robin brant is in shanghai... bring us some clarity if you can what is china saying?g, which is significant. resident trump tweeting claims one of the things they agreed in bonus errors was that china would reduce and maybe remove import ta riffs reduce and maybe remove import tariffs on autos coming into the country from the us. china has not confirmed, it has not denied it, it has not commented on the plane yesterday, that's one area we have significant confusion emanating from the white house, involving senior government figures. 0n the one hand we had larry could look, the trump administration senior economic adviser, saying when it comes to car ta riffs adviser, saying when it comes to car tariffs and then being reduced removed, he said that is my understanding, i believe that commitment was made the table but another senior player, peter navarro, refused to say it had come up. he said it had, but that is as far as he would go, no confirmation it would happen. confusion over 90 days or 60 day period of negotiation. all of this leaving one big auto firm forward, a

robin brant is our correspondent in shanghai.as set a bit more about what it thinks about this move. well, the embassy in ottawa has described this asa embassy in ottawa has described this as a breach of human rights and has called for the canadian authorities to release ms meng immediately. that is very unlikely to happen. make no mistake, though, this isn'tjust a move against the person or company, and huawei is a hugely successful telecoms company. this is a very aggressive message being sent from president trump's administration, in particular the justice president trump's administration, in particular thejustice department, to china. and of course it comes at a crucial time in the ongoing trade competition between these two countries. this arrest was made, there were varying reports at the time that president xi and trump we re time that president xi and trump were sitting opposite each other in buenos aires, or shortly afterwards. and there is already talk on social media about canadian chinese citizens on the mainland who

we can cross live to shanghai and our correspondent there, robin brant. what do we know now?yesterday and the silence and china was deafening. yeah, ithink silence and china was deafening. yeah, i think some were heralding the kind of market coming deal agreed across the table in prunus errors. we certainly know that us moves to escalate with the tariff increase in january, moves to escalate with the tariff increase injanuary, that is going to be postponed, there is a 90—day period now for negotiations. —— buenos aires. it is very confusing, we have got president trump tweeting yesterday that china is going to reduce and then remove tariffs and water imports from the us, that is down from 40% to 25%. there has been nothing from chinese official sources, government ministries in response to that, not confirming or denying it. yesterday the ministry of foreign affairs just talked about both sides instructing teams to work towards removing tariffs. we have larry kudlow, the president's senior economic adviser, saying overnight it is his understanding that commitment was made at

robin brant is in shanghai. so, everybody is focused on this meeting that the two presidents had. outcome of it would seem pretty positive at this point? well, it is a ceasefire. it is a lot to take in. there are real differences in what is being reported outside of china and inside china by china's state—run media. for instance, there is no mention in what we are seeing from the people's daily and xinhua that 90—day negotiation period. no mention of us claims that there must be immediate negotiations of theft of international technology and property —— intellectual property. no mention of the pledged to increase the amount of agricultural products that china says it has agreed to buy from the us. that is not mentioned in the reporting here, domestically, in china, if you are reading the state—run media. that is intriguing. what is interesting in the last hour or so, in terms of news from the white house, there is a treat from president trump, he says that china has agreed to reduce and then remove water tariff imports. they currently stand at 40%. what imports. they currently sta

0ur correspondent robin brant is in the commercial capital shanghai. s this a deal which is good enough for the chinese president to go back and sell at home? well, has certainly gained himself some time. there is now a 90 day period for negotiation between the two sides. if no successful longer term agreement is reached, then the ta riffs agreement is reached, then the tariffs are back on. what is interesting is that many elements of this deal, is essentially a ceasefire, to be honest, are not being reported by state media here in china. there is no mention of this 90 day period of negotiations, no mention of the pledge to increase chinese acquisitions of agriculture, things like soy bean and sorghum, no mention of america's insistence on negotiating immediately over these claims that china continues to steal intellectual property and force technology transfer from american and other foreign firms who want to invest in this country. so we are seeing two very different versions of the outcome of this meeting reported inside and outside of china. there i

robin brant is in shanghai.deal agreed, after president trump and his opposite number spoke across the table, changes will be implemented as soon as table, changes will be implemented as soon as possible, that is as far as soon as possible, that is as far as they have gone in terms of any timescale, the meeting was a successful one, they are clear on implementing the commitments agreed, but as soon as possible is all we are getting in terms of detail, in terms of implementing the changes agreed. that particularly pertains to tariffs on automobiles imported into china from the united states. president trump has claimed china has agreed to cut the tariff down from 40 to 25%, so as soon as possible from the chinese side, that puts them at odds with what we got from one of the white house's most senior economic advisers, talking over the past couple of days about pledges from the chinese side to make changes immediately. two different versions of the timescale here. thank you very much indeed. asian markets slipped

robin brant in shanghai has the latest on the family's struggle.rs now, since their son, michael, was murdered by weiwei fu, she was his wife at the time and the mother of the children. she stabbed him to death in an attack in an apartment here in shanghai. the simpsons have been trying to get custody of the grandchildren, they've been fighting a long legal battle, that has invovled mps, that has invovled mps, the government here, lawyers and chinese officials, as well. that all came to a head about ten days ago, when a court hearing took place. they face the unimaginable decision of having to either take just one of the grandchildren, alice, which is what the chinese grandparents were offering, and the chinese courts supported that, or neither of them. they have struck a deal to take alice back to the uk with them but their grandson, jack, who is a little older, will stay here in china. they say their campaign goes on to have both children in the uk. for now, this is progress of sorts, for this family who have been through the awful trauma of firs

first, robin brant is in shanghai. who was calling who?ce premier, the man leading the trade talks, the chinese delegation, made the call to the man he was now his american counterpart, robert likewise, the us trade representative who has been a lawyer for some 30 years and is seen as more hawkish in terms of his stance on how china needs to change. america's treasury secretary was also on the call. investors feel more positive because at least they are talking, particularly in light of the arrests as the request of the americans in canada a few weeks ago of the huawei chief financial officer, that has gone down very badly in china. the talks about talks are being seen as positive, get used a lot of reference to the road map in the context of a 90 day period with the escalation of ta riffs period with the escalation of tariffs on the us side, it has been frozen and there are no 79 days left, by my calculation, until march one, a period in which the us and the chinese side need to talk about the chinese side need to talk about the talks and

our correspondent robin brant is in shanghai. how is the news being received in china?y are not happy, it happened on december the 1st, the same day that president xi jinping and president trump were at the gzo's and president trump were at the g20‘s sorting out their differences over trade. we heard from the ministry of foreign in the last hour also saying there has been no clarification from canada or america as to why she was arrested. the embassy in ottawa —— make the chinese embassy in ottawa said it was a breach of her human rights. more details of the allegations will come out but it is reported it is about iranians sanctions and claims that huawei may have been selling materials of us origin, material it is licensing, to iran. this is not just about targeting one person or one company. this is a hugely significant sign of a much more aggressive move against china and it comes in the middle of this trade war. this is washington, thejustice department there, the trump administration as a whole saying they will not tolerate any more. they alleged breaches of sancti

robin brant is in shanghai.ampaigning for the grandchildren to get them for a couple of years now in a very long fought campaign. .. a better life in the uk compared to where they are currently living which is with a chinese grandparents in a town in rural china called xiangyang. they have been campaigning for two years since their son michael was murdered by weiwei fu. she was his wife at the time and is the mother of the children. she stabbed him to death here in shanghai. the simpsons have been fighting a long legal battle involving mps and the government here, lawyers and chinese officials as well. that all came to a head about ten days ago when a court hearing took place. but they face the unimaginable decision really of having to either take just one of the grandchildren, alice, which is what the chinese grandparents were offering, the chinese court backed that up as well, or neither of them. so they have struck a deal to take alice back to the uk with them but their grandsonjack, alice back to the uk with

we can get more on this from our correspondent robin brant, who's in shanghai. gic story, and not getting any easier for the parents. i think this is the outcome that ian simpson and his ex—wife, linda, whose son was murdered in march last year by his chinese wife, this is the outcome they've really, really dreaded because they were sourced to make a choice between having one of the grandchildren, alice is six, jack is eight, or having neither. in the end, after what is almost two yea rs of the end, after what is almost two years of legal the end, after what is almost two yea rs of legal battle the end, after what is almost two years of legal battle in the courts, here in china for custody of these children between their british grandparents and the parents of their mother, their chinese mother, their mother, their chinese mother, the person who killed their father, this has now come to a head. essentially it is a compromise. they have had to pay some money in a kind of deal that the chinese side fares is maintenance and costs and in return they get custody of al

let's speak to our china correspondent robin brant, who's in shanghai.er your milk in the future. some countries are suspicious about huawei and its links with the chinese government. there is pressure on the uk to decide whether a broker will play a big role in the future of ig or not. huawei, arrested in canada on the request of the us authorities, under suspicion of breaching sanctions against iran that are in place in united state. she is corporate realty, the daughter of the man who founded the company 30 years ago. he has close links with china's ruling communist party. the company is privately owned but there has long been suspicion about links with the chinese government here. all of this comes as chinese government here. all of this comes as the trade war between the us and china possibly could escalate further, come march next year. this move, it is a very aggressive one by the american authorities, notjust about a person or company, sending a strong signalfrom about a person or company, sending a strong signal from washington to china at the h