:00:00. > :00:00.stories... The government as defendant the scheme about
:00:00. > :00:15.immigrants after being criticised. Now for Asia Business Report.
:00:16. > :00:24.Golf diplomacy, the Japanese Prime Minister tees off to negotiate with
:00:25. > :00:26.President Donald Trump. We speak to Singapore education Minister as the
:00:27. > :00:40.country tries to reinvent its workforce. Welcome to Asia Business
:00:41. > :00:44.Report live from Singapore. The much anticipated meeting between Japan's
:00:45. > :00:52.Prime Minister and the US President Donald Trump takes place later
:00:53. > :00:57.today. She and the other is the first Asian leader to meet the
:00:58. > :01:02.President. -- Shinzo Abe. He also was the first to congratulate him in
:01:03. > :01:09.person on the victory. He comes bearing gifts. Trade relations
:01:10. > :01:14.topped the agenda and he has reportedly put together a plan that
:01:15. > :01:19.will see Japanese companies help create 700,000 US jobs including
:01:20. > :01:25.Japanese investment in infrastructure projects such as
:01:26. > :01:28.high-speed trains. We have heard from Toyota, sharp and Softbank
:01:29. > :01:35.which said that they will build factories and create jobs in the US
:01:36. > :01:42.and more companies are expected to announce new investments as well.
:01:43. > :01:50.What does Mr Abe want in return. One was Japan so nervous about the Trump
:01:51. > :01:54.residency? During the campaign, Donald Trump talked a lot about
:01:55. > :02:01.China and slapping tariffs on Chinese goods and China stealing US
:02:02. > :02:06.jobs. What has that been in the past double of months was Trump
:02:07. > :02:13.conflating China's problem with Japan how Japanese automakers are
:02:14. > :02:18.being unfair to US automakers and talked about how the yen, in his
:02:19. > :02:29.view, is undervalued and in many ways it is about heading off a trade
:02:30. > :02:33.war. President Trump does decide to devalue the dollar in Washington,
:02:34. > :02:45.DC, you see this kind of a very big effort from Prime Minister Abe said
:02:46. > :02:51.we are creating jobs and opportunities for the US. We are not
:02:52. > :02:58.the enemy. Will it work? Mr Abe congratulated him back in November
:02:59. > :03:02.but it did not stop Mr Trump from criticising Toyota in his tweets. I
:03:03. > :03:11.think President Trump is realising from his visor is that US needs
:03:12. > :03:16.Japan as much as Japan needs the US. With North Korea and China, the US
:03:17. > :03:29.needs Japan. In the long run, I think it could be a problem. When
:03:30. > :03:37.Raymond -- when Prime Minister Abe... He basically cancelled TPP
:03:38. > :03:48.and since then has accused Japan of being a currency manipulator just
:03:49. > :03:51.like China. Mr Trump has claimed Japan is making it difficult for
:03:52. > :04:00.Japan. President Donald Trump says it is
:04:01. > :04:05.not fair, Americans by millions of Japanese cars every year and
:04:06. > :04:10.Japanese by hardly any American cars and he is right. Last year only
:04:11. > :04:15.13,000 American cars were sold here in Japan so why is it the Japanese
:04:16. > :04:26.do not buy American cars like this one?
:04:27. > :04:49.It is not just that this car is huge, as Donald Trump might say, you
:04:50. > :04:52.may have noticed the wheel is on the wrong side for Japan and the fuel
:04:53. > :05:05.consumption is about double what the Japanese car might be. In Japan,
:05:06. > :05:11.these tiny little cars cannot be more than one and a half metres wide
:05:12. > :05:17.and the engine can only be 660 cc and they sell tons of them. 1.7
:05:18. > :05:31.million last year. 40% of all cars sold in Japan. This is much better.
:05:32. > :05:36.It is actually not true that Japanese people do not buy foreign
:05:37. > :05:46.cars. Take a look at this street - Mercedes, another Mercedes and look,
:05:47. > :05:59.another Mercedes and are BMW and in here, look, a BMW. Of course, they
:06:00. > :06:06.are not American cars - all Germans. And I understand you have owned an
:06:07. > :06:15.American car? Yes I did. And then I liked how it looked but when I
:06:16. > :06:24.started driving I felt like it was cheap and I do not feel safe and
:06:25. > :06:32.also it is not as good as a German car. Japan charges no import tax on
:06:33. > :06:37.a car like this. America charges 25% import tax on Japanese cars so maybe
:06:38. > :06:38.to suffer a America to stop complaining and learn from the
:06:39. > :06:44.Germans. Japanese companies are not the only
:06:45. > :06:50.one Fifa to be the target of President Trump's tweet. He has
:06:51. > :06:54.almost 25 million followers and the social media platform gets lots of
:06:55. > :07:03.attention with him announcing policies, denouncing critics and
:07:04. > :07:12.pressuring companies. Twitter reported yet another loss over $170
:07:13. > :07:21.million in the last quarter. The shares fell by 12%. Ask first
:07:22. > :07:26.mentality is a big threat facing the Singapore economy according to a new
:07:27. > :07:30.government report outlining what the small island nation needs to do to
:07:31. > :07:37.stay competitive. Some key strategies included train workers to
:07:38. > :07:41.have the right skills and build stronger business ties overseas. I
:07:42. > :07:46.asked the Minister of education what skills are lacking in the workforce.
:07:47. > :07:53.What is required going forward is that everyone every worker to be
:07:54. > :07:58.able to find your niche, your passion, your interest and then
:07:59. > :08:03.master that craft. It is a lifelong process. In that process, I think
:08:04. > :08:07.understanding Digital economy, able to fit in a digital place will be
:08:08. > :08:13.critical. That applies to every field. Even if you are a chef, you
:08:14. > :08:18.continue to cook well but you must be able to process each payment,
:08:19. > :08:25.receive EU orders and be comfortable in that environment. It is about
:08:26. > :08:29.many parts, many parts to success and then been very good at what you
:08:30. > :08:34.are doing. The other thing you report mentions is how Singapore
:08:35. > :08:38.must deepen global ties but as we have been talking about,
:08:39. > :08:43.protectionism is on the rise in the US and Europe - how do you plan to
:08:44. > :08:48.achieve that? This sudden protectionist flavour moving around
:08:49. > :08:53.the world but if you think about it carefully, the world is still
:08:54. > :08:58.globalising. The tide has not been abated all subsided stop white?
:08:59. > :09:03.Because it is driven by technology. You cannot stop the Internet, Jet
:09:04. > :09:07.air planes flying all over the world, you cannot stop news being
:09:08. > :09:13.broadcast, information being so available, you cannot stop people on
:09:14. > :09:19.the go wanted to go in emerging markets, to develop their business.
:09:20. > :09:24.I think that trend is still there and Singapore always relies on that
:09:25. > :09:29.trend to make ourselves a good living. Since the new US president
:09:30. > :09:33.has taken office, it is that to say tensions between the US and China
:09:34. > :09:39.have been rising. Singapore has so far managed to maintain a gap
:09:40. > :09:47.between the two powers but is that the Trump administration making it
:09:48. > :09:55.difficult? It is early days. He is not appointed all his political
:09:56. > :09:59.appointees. So far, the Secretary of State I'm and others are characters
:10:00. > :10:04.we know very well. We are happy to work with them. Would you say the
:10:05. > :10:11.Trump residency is destabilising the region? It is uncertain for now. We
:10:12. > :10:18.have to watch it carefully. China - US relations are absolutely critical
:10:19. > :10:28.for the whole world. The markets befall we go, Asian shares trading
:10:29. > :10:29.higher, trading cues from the U S. Thank you for