the british chambers of commerce has accused theresa may of "continued ambiguity". negotiator urged mrs may's government to clarify its position. michael barnier said without a customs union and outside the single market, barriers to trade are inevitable. one vital sector that wants clarity is services. it accounts for 45% of the uk's total exports, in everything from financial services, it, design, tourism, education, accountancy and law. it makes britain the world's second—largest exporter after the us. and recruiters are nervous, too. the number of london jobs available in december fell a dramatic 52% month—on—month, a far bigger drop than the same month in previous years, according to morgan mckinley. anastassia beliakova is head of trade policy from the british chambers of commerce. we outline some issues that you as an organisation had of this open letter to theresa may and her government. you are asking for a united party to deliver clarity, easier said than done. we know the political environment is challenging and businesses are unaware of the complexity of

that is according to the british chambers of commerce.an open letter to theresa may come at warned that there was quote, no room for continued ambiguity as companies try to make decisions for the future. global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. you can find more stories on the bloomberg at top . checking in on the market action in asia, we do see asian stocks a three-dayhalting drop. closing up, just there, after jumping more than 3%. korean stocks are seeing losses. you have banks and property players dragging in shanghai. let's check in on one of the casualties, that is -- real estate. china ever grand bucking the that move -- china evergrande bucking the that move. over in tokyo, electronics with the biggest boost. led gains. the recovery in asian stocks has shown signs of faltering, even after u.s. stocks faced a turnaround yesterday. the dow jones climbed by over 600 points. the house of representatives passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the u.s. government ope

praise rare praise that is from business groups including the confederation of british industry and the british chamber of commerce. and sticking with the united kingdom retail sales for january in the u.k. were lower than expected growing only point one percent when expectations were for half a percent year over year u.k. retail sales were up one point six percent also far below expectations for two point six percent yearly increase the outliers in retail show that food sales took a large drop while sporting equipment sportswear toys and games all increased by eleven percent. the seventh round of talks to renegotiate the north american free trade agreement or nafta have begun but the latest news in the us mexico relationship there are more likely to make not much progress and recent months mexico and u.s. diplomats had worked behind the scenes to lower tensions that had been stoked by president donald trump's campaign pledge to complete a wall along the us mexico border and his demand that mexico pay the cost trump demands scuttled a trip from the mexican president and pena nieto who had planned to come here last

praise rare praise that is from business groups including the confederation of british industry and the british chamber of commerce. and sticking with the united kingdom retail sales for january in the u.k. were lower than expected growing only point one percent when expectations were for half a percent year over year u.k. retail sales were up one point six percent also far below expectations for two point six percent yearly increase the outliers in retail show that food sales took a large drop while sporting equipment sportswear toys and games all increased by eleven percent. the seventh round of talks to renegotiate the north american free trade agreement or nafta have begun but the latest news in the us mexico relationship there are more likely to make not much progress and recent months mexico and u.s. diplomats had worked behind the scenes to lower tensions that had been stoked by president donald trump's campaign pledge to complete a wall along the us mexico border and his demand that mexico pay the cost trump demands scuttled a trip from the mexican president and repay pena nieto who had planned to come her

today the british chamber of commerce has written to the prime minister calling for more clarity, urging statement of intent on brexit. and this morning the eu has published a draft section of the final withdrawal agreement, saying they should be a mechanism for allowing the eu to suspend certain benefits of single market membership during the transition period. the uk government has sought to play that down, this is a draft document, they say, produced by the eu that simply reflects the stated directives. both sides are hoping to be able to reach agreement on the terms of the implementation or transition period by the time they meet at the european council summit in march. we're joined now from westminster by the head of trade policy at the british chamber of commerce anastassia beliakova. they have written a letter to the prime minister to say that patience is wearing thin and businesses want to know what is going on. what impact is this having, this lack of certainty in practical terms on your members? this is impacting business confidence which in turn is impacting investment decisio

the british chambers of commerce are demanding more clarity about the government's brexit plans.orts. the prime minister is fast approaching crunch time. her government must decide what brexit will really mean. it's notjust brussels, but mps and businesses too who want to know in which direction the country is heading. small businesses and large firms need greater clarity from the government about how it's going to approach the upcoming negotiations. businesses are trying to plan. they are thinking about investment and they are having a hard time drawing conclusions from the current picture. questions to the prime minister. she says a transition period will give businesses certainty. beyond that, the government wants frictionless trade, all subject of course to negotiations. we will be robust in oui’ negotiations. we will be robust in our arguments, negotiations. we will be robust in oui’ arguments, as negotiations. we will be robust in our arguments, as i have said from the beginning. we will hear noises off and all sorts of things being said about positions that are being taken

business groups have called for urgent government action to address uncertainty with the british chambers of commerceatience is wearing thin. we are joined their patience is wearing thin. we arejoined now from their patience is wearing thin. we are joined now from amsterdam their patience is wearing thin. we arejoined now from amsterdam by touch mep paul tang this week described theresa may's brexit strategy as stupidity, and from brussels by conservative mep dan dalton. welcome to you both. paul tang, first, do you regret calling theresa may's strategy on brexit stupidity? well, no. i still think it is stupid. there are huge problems with exiting and not the eu but the customs union. the customs unions will lead to a hard border, leaving the customs union will lead toa leaving the customs union will lead to a hard border between ireland and northern ireland that has been an easy before. moreover, it will hamper the trades and transport of goods and it will take a big swing at the factories in england. it will hit the blue—collar workers that still work in factories. they are the ones who pay and i t

british chambers of commerce dismissed this as all politics.acknowledgement that there is reliance on big business with the labour party feeling old. the cbi had this morning about businesses having their eyes wide open on labour's overall rhetoric on renationalisation. some of the things labour is asking for, about clarifications to state aid, competition rules, privatisation, and so on, reflect domestic policies. cherry picking from the eu the things they wouldn't be able to do but would like to do. in terms of the practical differences, customs union versus no customs union. how big a deal is this? everybody says they will trade to be as frictionless as possible. it is about how you want to achieve that and how realistic that is. the government wants to be able to strike its own trade deals. it wants to rely on managed divergence. more divergence in some areas than others to stay as close as possible to the eu to allow it to get a favourable trade deal. is that cherry picking? they claim it might be. they talked about having a say in trade d

joining me now isjohn longworth, former director general of the british chambers of commerce and co—chairmanxit campaign group for a clean brexit. a very good evening to you. thanks for coming in. what is your perspective on this document, with the possibility of a transition period going beyond 2020?“ the possibility of a transition period going beyond 2020? if the document is accurate, and the government have poured cold water on that to some degree, it would be very worrisome, particularly since a long transition period is entirely unnecessary and very dangerous for the uk, it would prevent us from crystallising the real benefits of brexit. it is there to smooth the transition? entirely unnecessary. what the government needs to do in order to give business confidence and smooth the transition period, smooth the transition to brexit britain, is to set out what to post brexit britain will apply, set out very clearly what the government policy will be to make us richer than we would otherwise have been, to say we will trade the world on world trade organisation rules and offer the european u

and this morning the body that represents 75,000 businesses in the uk, the british chambers of commercetics, habit of linguistic dexterity. to put it bluntly, ye olde the fudge. that is how everyone can rally behind a position. we've had a lot of that. mrs may has repeatedly saying she wants a bespoke deal or a deep and special relationship. that's fine and dandy and everyone can say i agree. but we are getting to the stage when we are actually going to have to spit out what it is that we want. we're now getting really close to the cusp of the negotiations. when we are going to have to start pencilling some detail. that is the two days of meeting going on today and designed to begin to nail down. you are right, there is incredible frustration so far at the lack of clarity. not just from frustration so far at the lack of clarity. notjust from the business community but on her own benches, have a listen to the former tory chancellor, kenneth clarke. i wished downing street spokesmen would shut up sometimes, because they put out completely meaningless statements. apparently it's going to b

and there's pressure on the prime minister too from business leaders, the british chambers of commercelex forsyth reports the prime minister is fast approaching crunch time. her government must decide what brexit will really mean. it's not just brussels, but mps and businesses too who want to know in which direction the country is heading. small businesses and large firms need greater clarity from government about how it's going to approach the upcoming negotiations. businesses are trying to plan. they are thinking about investment and they are having a hard time drawing conclusions from the current picture. questions to the prime minister. she says a transition period will give businesses certainty. beyond that, the government wants frictionless trade, all subject of course to negotiations. we will be robust in our arguments, as i have said from the beginning. we will hear noises off and all sorts of things being said about positions that are being taken. what matters is the positions we take in the negotiations as we negotiate the best deal. but ministers meeting here today and tomor

and there's pressure on the prime minister too from business leaders — the british chambers of commercenment's brexit plans. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth reports. the prime minister is fast approaching crunch time. her government must decide what brexit will really mean. it is notjust brussels, but mps and businesses too who want to know in which direction the country is heading. small businesses and large firms really do need some greater clarity from government about how it is going to approach the upcoming negotiations. businesses are trying to plan. they are thinking about investments and they're having a hard time drawing conclusions from the current picture. questions to the prime minister. she says the transition period will give businesses certainty. beyond that, the government wants frictionless trade. all subject, of course, to negotiations. and we will be robust in our arguments as i have said right from the very beginning. we will hear noises off, we will hear all sorts of things being said about positions that are being taken. what matters is the positions that

million on margin tied to a -- betty: coming up on the next half hour, we talked to the british chamber of commerce prime minister theresa may can use her tour -- conti nues her tour of china. ♪ >> 8:00 a.m. in hong kong, live from bloomberg's asia headquarters. welcome to daybreak asia. saless iphone super cycle of the mid-quarter were below estimates, although the 10 did quite well. it really was amazon go after it line.he bottom alexa also beat expectations. betty: i'm in new york 7:00 p.m. this thursday. planning for the post-brexit li. split saying that the from europe should have no adverse effects. a chinese battery maker that plans to leave tesla in the slow lane. ♪ ♪ yvonne: we have been talking about this slew of tech earnings on tap. m,ems it was like the a tea they were calling it. split from europe should have no adverseapple, the iphone x concn seems to be alleviated for now. could be a good day fo suppliers. >> let's have a look at the open in south korea and japan. nikknes, especially on the ei 225. we have been talking about the big tech earnings overnight. then essentially coming

that is according to the british chambers of commerce. roomed there for continued ambiguity as companies tried to make decisions for the future. minister as the prime headed into talks with her cabinet over the negotiating positions on key issues such as the customs union. billionaire brexit becker michael ensnare said he's cautiously optimistic. he made the comments in an exclusive interview with bloomberg's tracy alloway. >> always been a tough situation. wasreason i was for brexit because of sovereignty. that is moving forward. it is a very tough job. to say i'm pleased is overstating it. it is moving forward. nejra: the u.k. prime minister never toher cabinet compromise over their demands on the european union. according to officials, theresa may is adamant that britain must aim high. this as her inner circle struggles to hammer out what kind of trading relationship to seek. that is your weekly brexit bulletin. francine: we are just getting some u.k. data. worse than expected. down 1.3% production for the month of december, month on m

separately, the british chambers of commerce has written to theresa may calling for more clarity on theul rocket, the falcon heavy, has successfully launched for the first time in florida. american billionaire elon musk, whose company spacex is behind the project, has called the near flawless blast—off a game changer. and in sport, england need to keep taking wickets like this to prevent australia chasing down 156 to win the tri— series match in hobart —— hobart. british sprinter nigel lavigne has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. he has not competed since he broke his pelvis ina competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash last january. and jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics in the netherlands. they have got married, had a baby and jason has briefly retired since rio. i'll be back with all of those stories soon. the uk could adopt a deposit—based system for recycling plastic bottles, after a ministerial delegation visited norway to see how a scheme there operates. the consumer pays a deposit then retu

however the chief economist from the british chamber of commerce has zeroed in on this widening uk tradeo uk gdp growth in the near term, he says, contribution to uk gdp growth in the nearterm, he says, could contribution to uk gdp growth in the near term, he says, could be limited at best. pretty damning therefrom the bcc. to get more on this let me bring in thomas cole, a former trade negotiator and head of research policy at open britain. what did you make of those numbers? the key thing is that it shows again the importance of the eu 27 market for imports and exports have the uk. when we look at the 2017 figures and compare them with 2016 the netherlands is now are more important source of uk goods imported to this country than the united states is. but once more demonstrates firstly the importance of the trade relationship to the uk and also the uncertainty looking forward as the brexit negotiations and fold with the uk looking to disentangle itself from the customs market as well as the customs union. —— from the single market and the customs union. it's been a big week in terms of

that is according to the british chambers of commerce. warned there was no room for continued ambiguity as companies try to make decisions for the future. that comes as the prime minister heads into talks over the negotiating position on key issues such as the customs union. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm nejra cehic. this is bloomberg. francine: thank you so much. rocket company succeeded in launching the world's most powerful rocket yesterday. the falcon heavy was laid in usk's own tesla roadster. the success of spacex has made it one of the most richly valued private companies. let's bring in our tech editor. thanks for joining us. how big a deal is it for spacex? >> enormous deal. you have to look at it in the context of what elon musk considers to be a success. if it didn't explode on take, that was a win. the fact that it did take off successfully, it did put its car into orbit, and it did return back to earth, which has never been done before by anyone,

the british chambers of commerce accused theresa may of "ambiguity" saying businesses must plan for their

let's talk to katie daughen from the british irish chamber of commerce, which represents businesses thatevans, this is going to be a problem, what's your solution? nigel evans, this is going to be a problem, what's your solution7m shouldn't be a problem. it's going to be. why? you can make something as difficult as he wants to be but we really are starting from the wrong point. what we ought to be looking at is the deal between the united kingdom and the european union first. this is what michel barnier should be focusing on. but thatis barnier should be focusing on. but that is not what is happening so let's deal with this. i know it is not but it should be. but it isn't, so let's deal... if we get the sort of frictionless deal we get between the eu and the uk, this sort of issue that we're talking about in the north and south of ireland this appears, so why did we focus on that? because people are worried. the european union are introducing this is a real issue and a real problem when it shouldn't be. we are starting from the wrong bondage find. secondly, whati starting from the wrong