obviously decided that skill set notwithstanding, it is important for him to have people who agree with him on foreign policy. mike pompeo has developed a very close personal relationship with president trump, so he is now going to be secretary of state, assuming that he will be concerned by this and it, which he probably will be. >> broadcom officially dropping

its it for qualcomm after donald trumps order to block the takeover. the company issued a statement saying that -- although we are disappointed in the outcome, we will comply with the audi order. where does it leave; actors now? >> it has a chilling effect on mergers & acquisitions. - where does it leave; docto now?onductors >> they are worried about broadcom's business model. they believe that they would take all the competitive technology and hand the competitive edge to huawei. >> prime minister theresa may

and asked that the united kingdom will expel 20 russian diplomat's in response to the poisonous attack on the x spy and his daughter. >> complete disdain for the gravity of these events. >> she is trying very hard to be firm. her,as her party behind but at the same time, from what we've heard from analysts in russia, this made her look a bit soft. >> a huge chunk of the diplomatic presence from both sides, we are talking about 60 diplomats in the other capital. a substantial reduction. theresa may said it is the biggest such expulsion in years. you don't think it will affect the markets, there is not likely to be broad financial sanctions. the result is to be an effect of relief. >> the president selecting a new top economic advisor. promising a new phase of tax cuts.

wall street weighing in on gary collins replacement -- gary cihn 's replacement. >> we are not looking at something simple. anti-china and trade tariffs, larryis not the recor kurdlow. >> he cannot go in there and they, we need free trade, and forget about tariffs. given president trump's perspective on all this. at the another day, the president makes his own decisions. if he decides that you are not going with his program, you are fired. >> he is an articulate advocate for free trade, but i think his job will be to refine the white house and the president's it.da, not tha set >> he has talked of wanting to target the tariffs so that they are more effective. i think that will be his job, to --unmois on molded mass

mass of substance and turn it into something more substantive. >> multiple sources reporting that the national security adviser could the next as a potential firing from the administration in just over a week. the denial came quick and fast from the white house. press secretary secretary sanders tweeting -- general h.r. mcmaster and potus, contrary to reports have a great working relationship and there will be no changes at the nsc. operating under the assumption that at any moment, the announcement could come. >> there are only two to purchase would be earth shattering. one would we jeff sessions, a sign that trump is thinking about firing robert mueller. the other would be the chief, general kelly. otherwise, i cannot see it

having that reagan impact. >> i think there are only -- that big of an impact. sucralose trump is cutting regulations like nobody has in history, and the market is applauding that. anything that would make you think that trump was going to change that course would probably be taken as a negative in the markets. mcmaster's firing, larry kudlow coming, none of that changes the dynamic. i don't think it is anything for markets to be concerned about. >> still ahead, as you review the week on bloomberg best, canada's prime minister, just into growth -- justin trudeau explains what he is optimistic that a nafta deal be done. also, the bigger picture on global trade and more of the weeks top business headlines. mario draghi promises not to ecbk investors as it uses its way out of qe.

this is bloomberg. ♪

david: this is "bloomberg best," i am david westin. we continue with him for an economic data coming out of the u.s. and china. jonathan: inflation in line with expectations boosting futures and weighing on the dollar. how does that report this morning play into the views of the central banks? >> kiss them on track for three rate hikes this year. stableough we saw numbers, we are seeing a slow build in inflation. expanding at a more than 3% rate. it is not out of control, there is no need to panic, but there

was reason to believe that they will reach the 2% target by the end of the year. >> china's latest data goes against the narrative that the country is shifting away from old industrial drivers towards a consumption-led economy. put that in perspective for us in light of the zoning trade war between the u.s. and china? guest: we are seeing surprisingly strong numbers this morning. defying x extensions to accelerate in the first couple of months of the year. many the surface belt, we see signs of weakness -- benny the surface though, we saw tens of weakness, in particular, land --ls crumbling and domestic land sales are crumbling and domestic demand is weaker. domestic demand, if it is not there, china needs to rely even more on buyers and the united dat state. >> jenna announcing plans to

merge its banking and insurance regulators in its overhaul of major government agencies. take us through the spotlight proposals here? >> this is a major overhaul since 2003, the banking regulation has not been this kind of change in about 15 years. it overseas for thousand banks, say gives you the scale of this. what it allows the government to do is have greater oversight over 2 industries which have been responsible for a lot of growth of shadow banking. we're also hearing about from was ulster retool the pboc, given the regulatory oversight. again, it points to a stronger role for china's central bank. >> regulation was in focus for the u.s. senate, taking its most concrete path so far.

passing a bipartisan belt to ease the rolls on's mother and committee banks -- ease the rules on mueller and community banks -- on smaller committee banks. >> they want to see the rollback of dodd-frank go even further. however, you have moderate democrats, more than a dozen of them and us and it who are crucial to seeing this will through the senate, who say they will walk if the bill comes back to them with any major changes. this is going to possibly stretch out for some time. but, those differences will be armed out and it could get a little sticky. >> japanese finance ministry admitting that the names of prime minister shinzo abe, his wife and the finance minister were deleted from documents related to this land scandal. he also apologized but refused to resign. his boss suggested that that may not be enough.

>> it is a very complicated scandal. we know that the sale of public land was made to the school at about 1/7 of the market value. that looks a little strange. we also know that prime minister abe's wife has been affiliated with the school. we see no evidence directly suggesting that there was a medical pressure from the abe camp to sell the land at a discounted price. the big question is though, if the scandal continues and defense, does it start to force resignations from the abe cabinet and undermine abenomics? that is what we are waiting to see. >> mario draghi said inflation is still too low for the ecb to make any changes to its stimulus plan the ecb residents as he expects the inflation in the euro area to search by 20% in

. >> i just missed our policy will remain predictable. deviation from draghi today, from what he delivered a week ago? for extreme was more like hammering home the point of what he is planning. there were slightly tougher messages as well, he pointed out the concerns over the euro and any further strength. he said, which is quite important, but the euro has gained almost 17% over the last year over the dollar, that they are not entirely due to the areas of economic expansion. that is one area of can turn to react trade policy emanating from the u.s. is another concern. we will see if they will hold steady for now, but no surprises. >> it is too close to call in

the pennsylvania special election. it is seen as a bellwether for the 2018 midterms. the democrat conor lamb holding a lead with some absentee ballots still to be counted. when willie actually see the outcome? >> chile, they are calculating absentee ballots. of course, this is too close to call, but for all intents and purposes, it looks like conor lamb will be able to pull this out. he declared victory here last night. the house speaker addressed reporters in the nation's capital bank thomas rain that he believes the democrats will not be able to replicate the election win of conor lamb, because he was running on a republican message. democrats totally disagree. they say, look, donald trump caret the district by more than 20% -- carried the district been more than 20%. paul indicates that progressive

grassroots are fired up and they are hoping that this will be the start of a blue waves come november. >> the u.s. issuing financial sanctions against two major russian intelligence agencies and a st. petersburg-based troll farm. what are these penalties listed on the website? >> they officially lack blacklist these organizations from the u.s. financials system, and of course, the individuals. it will have some effect. important, symbolic impact, and it means that these individuals who were indicted by mueller not only when the people to travel to the u.s., but they would also face financial penalties around the world. e> south africa's

x-president is to be charged with corruption. south africa's chief prosecutor saying that is the prospect of a successful prosecution. what can we expect now? >> 16 charges. racketeering, corruption, money thedering all against former president, jacob zuma. the case is likely to continue for quite some time. you cannot do that and then move forward into the 2019 elections and then start saying that we have started stamping out corruption. this is a clear example. ♪

♪ david: welcome back to

"bloomberg best." i am david westin. we traveled to sit down with canadian prime minister, justin trudeau and met in a steel neil mill he -- stee where he made a speech on negotiations for nafta. >> canada does not have the same pressures that both u.s. and mexico have. we are happy to move forward and make progress and we are diligent about doing our homework, showing up to make sure we are delivering our creative ideas. i understand the time pressures and we are happy to accelerate so that we can accommodate them. canada is not the one creating the time pressures, we will continue to work with whatever the others want. david: if that talks were suspended, would that affect as far as you understand, the exemption. guest: if the president says that as long as there is nafta,

there will not be tariffs, we have it now. the sounds to me like we are pretty good on not getting tariffs. >> you say that we will have nafta, and have been very up beat about its possibilities. given all the conversations, all the talk from washington, why? >> nafta has been good for the u.s., good for canada and for mexico. we have been good over the past 25 years. there are always opportunities to improve it, but the level of collaboration, coordination and integration of our economies has made north america better able to take on the world. i know that there are greater opportunities for the. canada has signed trade deals recently with the european union come out with the tpp nations. we know how good trait can be for creating growth and we need to do a better job of ensuring

that everyone gets the benefits of that growth. progressivee we are with some of the ways that we are moving forward on labor standards, women's rights, to make sure that the fears people have around globalization are actually a laid by demonstrating by demonstrating that we can apply that growth for everyone. >> what does donald trump have against canada? he campaigned against mexico but he is railing against canada? i think they are so different. the u.s. sells more goods to canada every year than it does to china, jump down and to the united kingdom combined. i think they are so-- china, jd kingdom combined. the protectionist approach to the u.s., i think there are companies who have decided to the that if they cannot make a profit off pushing back against their competitors who

are in canada, they will use the protectionist approach. we just saw boeing drive the great canadian series into the arms of their biggest competitor, and now we have a great com relationship with airbus. trying toompanies challenge canada, sometimes it will backfire. this will translate into higher costs for consumers. xnadian lumber might be more and says -- more x and six, which could be bad for the realist the industry -- canadian lumber might be more x and says- - expensive. david: coming up, deutsche bank moves forward with its turnaround plans and a megamerger rocks germany's energy sector. we also revisit some compelling area cuttings to the chase on free and fair trade.

>> we needed a level playing field and the best products and services when. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> this is "bloomberg best." in the days since president trump announced he would impose tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, investors and policy makers have been concerned about retaliation and trade wars. it was a topic of conversation throughout the week on bloomberg. let's start with mark mobius, who spoke with us on "bloomberg daybreak: americas." >> you believe the market may be overpricing risks for trade wars,, so artificially depressed? >> i think all this talk about trade war is overdone.i don't see that happening .

in the u.s., the negotiations are bilateral, they are beginning to have positive effects. you see positive news coming out. so we have to be aware of that. >> >> i understand from a macro perspective it might not underscore, but it has real fx implications. how do you factor that into your investment thesis? >> what we do is we look at how much fear there is. if there is a fear of trade war, there might be opportunities. u.k., brexit in europe and so forth, there's no way they can have a real brexit because they are too closely tied. this is true of latin america and other parts of the world. >> putting aside whether there is a trade war or not, the talk of it, the rumors, effect the volatility. it is driving fx up and down. how do you handle that? do you hedge? what we do is we try to make

an assessment about whether a currency is over or undervalued and then we invest accordingly. for example, if we think a currency is undervalued, export would be the place to go. it depends on the individual company. otherwise it gets very expensive if you try to hedge the whole portfolio. >> i would much rather see our country sit-down, and with our allies, talk about how do we deal with overproduction that is generated primarily by china? yet the united states only imports about 2% of its steel from china, but china needs a global solution. the oecd has a mechanism for dealing with overproduction. that's the road i would recommend. it's quite clear that republicans are not behind this,

lawmakers on the democratic side are not behind this either. so who is this for? >> i think that the president is talking to a group of workers that are concerned about their jobs and my heart goes out to those workers, but i do think that we should deal with improving the economy and helping them take the jobs that are generated. >> president trump has made a lot about the trade surplus that china has with the u.s. more cosco consider buying u.s. agriculture food or other products as a way of addressing that in balance? >> i think costco has been trying very hard to serve that purpose, and if you recall, november last year, president xi and president trump, the signing

ceremony of a trade memorandum between cosco and adm, to buy u.s. soybeans. >> is that something you are counseling the chinese government against, using the soybean trade as part of these tensions? >> i don't think president trump will do anything ridiculous enough to really make the homework very complicated. for china, right now, i think china steel is very much encouraged to buy u.s. soybeans. that china anything would do to affect normal u.s. and china agricultural trade. >> blackstone group chairman and ceo steve schwarzman understands both sides of the u.s.-china relationship as an international investor and advisor to president trump.

10 exclusive interview with betty liu, he put the debate into perspective. >> there's no doubt that there is a serious imbalance between the u.s. and china in terms of market access and tariff levels and nontariff barriers. the part of this happens in the natural course of things. when you are a less-developed country, you have higher tariff laws. we did that in the united states in the 19th century, and it helped build the united states behind the protection of those restrictions. , withsue now is that china having such a large economy, even though per capita it is not as big as one would think, the but in terms of aggregate size it is the second biggest in the world and it is

growing at double the rate of any developed economy. it's sort of time to make that change, to make that transition. i think that the senior people in china will understand that, because it's in their interest as well as other countries. if you don't normalize this, then populism develops in the developed world and people in those populations demand some kind of action. >> and it goes all the way back to the other side. >> and everybody is a loser. >> so if i can infer from what you are saying, are you saying that there could be some justification for these tariffs here, to make it a more level playing field or no? >> what i was saying is you need a normalization of access

between countries. it is called fair trade. in other words, no one country should be keeping somebody else more or less out while they get to go in it is not fair. . >> so we need a more level playing field. >> we need a level playing field, and the best products and services win. and i think that is all that is trying to be accomplished. this will take some period of time, but responsible, intelligent people know that this is something that is going to have to be done, and it should be done in an orderly and thoughtful way, and i am hopeful that it will be the case. >> not to belabor the point, but it is not tariffs season. what other levelers could be pulled to level the playing field? >> there are lots of levers to get somebody's intention. attention hasat

been gotten, and we should be moving on to an execution phase, which would be good for everyone. ♪

>> you are watching "bloomberg best." let's return now to our round of of the week's top business stories. there's a complicated deal on the table in germany that could reshape the country's energy industry. >> yesterday, eon agreed to acquire energy from rwe. thepproved by regulators, acquisition will transform the country's energy industry as utilities grapple with the accelerated shift to renewables. this creates a company that is

focused on old-school utilities. down, you haves end up beingill the service and network provider here. rwe will take over the renewable assets of these two companies and utility assets, and rwe will own a significant stake in eon, so there will be a close link between these companies, which historically have been huge rivals. it is historically still difficult to see how this is actually going to play out, and it is a real reversal from what these two companies are saying a couple years ago when they both were spinning. become?will rve will it turn into a green asset holder? business so far has focused on conventional power now this combines to a natural, newer platform

under the roof of strong renewables. >> deutsche bank says it plans to raise as much as 1.8 billion euros in an ipo with its asset management unit. a successful offering would mark an important achievement for john cryan. he proposed the sale year ago to bolster the lenders capital. a lot rides on this successful ipo for john cryan. >> when he announced the plan, the funds raised from the ipo going to deutsche bank's coffers, i think that will move. people aren't so concerned about that anymore, but it is a key part of the plan which is to make the business more independent at a time when they are facing a lot of competitive pressures and being more

independent could have it gain scale as well. >> awarding its staff $2.7 billion in bonuses, four times higher than the previous year despite the bank third annual loss in a row. >> you might think what are they going to gain? notas a paper loss, due to necessarily operating problems, but u.s. tax reforms. that is one part of the argument. on top of that, deutsche bank has to hang on to its people. that sets the needle he has to thread, to hang onto his key revenue generators. to do that, you have to pay. >> -- plans to focus on growth outside europe. to rossi life.

they also plan to spin off him and she potential unit. >> investors are already looking beyond the m&g's been off, and maybe -- spin off. is the u.s. the next one, maybe? >> there are no plans at the current time to look at spinning further. we've always said we were in active manager of the businesses in the shape of the group, but if you look at where asia is going direction only, the ability to solve complex retirement issues will be a skill set we absolutely need, and the u.s. is the market leader in that. synergies, andf we will get a few more of those in the upcoming months.but we think it's an appropriate combination of market positions, capability, earnings, diversification, lots of good things. >> adidas has reported a 19% jump in fourth-quarter revenue, led by sales in china and north

america. is china what's really behind this positive outlook? >> last year we were at 16% topline for outstanding europe, and the three main growths were china with almost 30% and online business at 57%. those components are really what drove the company forward. we're very profitable in china, but i also want to say most contracts on the last staff are in the u.s., which makes the chinese look better than it is, because of course they get the benefit. off has set up a price range for its ipo. the filesharing company plans to sell 36 million shares between $16-$18.

that would give it a market value of about $7.1 billion. >> this is about a 25% cut from their last private value, which was $10 billion, when they last soldiers privately. that is definitely going to be on people's minds. it is not necessarily an operational indicator, but it does continue to tell the story of the differences between the premiums of private investors willing to put on private share sales and what the public market is willing to pay. what i will be keeping a watch on for this dropbox deal as they hit their roadshow before they are scheduled next week is questions around user growth, specifically paid user growth. the other thing i'm sure investors will be asking management is about churn. that is something that the public market by side will definitely want to know a little more information on. >> it's the end of an iconic

retailer, toys "r" us planning to close down u.s. operations after failed attempts to wind a buyer or reach a debt restructuring deal. you can easily burn private equity. >> a lot of people do. the data the company was never able to get out from underneath. this has been coming for a number of years, the company had big plans to do major investments, revamp parts of business, but the privately would not allow for that kind of a robust investment. it looks like private equity can largely be blamed for this. >> another company facing bankruptcy. i heart media, the owner of multiple radio stations in the u.s., file for bankruptcy protection wednesday, which would allow them to keep operating as it tries to reform. the company is more than $20 billion in debt. how do they end up with so much

debt? >> their struggles are a two-part story. it was taken private by it private equity companies act in 2008. unfortunate timing, as the crisis got underway. they loaded up about $20 billion in debt on the balance sheet. wenwhile, simultaneously, have seen a lot of technological development in the radio space. you have competitors coming online like sirius, spotify, pandora. they were struggling to make interest payments, let alone invest in the company to develop and grow. securednouncing it's $25 billion worth of battery supplies to fuel the automaker's electric vehicle push. the chairman and chief executive spoke to our very own matt miller in berlin regarding the company's focus on raw materials. >> commodities have always been part of our sourcing and procurement. we're not just the buying from

tier one manufacturers, but we try to secure the provision of raw materials at reasonable prices. we've been very successful in the past with that and will continue that strategy. naming a former president. of the company authorities are accusing her of reaping $700 million from investors through an elaborate fraud. surprising.t that she has been dealing with the sec for a while. but we are finding out the size of the fine. can you put that into some scope for us? is it bigger or smaller? >> and i to say it is quite a bit smaller than i expected. $500,000 fine for elizabeth holmes, and she has to give up control of the company and a portion of her equity stake. but compared to the size of the fraud, the complaint alleges

they raised $700 million through this scheme, through lianting to invest -- through lying to investors. it does seem pretty small, when you consider that we just saw martin shkreli, another adjacent fraudster, get convicted for seven years in prison for a loss that amounted to $10 million. >> unilever is consolidating its headquarters in the netherlands, abandoning it's a british base it has maintained for nearly a century, a blow to theresa may as the country prepares for brexit. >> they are basically moving a registration. they are taking that and moving it to the netherlands. it doesn't mean you are moving jobs, it could only be a handful of jobs. they have 7000 plus people in the u.k. that will stay here, 3000 or so in the netherlands that will stay there. the actual operating units like

the help and home businesses, will stay in the u.k., food stays in the netherlands. none of that changes. the headquarters jobs, is just the registration, but there's a lot of symbolic importance with the political backdrop. plungedrt shares after he was a blower claimed it named misleading e-commerce results and fired an executive who complained they were breaking the law. the ceo invested billions to catch up with amazon in e-commerce. what is this whistleblower claiming happened? >> this whistleblower, who was hired in 2014,'s job was basically to grow this marketplace business. this is a business that amazon also runs, where they sell their goods and walmart gets a cut of the sale. this gentleman is claiming that their improprieties in the business, it was a growth at all costs mentality.

internal controls were overlooked. when he brought these issues to light, he was at first ignored and then eventually fired. retired, ending a career as hong kong's top business mogul. he built skyscrapers, sold soap bars. the 89-year-old chairman of ck asset holdings will stay as an advisor to the group after stepping down in may. how big a deal is it that he is giving the reins to his son? >> it is a very big deal symbolically, because he actually has for decades been the richest man in hong kong, really personified a whole generation of tycoons who in the postwar years built fortunes in hong kong and spread around the region. he did announced back in 2012 that his son, victor, would be taking a bigger role in managing things. it may not be that much of a change when it comes to the management of the company's.

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>> this is an historical spread function on bloomberg. what you are looking at is the russell 2000 futures, and you would be selling the s&p 500 futures. abouthe ratio of 3:2, 240,000 long versus 800,000 short. you have the small net short position. function inhe etrv the bloomberg, evaluation function. there are a few things to point out. these blue dots tell us netflix's valuation is near a historic high. but what i want to focus on is which is a rich stock. >> there are about 30,000

functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoy showing you are favorites. maybe they will become your favorites as well. here's another function, to uic go. it will lead you to our quick takes, where you can get important context and fast insight into timely topics. here's a quick take from this week. >> ♪

♪ >> 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. thanks for watching. i'm david westin, and this is

bloomberg. ♪

mark: i'm mark crumpton. you are watching "bloomberg technology." here is a check of first word news. president trump's chief of staff has reassured presidential aides that no staff shakeup is imminent. that is according to sarah huckabee sanders. she told reporters that john kelly informed aide there are no immediate personnel changess at this time. federal regulators say a russian government hacking operation aimed at power grids in the u.s. did not compromise operations at any of the nation's nuclear power plants. corporate networks at some of the plants licensed by the nuclear regulatory commission were affected by the hack, but no safety security, or emergency functions were impacted.