22/11/2016 World Business Report

After seven years of pain-staking negotiations, is this the end

of the road for the Pacific trade deal?

And Britain's Brexit Minister meets with the European Parliament's chief

negotiator, but will they see eye to eye?

Welcome to World Business Report, I'm Sally Bundock.

Also in the programme: We are keeping an eye on the black

stuff, as the price of oil teases with the $50 a barrel level.

The US President-elect, Donald Trump, says the country

will quit a trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership,

on his very first day in the White House.

Instead, he pledged to negotiate bilateral deals, which he believes

will bring jobs and industry back to the US.

The TPP covers 12 Pacific Rim countries, and was signed

in February, but has not yet been ratified.

Combined, it would have covered 40% of the world's economy.

But crucially, and you can see this here on the map,

Its aim was to deepen economic ties, and boost growth by hundreds

of billions of dollars, but opponents argued

it was negotiated in secret and favoured big corporations.

Deborah Elms is the executive director of the Asian Trade Centre

Give us your take on this. Donald Trump is delivering on his election

rhetoric, that he would a sickly pull this trade deal apart.

Basically. Well, it is possible the other 11 will continue without the

United dates involved. But without the United States, how attractive as

this trade deal for the other 11? Well, that is an interesting

question. I thought the other 11 wouldn't continue without the United

States but in a way it is actually win-win for the others, because the

United States doesn't have a lot of barriers in place. So for the other

11 it is actually better for them. They continue to have access to the

US market and don't have to face American competition at home, but

they have much lower barriers to one another. So from Asia's perspective,

in a way, it is better. They don't have to deal with the Americans,

they still have access to the US market, they have much better access

to one another. So from Asia's perspective in a way it is better.

It is very damaging for American companies, American leadership and

the United dates as a whole, but for Asia it is not so bad in the end. So

what you're saying is TPP will still go ahead without America. If that is

the case, how long will it take? Is that not the sort of unpicking and

reworking from a legal point of view, at the very basic level? Well,

it is going to be very interesting because the agreement was written in

large part with the Americans in mind and if the US isn't there then

some provisions may need some adjustment. But it is unclear how

much adjustment the rest of the 11 will want to do, will need to do.

They may just go ahead with the agreement as it is, and see what

happens, in case the United States changes its mind at some point in

the future. But isn't this actually a win-win for China, who were

excluded from the TPP, now that it doesn't seem to be perhaps seen on a

global level is such a strong deal without the US involved? Things may

swing back in the direction of China. It is definitely a victory

for China and for Asia as a whole. It is really, in my view, it is the

ceding of leadership and trade from the United States to Asia in general

and China in particular. We can see this as the point when China stopped

leading on trade globally, at least for the next four years, for sure.

It may not be a boxing match, but there is no doubt that those

involved in the upcoming Brexit negotiations are unlikely

You could argue both sides need to use fancy footwork to get

So in the next few hours the UK's Brexit Secretary,

David Davis, will meet with the European Parliament's chief

negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, and both gentleman have already

Mr Verhofstadt has said, if the UK wants to remain part

of the single market, it will have to accept the free

And this is the key sticking point, with the UK Government pointing out

around 40 countries currently have some sort of free trade agreement

with the Europe Union without a deal on migration.

With me is Geoffrey Yu, head of UBS Wealth Management's UK

Nice to see you. Now, David Davis meeting with Guy Verhofstadt today,

but yesterday, the European Commission Brexit negotiator, he has

got a busy week. How will he get on? Well, I think his reception might be

hostile in some quarters, with establishment links around Brexit,

but it is an important initial step for both sides, to get a sense so

that they know where both sides stand. We saw from the prime

Minister's comments yesterday that she is keeping her cards close are

just right now, but it is important that they understand each other. And

Brexit negotiations don't officially start until the button is hit on

Article 50, which is expected to happen in March next year.

Absolutely, and I think it is important for the UK to realise as

well that on the continent it is something we are looking at, and

next year it will be dictated by economic interests, they will not be

the only thing driving negotiations, but bite political pressures as

well. They have a crowded electoral calendar on the continent, so we

will see where things had to. A very busy year ahead but from your point

of view, what will be going on in the meantime? While all this

uncertainty hangs over both the UK and Europe, what impact is that

going to have? For our clients, we are telling them if you go out

looking for reasons not to invest, if you look for uncertainty, you are

always going to find it. But experience has shown especially this

year, if you stayed investing during those key points, Brexit and the US

election, then your returns would have been very strong. That is one

message we want to send the clients next year as well. Stay invested,

stay diversify. In terms of the negotiations itself, how do you

think they will play out? -- state stay diversified. It is interesting,

if you saw the reaction in Stirling, when we had the hints of a

transitional agreement, ministers will have taken note of the fact

that markets will welcome something along those lines. This is an

initial step negotiations are heading towards right now. Don't go

for an extreme shot immediately. Find positions agreeable to

households and businesses in the UK. Certainty is demanded. We will keep

you up-to-date with how Mr Davies gets on in Strasbourg and elsewhere.

In other news: South Korea's troubled shipping firm Hanjin

will sell part of its container ship business to Korea Line,

Korea Line will take over Hanjin's operations in seven countries,

In those markets, the new owner will manage the shipping routes

as well as assets and manpower related to Hanjin's logistics

Britain's Finance Minister, Philip Hammond, is expected

Brazil's government has cut its economic growth forecast

It also says the economy will contract this year by 3.5%.

The news echoes recent market pessimism, as the country struggles

to exit its worst recession in decades.

Britain's Finance Minister, Philip Hammond, is expected

to announce a $500 million investment into fibre broadband.

He is due to say that the UK must move towards providing fibre

Currently, only 2% of the UK has access to fibre internet.

We We will talk about that in more

The insurance industry says carmakers will need to provide more