♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program

is provided by... nicole: at bdo i feel like a true individual, people value me for me, they care about what i want, my needs, my career path, i matter here. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" caitríona: i am caitríona perry in washington and this is bbc "world news america." a judge temporarily blocks president trump's order to end automatic citizenship for babies born in the u.s., calling it unconstitutional. president trump threatens new

-- tariffs. the trump administration consider sending up to 10,000 more troops to the u.s.-mexico border to stop migrant crossings. ♪ hello and welcome to "world news america." a federal judge has temporarily blocked president donald trump's order to end automatic citizenship for babies born on american soil. the judge in seattle said it is blatantly unconstitutional and barred the administration from implementing it for two weeks. the case is one of several lawsuits challenging donald trump's effort to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented migrants and foreign visitors. 22 states are challenging the executive order.

our north american correspondent has the latest. >> this would be a difficult one for president trump to get through. for more than 125 years anyone born on u.s. soil does get automatic citizenship. that is regardless of their parents' immigration status. we are talking about undocumented migrants, people legally in the u.s. but temporarily, such as tourists, students, workers. trump said the amendment should be looked at differently and those who supported said it has allowed illegal immigration to flourish. one of the lawyers from washington state that brought forward the lawsuit said this bloc would not be overturned. they were confident the amendment would stand. donald trump said he would appeal. he could take it all the way to the supreme court. the supreme court has a

conservative super majority, thanks to him. therefore donald trump supporters, those who back his executive order, are hopeful the justices, if they do see the case, could potentially get it through. caitríona: the u.s. department of justice has responded to the ruling from the court in washington state and the department of justice said it will vigorously defend president trump's executive order which it said correctly interprets the 14th amendment of the u.s. constitution. they said they look forward to presenting a full argument to the court and the american people. president donald trump foreign businesses should make their products in the united states if they want to avoid tariffs. the new president sets out the terms of his so-called america first trade policy. president trump addressed the world economic forum in davos

that takes place annually in the swiss ski resort. president trump took questions from leaders of major banksment. speaking from the white house, the president took an approach. pres. trump: make your product in america and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth. we are bringing them down substantially even from the original trump tax cuts. if you do not make your product in america, very simply you will have to pay a tariff, differing amounts but a tariff, will direct billions of dollars or trillions of dollars into our treasury. caitríona: the president also said he would ask major oil producing countries to lower crude oil prices. he said lower prices would help end the russia-ukraine work.

-- russia-ukraine war. president trump spoke to the crown prince of saudi arabia and saudi state media said he pledged to invest $600 billion in the u.s. but president trump used his speech to press the saudis for $1 trillion. >> donald trump's address to the world economic forum was extraordinary. it was a collision of two worlds. one in particular here where you have executives and european leaders. they had hoped that some of the campaign rhetoric, some of the inauguration rhetoric would have made it through to actual policies or the way america would act on the world stage.

we had a curious duality from the speech. charming, come to america, set up your factories here with tax breaks, buy into a booming technological miracle that will be america under the golden age of donald trump as he sees it. but charm, offensive, also saying if you did not happen to want to set up your factories in the u.s., that is your prerogative but if you do not want to do that, be sure that your exports into the u.s. will be tariffed, and just lightly. he said that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars if not trillions. the could only be a universal tariff applied to all imports into the u.s. at different rates. but that is precisely the sort of policy mentioned in the presidential election campaign,

which did not come to fruition on day one. they hoped it would have been -- in addition there were definitely gasps in the hall when president trump said something he had repeatedly said about canada, trying to eradicate the deficit to canada, one solution would be canada would become part of the united states of america. the audience here can accept a different economic policy or immigration policy, the idea of any questioning of the sovereignty of western nations raises some very difficult conversations. some of the message about world peace, peace in the middle east and using economics to stop the war in ukraine by draining russia's war chest, that would have gone down well. a mixed bag. something designed to change the terms of trade in the world for

good, and i think it will, but in different ways or different countries. caitríona: reporting from davos. i'm joined by a professor from the massachusetts institute of technology, former chief economist and a nobel prize-winning economist. you are here to talk through some of these proposals the president trump outlined. thank you for being with us. let's start with a plan to ask opec countries to bring down the price of oil which he said would lead to the solving of russia's war with ukraine. is that a viable approach? >> assuming lowering the price of oil received by russia would put real pressure on the fiscal accounts, that is something the g7 has tried. mr. trump could double down on that if he could get opec to lower prices, it would push in the same direction. caitríona: with the opec countries do that? simon: [laughter]

i think everyone has the point that you do not want to irritate mr. trump at a moment like this. there might be some soft words but in terms of actually following through and delivering it seems unlikely. the russians are pretty tight with the core opec countries, they have worked together closely in recent years. that will take a major diplomatic effort to move opec in a meaningful way. caitríona: he said with oil price going down -- he assumed they would -- he would demand global interest rates drop immediately but that is not something in his -- simon: no. short-term interest rates are controlled by banks. long-term rates are more market determined. the concern is will there be inflation from further tax cuts or other actions that mr. trump is taking on the immigration front, for example? the bond market remains on edge.

market forces will decide what the interest rates will be. caitríona: indeed we saw the dollar index klein while he was making that speech at the world economic forum. another thing he spoke about was countries needed to make their goods in the u.s. or else face tariffs. he said that would raise possibly trillions of dollars for the u.s. how would that work as a global trade policy? simon: a tariff is a tax on your own consumers. sure, you can do that. two big problems -- one is your consumers, including mr. trump's electoral base -- will not be happy. and trade partners will retaliate. there will be taxes on american goods going to other countries and that will hurt exports and jobs. caitríona: he also pledged to lower corporate tax to 15% and that was something he tried to

do in his past administration. a direct threat to some european countries who already have low rates of corporate tax and large numbers of u.s. multinationals headquarters there. i'm thinking about big tech and big pharma companies with major operations in ireland. do you see these companies shifting back to the u.s. based on what president trump is planning? simon: i think he will have quite a fight on his hand to lower corporate taxes by more because there is not much revenue coming in in the u.s. a lot of republicans are uncomfortable with that situation. if he could really lower corporate taxes down to the level of ireland or lower, i think some multinationals would consider where they booked their profits. they like ireland -- irish workers are great -- but the people are in it for the money. taxes do affect their decisions. caitríona: on the domestic front

the tax policy that donald trump put in place in his last administration does not have very much road left to run at that is to be agreed. he seems fairly confident he will get that over the line. it is still a very controversial tax plan, instant it? -- isn't it? simon: from multiple angles. they will want some revenue or spending cuts that match or go along with a lower tax revenue that mr. trump will be proposing. where did the spending cuts come from? there are massive promises being made by mr. trump and elon musk what i do not think those are particularly real. there will be difficult conversations on capitol hill about this. caitríona: we will wait to see how that unfolds over the weeks and months ahead. professor simon johnson from mit, thank you for joining us here on bbc news. simon: thank you.

caitríona: hundreds of u.s. troops are heading to the southern border with mexico after president trump signed an executive order closing the frontier to migrants seeking asylum. 1500 troops are b -- to be stationed along the border. an internal government memo suggests the trump administration wants to send up to 10,000 troops to the border. on the other side of the break are mexican authorities have begun constructing temporary shelters in anticipation of mass u.s. deportations. the crackdown goes further. it holds refugee travel and processing until what they describe as entry of refugees alliance with the interest of the united states. this leaves thousands of refugees around the world in limbo who have been approved to come to the u.s. let's talk about some of these issues with the mayor of the

border city of laredo and a member of the democratic party. thank you for being with us on bbc news. a lot to talk about with what president trump has enacted in recent days but let's start with immigration policies. have you noticed any change in and around the laredo area? have you seen any more law enforcement, troops? >> thank you for having me. as a border mayor we are always seeing things happen along the border but a great change has not been seen other than the reduction of migrants coming to the border and that has happened before any announcement was made of the recent conversation the president had. today i had a border summit with mayors of the border cities at the south texan border. we have few lives and work here

and truly understand what is going on at the border. by living and working here we have a clear perception of that. caitríona: what are these new executive orders going to mean for those who live and work along the border? victor: we have to review that. we believe in border security, that is for sure. we think his announcement of these things is a strategy being used to change behavior. for example, sending messages to the cartels and illegal immigration. his rhetoric is something that will maybe change behavior for now. in regards to doing other things that were placed on executive orders, we still have to wait and see what the courts have to say about that. caitríona: the discussion about the dispatching of 10,000 troops to the border, would you welcome

u.s. military personnel in and around laredo? how would you like to see them used? victor: we have had the presence of national guard already for some time. if they send additional troops, we know how the border patrol works with them. it is a thing that is not foreign to us. our city is -- city government that is not partisan. we work together with both parties. we want to keep that message on. in regards to the military working with the border patrol, border patrol would take the lead and the national guard probably would just be supportive of the border patrol. caitríona: one of the executive orders designates the drug cartels as terrorist organizations. can you tell us about how the drug cartels are impacting life in and around laredo? victor: here in laredo, texas, this is one of the safest cities

in the country. we do have the situation with the drug cartels across the border and we understand this is something we do not want to see. but in order to focus on the problem, we have to work with the government's and work with what we call the formula. we call it a formula locally, which starts with respect for each government, friendship and then collaboration to look at the challenge and then come up with solutions. that is the way we get things done here locally. nationally, our governments and countries should follow the same rule. caitríona: the vast majority of people who come across the border are seeking a better life for themselves and for their families. are you concerned at all that perhaps some of these new rules, a humanitarian approach might be lost? victor: exactly.

immigration reform has long been overdue. i have always said that anything that has to do with changing the rules of immigration has to have a humanitarian component involved because we cannot just do rules and laws and avoid the humanitarian effort. we are human beings. everyone is a human being and they deserve to be treated as people. caitríona: we have been talking about president trump's trade policy, 25% tariff he is talking about levying on mexican goods. you have a lot of cross-border trade. what impact would that have on your city? victor: we have to understand large tariffs on international commerce will raise prices of everything that people buy here in the states. it is something to say it, it is another to implement it. it is a negotiating strategy to change behavior. it messes with the cartels.

to actually raise a tariff 25%, i do not think that would be a functional thing. we have to look for strategies where he wants to have people in the united states make products here and consume them here. i think the cost of doing that immediately i do not think would be functional. caitríona: ok. mayor of the border city of laredo in a texas, thank you for joining us on bbc news. victor: thank you. caitríona: a new wildfire has flared north of los angeles which is still counting the cost of the deadly wildfires from earlier this month. the hughes fire has taken hold of a large area and has scorched more than 9000 acres. more than 30,000 people have been moved from their homes. i am joined by our correspondent in l.a. what is the latest this evening?

peter: the good news is fire fighters are getting control of the hughes fire, which started in the hills behind me. they are managing to contain the fire -- it is not fully extinguished and will not be for a couple days -- but they are keeping it away from residential areas. that is the same situation involving other fires that have broken out over the last 24 hours. there was one in brentwood and one in bel air, closer to los angeles. the current theme being fire fighters are managing to jump on these fires quickly in large part because of the extra resources they currently have in greater los angeles in terms of heavy equipment and personnel brought in, aiding the firefighters to get control of the situation, still in the face of these extremely strong winds. caitríona: thank you very much for that.

one of the biggest events in the annual movie calendar, the academy awards and the oscar nominations announcement was today, postpone twice because of those very wildfires. the spanish language crime film "emilia pérez" emerged as the front runner with 13 nominations. watching this closely was our own bbc talking movies presenter, who joins us from new york. why did "emilia pérez" do so well? it is an unusual genre. tom: it certainly is an adventure, this film. it looks like nothing you have seen before. it is very engaging and entertaining and academy voters really liked it. it has an intriguing plot. it is about a mexican drug lord who seeks out gender reassignment surgery and the actor who plays that role made

academy awards history today by becoming the first openly trans actor to actually get a nomination. i think there are other reasons why the film did well. it is a spanish-language film set in mexico but shot in france. it hasn't international european feel. the membership of the academy is very international and i think they may have gone for it. the vote in los angeles might have been depressed because of the wildfires. that probably help the film. caitríona: a lot of different countries rooting for it. it got more nominations than any other but will it win best picture? tom: it is a wide-open race this year which makes it interesting in terms of a contest. i think the film that will win for best picture is "the brutalist." it is an epic, three hours and

45 minutes long. it has an intermission. it looks at the hollow promise of the american dream and that is something on the minds of people. you have donald trump going on about making america great again. this is the kind of film that ticks all the right boxes for a best picture win. it makes the academy look good because in many ways the oscar ceremony is about public relations for hollywood. it makes everyone believe hollywood makes good films the whole time, which we know is not true -- they do put out a lot of mediocre films -- but it has an amazing performance by adrien brody. caitríona: we have been talking about the wildfires in los angeles. they have been raging on for weeks. what impact will they have on the ceremony itself? tom: well, before the nominations announcement this morning the president of the

economy and the ceo took to the stage and they wanted to make sure this oscar ceremony would pay tribute to the spirit and resilience of los angeles. i think they will do that. we have yet to see quite how. it will be a bit more sober, a bit more subdued. there were five songs from movies nominated today. usually those songs are performed by a big-name performers. they will not be performed this year. it will be a toned down ceremony. it is hard for the academy to get it right. it has to be carefully calibrated because it is such a sensitive issue and people in los angeles have been so dislocated by the wildfires and he that sick people who work in the film industry. caitríona: many of those -- would be freelancers with a lot of engagement over those few

days. talk about the snubs and the surprises of the night, winners and losers as hollywood might say. tom: one of the surprises was a film made in latvia called "flo w," an animated film about eight black cat that got two nominations. it really speaks to the power of small is beautiful. it was made on a shoestring and has made history because latvia has never had an oscar nomination. it is a small country with a population of just over 2 million. they must be overjoyed. this film appealed to oscar voters in los angeles dealing with the nightmare of the fires because there is a message of inspiration and hope that probably resonated. another surprise was "the

apprentice," a film that depicts donald trump in his early years as a real estate developer in a new york. last year at donald trump trying to derail the distribution of the film by threatening legal action. i think it is a surprise that it did get nominated. hollywood liberals have been muted since trump team to power again but this film is certainly -- caitríona: we will wait to see who announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it,

"arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

geoff: good evening. i'm jeff. amna: tonight, president trump tries to convince global business leaders to invest in the u.s. by promising lower taxes and threatening tariffs if they do not.