:00:29. > :00:37.Welcome to Asia Business Report. US car manufacturer Ford cancelled
:00:38. > :00:43.plans for a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico. That was in favour of
:00:44. > :00:48.further investment at home. The CEO Mark Field says the policies of the
:00:49. > :00:52.President-elect and his incoming Administration factored into the
:00:53. > :00:56.decision. We look at a lot of factors when we look at decisions.
:00:57. > :01:02.The announcements we are making today of $700 million in the flat
:01:03. > :01:06.rock plant and adding 700 jobs, one factor we put into that is the
:01:07. > :01:10.favourable US business environment that we see under the
:01:11. > :01:16.President-elect and some of the growth policies and reforms, whether
:01:17. > :01:19.it is tax or regulatory, that he is talking about, that played
:01:20. > :01:25.positively in this and it is a vote of confidence that he can deliver.
:01:26. > :01:30.The CEO of Ford motors. He says a more favourable US environment was a
:01:31. > :01:34.reason for the decision. The threat of harsh taxes on imports has been
:01:35. > :01:39.looming over American companies, especially carmakers.
:01:40. > :01:44.Donald Trump has launched a series of attacks on Twitter are making big
:01:45. > :01:49.US multinationals who import goods from abroad and sell them in
:01:50. > :01:52.America. In particular the President-elect has spoken out
:01:53. > :01:58.against auto companies manufacturing cars across the border. The North
:01:59. > :02:05.American free trade deal allows vehicles to be sold duty-free within
:02:06. > :02:10.the US, Canada and Mexico if they are at least 65% made in the block.
:02:11. > :02:16.Trump wants to rip up the agreement and impose a 35% border tax.
:02:17. > :02:22.In other news:, shares of the Japanese conglomerate Toshiba are
:02:23. > :02:29.recovering by 2% after falling 5% earlier. That follows a report that
:02:30. > :02:33.Japan's security watchdog suspected the company of padding profits over
:02:34. > :02:43.the last three years by more than $400 million. A newspaper has said
:02:44. > :02:47.the exterior -- X -- exchange commission have reported it to
:02:48. > :02:51.authorities. At a strike to come after rejecting a pay offer with
:02:52. > :02:54.British Airways according to the Unite union with strikes planned
:02:55. > :02:59.over Christmas holidays suspended after the new offer was made. The
:03:00. > :03:03.union members rejected it by 71. The airline says it will provide further
:03:04. > :03:09.details to customers on Friday when it has finalised contingency plans.
:03:10. > :03:12.Now, Chinese banks have begun imposing additional requirements on
:03:13. > :03:18.customers who want to buy foreign currencies. Each Chinese citizen has
:03:19. > :03:23.a quota of $50,000 they are allowed to exchange every year and it resets
:03:24. > :03:28.in January. With the strong US dollar and concerns about the
:03:29. > :03:33.weakness of the Chinese yuan, that is adding two rules to be able to
:03:34. > :03:38.stop a rush to exit. He is the view from an economist in Shanghai. What
:03:39. > :03:45.happens every year it is on January one the quota is reset, and over the
:03:46. > :03:49.last one and a half years roughly $1 trillion has left China both through
:03:50. > :03:53.companies and individuals and the concern at the central bank is at
:03:54. > :03:59.the start of the year there would be a stampede to the exit, so it has
:04:00. > :04:03.kept the $50,000 quota and now banks have to report any transaction of
:04:04. > :04:10.more than $10,000, so effectively they are trying to put years to slow
:04:11. > :04:15.the rush to the exit. -- gears. You say it has been $1 trillion, is it
:04:16. > :04:20.correct, leaving the country, so this is a worry for the Chinese
:04:21. > :04:25.authorities - how are they going to address it, will these rules be
:04:26. > :04:31.enough? They are trying to address it in a variety of ways, so the
:04:32. > :04:34.rules announced in the last days are relating to individual transactions
:04:35. > :04:38.by individuals. Beyond that, over the last couple of months, they have
:04:39. > :04:43.put restrictions on companies doing transactions abroad, whether buying
:04:44. > :04:47.companies, property, foreign investment, and they are basically
:04:48. > :04:51.stepping up scrutiny along every step of the chain, making it a lot
:04:52. > :04:55.harder for money to leave the country. At the same time they are
:04:56. > :04:59.determined to encourage what they see as good foreign investment. As
:05:00. > :05:03.you know, there has been Chinese investment in energy and financial
:05:04. > :05:09.sectors, buy-in sports teams around the world, they want to see the good
:05:10. > :05:14.investment taking place, whereas what they are concerned about is
:05:15. > :05:18.people rushing out to buy property or looking to acquire any kind of
:05:19. > :05:22.foreign asset because they are concerned about the Chinese economy.
:05:23. > :05:26.There are concerns about this amounts to capital controls. They
:05:27. > :05:32.are denying it. It doesn't help that the US dollar is strong because
:05:33. > :05:36.interest rates in the US are higher. What has been happening when Donald
:05:37. > :05:46.Trump takes office? As he says, he labels China a currency manipulator?
:05:47. > :05:50.The trade war is a concern, if he caused them a currency manipulator,
:05:51. > :05:54.although that doesn't necessarily lead to specific action. China is
:05:55. > :06:02.worried it will eventually lead to steep tariffs, so China is buying
:06:03. > :06:07.time with Trump, you can see it has on the one hand criticised what his
:06:08. > :06:11.team had threatened and it is trying to give enough space, wiggle room,
:06:12. > :06:19.to back down from his fierce rhetoric.
:06:20. > :06:26.Now, investors snapped up shares of fear not airlines on Tuesday. The
:06:27. > :06:30.government owned airline offered new shares -- Vietnam Airlines. The
:06:31. > :06:33.airline is valued at just over $2 billion. This might benefit the
:06:34. > :06:37.government, which wants to sell off the majority stake in the carrier. A
:06:38. > :06:43.monitor of the airlines industry has more on how the sale is likely to
:06:44. > :06:48.unfold. It is a very small stake and it stems from the government's
:06:49. > :06:53.concern about letting these assets go to cheaply, accounting for the
:06:54. > :06:56.small stake size. What will they hope to gain? The government
:06:57. > :06:59.realises it is not a great place to run an airline. Governments in
:07:00. > :07:04.developing nations who have run airlines don't do a good job of it,
:07:05. > :07:07.so it makes sense that they want to offload and bring in foreign
:07:08. > :07:12.partners. It is interesting you say they are trying to get rid of it, we
:07:13. > :07:16.know this huge demand in aviation is an area that is set to grow, the
:07:17. > :07:22.International Air Transport Association essentially estimating
:07:23. > :07:26.the region is among the top five fastest-growing in the next 20
:07:27. > :07:33.years, so we saw the IPO price skyrocketing, what do you a tribute
:07:34. > :07:37.that too, growth in the sector? It would be part of that, it is a tiny
:07:38. > :07:43.stake size though, so there is pent-up demand to take up V is a
:07:44. > :07:47.boom story -- attribute. There is a bit of it going on. If you want to
:07:48. > :07:53.play the airline sector in Vietnam you don't have any other options
:07:54. > :07:58.other than Vietnam's airlines of stock. The initial IPO was in 2014
:07:59. > :08:04.but bureaucracy to lead the listing until yesterday. The low-cost rival
:08:05. > :08:08.is always talking about an IPO and that might come out at some point as
:08:09. > :08:13.well but we are never sure exactly when that is going to be.
:08:14. > :08:18.Now, a cheap umbrella would usually only cost you a few dollars and that
:08:19. > :08:22.is a good thing if you are prone to forgetting it. Well, at least year's
:08:23. > :08:29.Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a new technology will be
:08:30. > :08:32.launched to remind you to pick up your umbrella before you head out
:08:33. > :08:48.the door, but does the innovation justify the pricetag?
:08:49. > :08:56.You have a smart umbrella, it sounds like one of the more ridiculous
:08:57. > :09:00.things on show. What does it do? Yeah, it is not ridiculous, because
:09:01. > :09:04.what happens when umbrellas is you lose it all the time, you leave at
:09:05. > :09:07.the height or whatever, so we decided to create an umbrella that
:09:08. > :09:12.is unforgettable, and to do that we created disconnected umbrella. And
:09:13. > :09:16.so how does it work? It has a small chip in the handle that is connected
:09:17. > :09:22.here with your smart phone, and this chip sends you another, on your
:09:23. > :09:25.smart phone, so if you leave it behind, with the Bluetooth election
:09:26. > :09:30.not connected, it will give you an alert, to say, don't leave me stop
:09:31. > :09:34.for those who leave it on the bus it will save money, so what will it
:09:35. > :09:38.cost? $89, which means, you do the maths, if you're used to losing
:09:39. > :09:42.umbrella is all the time, it is worth it. You would have to lose
:09:43. > :09:49.quite a lot of umbrellas for that? This is also an amazing design, so
:09:50. > :09:54.you'll never forget it. And, of course, keep across all our
:09:55. > :09:59.CES coverage online. A quick look at the markets before
:10:00. > :10:03.we go, because they have all opened on a positive note, that is here in
:10:04. > :10:09.Asia, Japan of course, the Nikkei seeing the first trade for that day
:10:10. > :10:15.into any 17. I told you about the Toshiba shares, reversing earlier
:10:16. > :10:19.declines, they are also rising. This is because the US dollar hit a 14
:10:20. > :10:23.year high, helping exporters, and likewise in the other markets which
:10:24. > :10:26.have also opened higher. And that is it for this edition of Asia Business
:10:27. > :10:29.Report. Thank you for watching. Republicans in the US Congress have
:10:30. > :10:35.ditched plans to reduce the powers of an independent ethics watchdog,
:10:36. > :10:39.after voters and Donald Trump