ttip is unlikely to move forward.t we are likely to see is, whatever talks go on about trade, it will be with this agenda of american interests must come first. what does that mean? we don't know yet. a lot coming out of the trump administration is rhetorical. we haven't seen very significant effo rts haven't seen very significant efforts in terms of legislating or pushing forward policies. a lot of uncertainty, we are still operating at the level of what will the stated commitment be, on trade. but little movement so far. thank you so much for coming in and sharing your expertise. we shall keep you across any news that comes out of that meeting today between donald tusk and mike pence. it will be interesting. in other news. japan's trade deficit grew by more than expected injanuary to about $9.6bn, largely because of the increased cost of oil. nonetheless, exports increased by i.3%, despite a fall in vehicle sales to europe and the united states, amid concern of protectionist trade policies from president trump. the

you do not hear much about ttip. it is more about the tpp and now nafta.hey are fighting for market share. if you are looking at good competition for the us, especially with auto, it is germany. so they are trying to push things along. they know that angela merkel is not engaging with the central bank. the donald trump administration is doing the opposite, trying to intimidate janet yellen. it is interesting. of course, janet yellen and her team at the imf meet today. they criticised germany with the euro being weak and also japan with the yen and china with the yuan as well. at the end of the day, these are currency markets we are talking about. in most cases, governments are independent. they are. when i was in the clinton administration, we worked on strong policy. it is interesting donald trump is pushing hard on this. it has to do with exporting. donald trump is try to focus on an export strategy and manipulate the market is to create an environment for america to flourish. this guy is smarter. he is manipulating people and pushing levers. he knows th

and since 2013 the eu and us have been trying to broker a free and investment partnership — ttip — thatte tariffs and reduce regulation. but president trump has said nothing about it since his election — many though expect ttip to be scrapped. where differences have emerged its been over currency valuations, car exports and financial regulations. with me is jag singh, a political strategist and former special advisor to the democratic national committee. good morning. interesting because we have the outlined the various rhetorically going on between the us and the eu, it's not been particularly a —— amicable. and the eu, it's not been particularly a -- amicable. we have to look at mike pence's visit to europe. he is the tolerable face of the administration. we have to view it in the context of one trying to reassure european allies that america is committed to nato but also that mike pence is a safe pair of hands. for all of trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail about eu and brexit and nato, there is the tea m eu and brexit and nato, there is the team in place and mike pence is part of

these so—called ttip deal. trade and investment partnership. these so-called ttip deal.ant. we obviously need to bea what i meant. we obviously need to be a strong europe. so we need to bring up these issues. a defence union, for example. we talked about it for decades, but nothing as happened. now, finally, we take the first concrete steps to build up something, new agencies, and we are working together on this error. all when it comes to trade, for months, if not years, we have seen many people demonstrating against ttip. and we had all sorts of other problems with other arrangements. and free trade is important for the european union and we need to be strong on that. but i meant by growing up, we need to learn as a union to stand on our own feet. and i think that is what is changing in the transatlantic partnership. of course, the united states is our most important ally in the world. the transatlantic partnership is important for us. —— united states. but the ute, a european union needs to grow up and become stronger. —— but the european union. donald trump is in ame

trying to broker a free trade deal — the so called transatlantic trade and investment partnership — ttipulation. but president trump has said nothing about it since his election — many though expect ttip to be scrapped. where differences have emerged its been over currency valuations, car exports and financial regulations. what will mike pence broker? we will have that discussion. also, the biggest potential merger deal in corporate history is not happening — after the american food giant kraft—heinz said it was dropping its bid to buy rival — unilever. the anglo—dutch company, which makes marmite, lipton tea and dove soap, rejected a $143 billion bid from kraft on friday. now kraft has said it has ‘amicably agreed' to scrap the plan. shares in both companies rose sharply on friday, as investors welcomed the possible creation of such a powerful firm. why are they pulling out? we are talking about that and we have all the other businesses tories in about 20 minutes. time is flying, see you $0011 “— 20 minutes. time is flying, see you $0011 —— “— 20 minutes. time is flying, see you soon ——

or when it comes to trade, for months, if not years, we have seen many people demonstrating against ttip sorts of other problems with other arrangements. and i hope people learn right now that free trade is something very important for the european union and that we need to be strong on that. what i meant by growing up is, actually we need to learn as a union to stand on our own feet. and i think that is what is changing in the trans—atlantic partnership. of course, the united states is our most important ally in the world. the tra ns—atla ntic partnership is crucialfor us. but nevertheless, the european union needs to grow up and become stronger. and then, i think, we will be taken more serious in washington. donald trump is in america first guy. and he is certainly not a free trader. he's a guy who, even in his inauguration address, he used the term "protection". we know he's going to do what it takes to change the trade dynamic between countries like his and yours. and when he looks at your trading surplus, which in 2015 was a staggering 250 billion euros, he sees a country, germany,

ttip which doesn't exist, but could exist. that's dead in the water, isn't it?ead in the water, what are the chances of doing the deals elsewhere? turning your back as it we re elsewhere? turning your back as it were on the united states? well, certainly as the united states become more protectionist, the eu will be forced to making deals with other parts of the world. how easy is that going to be? well, the eu would remain a very big economy. you just mentioned there are a lot of other countries in the world and big economy in the world which are interested in trading with the eu, to trade in better conditions and to trade more. i think the us is certainly going to miss this as it's pulling out even from treaties that it or treaties negotiated such as the ttip. thank you very much indeed. now let's talk apple. after three—quarters in a row of falling revenues, apple has delivered a turnaround. high demand for the iphone 7 boosted the tech giant and it reported its highest ever quarterly revenues. in the last three months of the year the firm sold 78.3 million i

or today in brussels about the future of tea cap -- ttip. brent: how are european leaders supposed to sort this out moving forward with the u.s. president praising brexit as an example of true democracy and people retaking control of their government and in the vice president saying that the u.s. remains the best friend of the european union? markus: absolutely, there is some kind of dichotomy in u.s. policy, currently. the overarching concern in europe is that the u.s. administration aims at replacing a multilateral approach to the european union or towards nato by some kind of special relationships, not only to london but two other selected countries in europe. therefore i think the overarching goal of angela merkel is to keep the europeans together as much as possible. brent: what about nato? did you get the sense that the vice president sees it moving forward as an anti-islamist force? markus: not really. i think it has been on the agenda to a certain degree. but there hasn't been so much progress so far. they could -- the key question i

how do we make sure that doesn't suffer like ttip and all of the other things that we liked quite >> i don't want to get too lost in the ex-im bank. i understand it's important you but it's pretty marginal in terms of things that have been discussed here. if we have the best worker adjustment programs in the world but we still have been able to withstand the lure of cheap labor from mexico? i began work at the u.s. chamber of commerce decades ago in the 60s and then we were beginning to deal with the problem. the chamber's position was well look its trade. it's the operation of the free market and so they are paying people a dollar an hour or whatever it is and we can't stand in the way of that. that's the way business is conducted and it makes sense because we can make cheaper products for the market etc. and we are all familiar with that but that is -- is that part of the problem? was that the wrong policy but should we have allowed those manufacturing facilities? was that a way to maintain american jobs or does it come down secretary shultz bad decision or an appropriate decision

important of these are the trade and services agreement or tsa or trans atlantic trade partnership or ttipith the eu. trade facilitation should be another pry important we've been promoting this for years. the wto trade agreement has been ratified by 102 countries and needs only eight more to come into effect and this will reduce customs and administrative costs by up to 14% which is significantly more than the average global tariff. and finally, i would note that trade promotion authority or tpa that congress recently passed has a detailed list of all of the areas where the u.s. has a comparative trade advantage. we need to lean into those opportunities rather than to walk away from them. and finally it's important to recognize that u.s. success in the world economy depend on three other changes. first we have simply got to overhaul our corporate tax code. our tax rate is one of the highest in the world and is inconsistently applied across industries. in addition the united states and chile are the only two, only two major economies with a worldwide tax system. this means we tax earnings