20/02/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News, with Ben Bland and Sally Bundock.

America's Vice President meets European leaders in Brussels,

as the future of trade relations remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Live from London, that's our top story on Monday

The US and Europe are the world's biggest trade blocs.

But tensions between the two sides have been rising.

The world's biggest potential takeover gets canned.

US food giant Kraft Heinz now says it won't buy its rival Unilever.

That's how the market looks at the start of the trading day.

Making sure everyone gets in on the act.

We'll meet the woman putting disabled actors centre stage.

Supermarkets say we're buying more organic fruit and veg.

Do you think it's worth the extra money?

The US Vice President Mike Pence meets the President

of the European Council Donald Tusk in Brussels this morning.

They will try to mend fences after throwing rhetorical fire

crackers at each other in recent weeks.

While Mr Tusk described Trump as a threat to Europe,

Mr Trump has praised the UK's decision to leave the Union

and angered many nations with his travel ban.

Between them, the US and the European Union are the world's

Figures from 2014 put the value of all goods and services traded

It sold $91 billion more stuff to the USA than

Something the Trump administration would like to change.

And since 2013, the EU and US have been trying

to broker a free trade deal, the so-called Transatlantic Trade

and Investment Partnership, TTIP, that would eliminate tariffs

But President Trump has said nothing about it since his election.

Many though expect TTIP to be scrapped.

Where differences have emerged, it's been over

currency valuations, car exports and

Leslie Vinjamuri is an associate fellow of the US the Americas

Programme at the Chatham House, a thinktank here in London

Mike Pence has been in Europe for a few days, talked us through how it

is going? The vice president was at the Munich

Security conference, the premier meeting of ministers and notable

officials across the world. He spoke about America's commitment,

reaffirming it to Nato, but he did not speak about the EU which left a

lot of European leaders concerned. He is going to Brussels today.

There is a broader question about whether or not there will be some

concern about whether America will try to amend the unravelling of the

EU. President Trump has been supportive of Brexit, talking about

a bilateral trade deal with the UK. There has been no clear commitment

to supporting a multilateral vehicle through the EU. Donald Trump is

opposed to multilateralism and has sought to work by naturally with

most of the country's partners. The focus of the visit by Mike Pence

has been about security, Nato, but there is a lot of overlap between

security and trade. Prior to him coming, the

conversation between the US and Europe has not been good.

It has been unsettling for most of the European leaders, the idea Trump

gave the interview in January and said Nato was obsolete. And put

Europe on the back foot, saying, you must increase your defence spending

if you want us to be committed to Nato. This weekend, renewed pressure

for Europe to step up and those states not hitting the 2% of GDP the

spending on defence to really step up.

There is a broader conversation which is who is really in charge?

Donald Trump has not stepped up in the same way to affirm that

commitment to Nato or the EU. A lot of people are watching this to see

who is really running the ship will stop so much uncertainty from the

US. Very unnerving for Europe. The visit today is very important.

The other thing I mentioned was the transatlantic partnership, Donald

Trump hasn't said much about that since taking office. Do you think

there is any hope for any sort of trade deal between the US and the

EU? Or is that I get out of the water? I

think TTIP is probably very unlikely to move forward. The Trump

administration has been very reluctant to push forward new

multilateral trade deals, it has pulled out of Asia.

TTIP is unlikely to move forward. What 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 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. Japan's trade deficit grew by more

than expected in January to about $9.6bn, largely

because of the increased Nonetheless, exports increased

by 1.3%, despite a fall in vehicle sales to Europe

and the United States, amid concern of protectionist trade policies

from President Trump. The latest numbers mean

Japan's trade surplus Ride-sharing service Uber has opened

an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made

by a former employee. The boss Travis Kalanick said

there was "absolutely no place" for the type of behaviour detailed

in a blog by former engineer Susan Fowler who left

the company in December. It is likely to bring a renewed

focus to sexism in Silicon Valley with several commentators suggesting

online that her experiences were instantly recognisable to other

women working in the tech industry. A lot of news on our website, quite

interesting is the story our second headline, Kraft Heinz has decided it

is not going to go ahead with a better or renewed offer for

Unilever. That has had an immediate impact on the shares on the

financial markets. Some are saying perhaps it is the previous

experience of Cadbury that was snapped up by Kraft Heinz which they

have impacted on this deal. This paragraph saying, Kraft Heinz

will find it difficult to win over UK politicians because of concern

about what it might mean for British jobs. More analysis on that as well.

A New Zealand judge has upheld an earlier court ruling that

flamboyant internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and three

of his colleagues can be extradited to the US to face criminal charges.

What more do we know? Basically, he was the founder of the now-defunct

mega upload .com. Five years ago the US authorities

shut down that site. Putting some 15 charges against him of racketeering,

money-laundering, copyright infringement amongst other things.

The New Zealand High Court has said he is not guilty of copyright

infringement and cannot be extradited under that. But he can

still be etched dieted under conspiracy to commit copyright

infringement, that goes for his other co-defendants. All four say

they will appeal this case. The defendant says he expects this case

to go on for another two years, this extradition court case.

He posted it as a David Angella case. We will see whether he, his

case stands up against the law. Christine, thank you very much for

that. Let's take a look at how the markets

are doing. Asian markets were mixed

as political uncertainty globally Japan's Nikkei went flat

after domestic data showed exports US financial markets will be closed

for a long weekend holiday, European markets starting

the new trading week with gains Worth watching what happens

to Unilever shares after US food company Kraft Heinz

withdrew its proposal Unilever's shares jumped 13%

on Friday on news of the bid. Lots of corporate results

due out this week. The UK's big banks will report

their annual profits, including HBSC, RBS,

Lloyds and Standard Chartered. Also due out, results

from the big mining companies including BHP Billiton,

Glencore and Anglo American. US stock markets are closed today

for the President's Day holiday. But here's Michelle Fleury

in New York with the details of what to look out

for later in the week The question is will they be able to

build on the gains last week, the major indexes have been buoyed

partly by Donald Trump's promises fewer vacations and tax cuts for

businesses, all happening against a backdrop of an improving US economy.

That progress was pointed to, but the dangers of waiting too long to

raise interest rates. Investors will be looking at the latest Federal

reserve meeting the clues of any imminent hike.

On the economic front, Wall Street will be looking at plenty of data on

the housing market and an insight to the manufacturing sector, look out

for the report for February. Wrapped up only that, freezing in

New York. Joining us is Jessica Ground, UK

Equities Fund Manager at Schroders. Quite a bit going on. Let us talk

about Kraft Heinz and their pull-out of pursuing Unilever. Interesting, a

swift reversal of intentions late yesterday.

That was because Kraft Heinz really did want to lose Unilever, they felt

it had to be an agreed deal partly because Unilever has those iconic

brands, partly because Kraft Heinz have a mixed track record having

shut down those Cadbury plants. I suspect when it became clear

Unilever was less than enthused, they decided not to go ahead.

Unilever shares down 8% this morning, no surprise. They were up

over 10% on Friday on news of a possible take over.

A bit of a round trip on the situation.

Mentioning the results we are expecting later this week, the big

banks, big mining companies, that will all move the markets presumably

in One Direction or another. They are large parts of the markets,

two different trends, with the commodity markets, compared to a

year ago were the figures were so low, commodity prices are much

higher. We are still looking for evidence the management teams are

disciplined, keeping a lid on costs, not having that boom and bust

mentality. The banks, it will be interesting.

Particularly some of the forward looking indicators for the

consumers, high levels of indebtedness, employment is high

which is great but there could be interest rate highs is on the

horizon, so it will be interested to see what the banks do on that side.

Thank you for now, Jessica will be back soon. We will be talking about

organic food sales. Do you buy organic?

Sometimes. Do you? Me too.

I try to grow my own. The last organic vegetable I've bought was

properly. --

A question of equality, We'll meet the woman making sure

disabled actors get their turn in the spotlight.

Online retail giant Amazon has said it will create 5,000 new full-time

The jobs will be across the business in the London head office,

Edinburgh customer service centre, and in three new warehouses.

Let's speak to Natalie Burge. Tell us more, why is Amazon investing so

much in the UK? Amazon is committed to the UK. It is their second

largest international market after Germany and they view the UK as a

very strategic market. There is a lot of overlap between US and UK

consumers. They see it as a very familiar market when it comes to

rolling out some of the big US initiatives. They see the UK as an

international launch pad and that's why, if you look over the past year,

we have seen the launch of Amazon Fresh, their online grocery service

here in the UK. They delivered their first order by drone before

Christmas last year and we have seen the roll-out of their virtual

personal assistant. So they're clearly doing a lot in the US and

they view the UK as a gateway to the international market.

That's interesting the creation of new jobs, because the other

direction that Amazon has been going in is using these drones for

deliveries and there has been a lot of talk about drones perhaps taking

the jobs of some delivery drivers? Yeah, I mean, you know, drones are

certainly part of their fulfilment offering, but the more significant

pieces is the fact that they are opening three new fulfilment centres

in the UK and it just shows they need additional warehouse capacity.

Drones will be part of it, but I think if you look at what they're

doing in terms of they are seeing growth in their own products, but

they are seeing growth in their third party sellers, their market

place vendors and this is really significant because from a

consumer's point of view, they go to Amazon.co.uk for assortment. You've

got 150 million products on this website and if they're able to have

access to the products and also have the benefit of Amazon's speedy

delivery, well, it is a win, win. I think it is quite significant.

Thanks, Natalie. Lots more to discuss on our website.

Take a look and news about Bovis setting aside more money for

customers. Our top story, the US vice-president

Mike Pence is holding talks with EU It comes at a time of growing

uncertainty over relations between the world's two

biggest trading blocs. A quick look at how

markets are faring. It is President's Day in the United

States. No action there later on today, but European markets are

pretty flat. As Ben and Jessica were saying earlier, lots of corporate

stories coming out as the week progresses so there will be plenty

to chew on as the week progresses. All this week we're looking

at the relationship between disabled people and businesses and how

they work for each other. An estimated 1.2 billion people

around the world have But they still don't always

get access to the same Well, one talent agency is trying

to change that when it comes VisABLE People was founded in 1994

and became the world's first agency It now handles the careers of dozens

of actors and models, and says it helps put disabled

people into mainstream media focus. So it has got its clients roles

in top BBC shows like Casualty and EastEnders as well as on TV ads

for big companies like the British supermarket chain Sainsbury

and the mobile phone provider Joining us is Louise Dyson,

founder and CEO of VisABLE People. Good to see you. Good morning. Just

tell us, you started in 1994, 23 years ago, why? At the time I owned

a model agency. It was a big agency. The biggest outside London. We had

all sorts of different clients and one of them was a manufacturer of

mobility equipment. And they decided that they wanted to begin to use

genuinely disabled people to model their products and I didn't know

any. And we decided to organise a competition, nationwide, to find

people who had modelling potential and also who had disabilities and we

had the most fantastic response. We had over 600 applicants which was

just wonderful. Very high standard. So that's how it all started 23

years ago, but you're still the only agency in the whole world that

represents disabled actors, models, representatives, for various areas

of work. Why is that? I think the reason we are owe the only agency

that only has disabled artists and model and covers every area of the

work is because most agencies tend to specialise. You will have an

agency that perhaps just has presenters and an agency that just

has voice-over artists, an agency that has model, an agency that has

models. Because it has been a case of trying to create a market from

scratch, it has been a case of also having to be good at all things. So

we have different people who are capable of doing the different kinds

of roles and I suppose in that case it all has to come under VisABLE

People. The reason there aren't any other agencies doing what we do

because it took 15 years before it was even faintly profitable really.

It was a conscious decision not to have the word, "Disability" In the

name of the company, wasn't it? Why would we? You were saying to us, you

know, you think that the term, "Disabled" Is outdated and

unhelpful? I think the word "Disability and disabled" Doesn't

conjure anything exciting. I have got fantastic people who have got

energy, and beauty and skills and you know the world disability

doesn't really help that. Where do you see the business going? What

kind of hopes and dreams do you have for the future of it? I think one of

the most exciting developments has been the increase in the number of

bookings we've had from other countries. And the exciting part

about that is that it means that the message, the whole point of VisABLE

is to change the mindset on disability. If we succeed in doing

that in other parts of the world, that means we're achieving our aim

really, but I do envisage opening up in other markets. It means opening

other markets. We did have to create the market in the UK to begin with

and it means rolling that out into other countries. But you personally

had to be extremely, you know, you had to really persevere in this

because it has taken awe long time. You're only faintly profitable after

15 years in trying to build this business and yet you stuck at it.

Were you not tempted to just... No. Pull the plug? No, I was never

tempted to do that. It was such a great idea. It was a great idea

because of the power it has to influence people's thinking. It is

all about, it is specifically not a charitable venture, although I would

describe VisABLE as having social enterprise conditions, in that we

have an objective which is for something good, not just about the

bottom line, but at the same time, it really does, it influences

people's thinking. Louise, thank you for coming in today and sharing. It

is very, very interesting. Louise Dyson of VisABLE. It is a

deliberately funny spelling. Well, it works. Well done, thank you for

coming in. In a moment we'll take a look

through the Business Pages, but first here's a quick reminder

of how to get in touch with us. The Business Live page

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live web page: bbc.com/business, on Twitter @BBCBusiness and you can

find us on Facebook Business Live on TV and online,

whenever you need to know. Jessica Ground, UK Equities Fund

Manager, Schroders is back. Jessica so the Guardian, organic

food sales are soaring as shoppers put quality before price. How long

will that last, we wonder? Well, quite interesting because in the

last financial slowdown we saw shoppers move to discounters and to

cut back on eating out. But I think that we've got to divorce the

cyclical from the stuck turl. There is this long-term trend towards

cleaning eating, healthy eating, Instagraming your food, but as

consumers spending power comes under pressure from higher inflation they

start to cut back and it will be interesting to see. We had a few

tweets about this. We asked do you buy organic or not? Grumpy Pete said

no, it is a waste of money. Jerome said organic veg, but only if it is

in season and not flown in. It may taste better, but it is too

expensive in the UK. Jessica? A mix and match. There is a massive debate

in our newsroom about this with one of our producers saying it is a con

unless you buy it from the farm. Let's look at Bill Gates. This is

really interesting, the Financial Times Bill Gates is calling for

robots to pay taxes. What is he talking about? He is pointing out

that the rise of robots is going to cause a lot of disruption for labour

markets and make a lot of jobs obsolete. He is pointing out that

employment produces a lot of tax for Government. He's saying let's tax

robots and use that money to retrain workers. In a nutshell. As you can

tell we're both humans by how the programme has gone! We will see you

soon. Have a really good day.