16/03/2017 World Business Report

Defying the sceptics - the Euro surges as Dutch voters

But France could prove a bigger test.

Could the American gas guzzler make a comeback?

President Trump say he'll review Obama's rules on car fuel

Hello and welcome. Also in the programme, the Fed raises rates and

China follows suit. No action in Japan however. We will some that up

in a moment. We start with the elections

in the Netherlands - where as you have been hearing,

Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Liberal Party

are on course for victory. He's seen off a challenge

from the far-right Freedom Party of Geert Wilders -

who had pledged to take the Netherlands out

of the European Union it jumped as much as 1.3%

the biggest rise since last summer. It's been having a tough time

of course since the UK's But this is the reaction immediately

after the polls began to emerge. The Netherlands is not

a huge economy in itself - A huge relief that the threat has

dissipated a little. France holding presidential elections next month

and Germany has parliamentary elections in September. Both are

expected to see strong challenges by anti-EU parties. But the Foreign

Minister of Germany says that the Dutch election is a good sign.

If the results are confirmed that the right-wing populist -

actually, you have to say right-wing radical, Wilders has suffered a big

It shows that a country like the Netherlands is one

of the core European countries and doesn't let itself get incited

and it makes me very happy for democracy

I am certain that also in France, the democrats and the people

After all, Europe is a big achievement of the French,

It is a good sign for the evolution of democracy on our continent.

I am joined by Vincent. Clearly hearing from the German Foreign

Minister and they are relieved I would imagine that everyone in

Brussels is breathing a sigh of relief this morning. Can we have

your take on what happened? We see it in the evolution of the euro

yesterday that there is relief in the market. At the same time this

outcome was widely expected stop that would also give Sumer is hence

that the party of Geert Wilders was losing steam. But we see that the

current Prime Minister is high in the polls. He has the capacity to

form a sort of centre-right government that may take weeks or if

not months to form. It is this seems manageable to us. Today, at least

we're not talking about a surprise result which many thought may happen

given the fact that we have had that with the UK referendum and the

outcome of the US election. How about France now? What is the

feeling in France? Does it have any impact at all on what is going on

there? Well, a victory for Geert Wilders would have strengthened the

far right in France. Both parties in France, the French far right and the

Dutch far right are different, they are positioned differently with

different scope, especially in regards to the economy. I would not

say that the fact that they lost all they did not manage to get the first

party yesterday in the Netherlands makes a victory for Marine Le Pen

impossible. It is not a done deal yet. We have seen over the past few

weeks that everything has changed. The most likely to win candidate is

now embroiled in a financial scandal. So there is still

uncertainty and we still must remain vigilant as investors to political

risk in France. We will keep an eye on further reaction as the day

progresses. Let's move on now to another story.

We are also asking - could the American gas guzzler be

US carmakers were forced by the Obama administration

to improve the fuel economy of their vehicles.

They are supposed to average 36 miles per gallon by 2025 -

about ten miles per gallon higher than they do now.

But President Trump has ordered a review of those standards.

The man he appointed chief of the Environmental Protection Agency,

Scott Pruitt, has famously said C02 is not the main cause

Samira Hussain has more from New York

Another campaign style event for a president who has been in office

almost two months. This is the first time that Mr Trump has come to

Detroit since his election win. Now he is back to deliver on some of his

campaign promises. My administration will work tirelessly to eliminate

the industry killing regulations, to lower the job crushing taxes and to

ensure a level playing field for all American companies and workers. For

motor city, that means addressing fuel efficiency standards.

Originally put in place by the Obama administration, American car

manufacturers were being forced to make an entire fleet of cars that

met these lower emission requirements. President Trump has

now promised to review these rules. We are going to ensure that any

regulations we have protect and defend your jobs, your factories. We

will be fair. But it is difficult to see how these particular regulations

have hurt America's auto industry which has been revving in high gear

with record sales for the last two yous. When you look at the sales on

the record profits that they have had, the fact that you already have

cars on the road now that meet these 2025 standards, I think the industry

has shown it can meet and improve the standards. I think the industry

has shown it can innovate and make the kind of targets that are laid

out in the current rules. President Trump is trying to show that he can

bring jobs back to America. By cutting some of the cost of doing

business. But on Wednesday he was short on specifics, saying only that

those regulations were up for review. Our team braving the winter

storms there. As we were previewing

this time yesterday - and as was widely expected -

the US central bank- the Federal Reserve -

has raised the cost of borrowing. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen

said the US economy was making 'solid progress' -

with a strengthening job market The Fed has raised

its main interest rate The Fed is forecasting two

more rises this year. Many on Wall Street think the next

won't be before June - as the Fed will want to see how well

the Trump administration does with its plans to

boost the US economy. Let's go to Asia now where China's

central bank has reacted with its own move -

but Japan's hasn't. Hello, Sally. Can you talk us

through China and Japan? It was a busy day for Asian central banks.

You had China, Hong Kong and Japan. Starting off with China the central

bank there raising short-term interest rates to banks but left its

benchmark rate unchanged. The People's Bank of China citing the US

Fed rate hike overnight and improved Chinese conditions. Some analysts

expected this move, however. Is the rapid buildup in debt. Supported by

this move. The Chinese currency firmed against the US dollar. As for

the Hong Kong monetary authority, the de facto central bank, they

raised their base rate by one quarter of a%. As far as the

Japanese central bank, it Policies DDB gave an upbeat assessment of the

overall economy. Thank you for that. Let's look at market shares now.

Shares in Hong Kong were trimmed by that news of the interest rate hike

in China but as you can see, on the whole, or good they are merging in

Asia following strong gains overnight on Wall Street and the

Dow. Over 0.5%. The broader market, almost 1% after the press conference

from the Federal Reserve.