21/04/2017 Asia Business Report


21/04/2017

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Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

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Could China be the next big electric car exporter? We will show you the

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latest from the Shanghai Auto Show. And Donald Trump orders an

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investigation into steel imports. We find out why. Hello and welcome to

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the Friday edition of Asia Business Report. I'm Sharanjit Leyl. The

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world's biggest car makers have unveiled a range of plans to go

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electric. But the number one manufacturer, VW, still says they

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see life in combustion models. Robert Brunt is at the Shanghai Auto

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Show for us. What are some of the latest models you are seeing there?

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Everybody is here. This is the biggest car show in the biggest car

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market in the world. All the manufacturers are here shown what

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they have. This is not just about what you can drive away today, but

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what you can drive away tomorrow. That includes autonomous vehicles

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and electric vehicles. China wants to become the leader in the

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electorate. That is the technology behind the cars, the batteries, but

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also getting people to buy and drive them. Because it sees it as one way

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of dealing with the huge pollution problem in the country. So I will be

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looking at the strategies for some of the car makers when it comes to

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electric, and that includes the largest carmaker in the world, VW.

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TRANSLATION: We will continue to develop combustion engines in the

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next two years. Nobody knows and we will see the tipping point between

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electric engines and combustion engines. I think we will have them

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for the next 20 years. TRANSLATION: New technologies always

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need help. But car companies cannot live on their own. Infrastructure is

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very, very important. And therefore, the government can do a lot of

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important work for the infrastructure for these kind of

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vehicles. -- kinds. Soapie increasing lure of the SUV

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could cause problems for China's desire to go to electric. -- So the.

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A bit like Google, a lot of money has gone towards autonomous

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vehicles. It hopes to have vehicles on the road, on the streets, the

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real streets, by 2020, but interestingly, I spoke to a senior

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adviser at VW, they have their own plans, but they weren't sure about

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that ambitious plan. They had concern about operating the vehicles

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in such a short space of time in conditions other than clear daytime.

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You'll be watching the story there at the Shanghai Auto Show. And we

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will get more from there throughout the day. The global steel industry

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is the latest target of Donald Trump's result put America first. He

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is imported an investigation into whether imports of foreign-made

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steel is hurting American companies. -- he has ordered an. China is the

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biggest producer of steel and would be the one to hurt most if there

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were restrictions on the importing of steel.

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This allows the Federal government to launch an investigation to see if

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the steel imports, if it hurts US steel companies, domestic companies,

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and, crucially, if this is in fact a threat to national security. This

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was met with great cheers from American steel companies. In fact,

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they would rally at on the exchanges in US markets today. Because they

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have long complained that the dumping of foreign steel on Tig US

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market is really puts them at a disadvantage. And how odd doesn't

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seem that Donald Trump seems to be reverting to a 1962 law that limits

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imports, based on, as you say, national security? -- the US market.

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It is certainly rarely use. But one of the key factors in using this is

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that if it does meet the criteria of being a threat to national security,

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it would allow the US to impose retaliatory measures. -- used. Some

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of those measures could include tariffs. The trick will be proving a

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national security risk. In 2001, a similar probe was launched, and they

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did not find any evidence that this was a threat to national security.

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So it might be a tough sell. I guess the elephant in the room is that

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this may well be seen to be targeting China. They have got a

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glut of steel on the market at the moment. And they have been accused

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of dumping it cheaply on others. Absolutely. American steel companies

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in the first to complain of this kind of dumping. -- have been the

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first. Tons of US to make foreign steel makes its way to US markets.

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At as Donald Trump tries to force a bigger mandate of buying American

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hiring American, you need to look at his $1 trillion plan for spending on

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infrastructure. He said that when it comes to those projects, it is

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imperative that those projects use American things, like American

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steel. So this is in tune with the idea that the President wants to

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protect what is happening here in the United States. And those

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protectionist ideas are really coming to fruition, here. Samira

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Hussein there. Businesses have been complaining about the expensive and

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complicated fees in China. Earlier, I spoke to somebody from the China

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Market Research. He says tax cuts could help businesses. It will

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foster innovation. I think the problem in China for a long time has

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been that smaller businesses have not understood the tax code. They

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have not had the money to be up to keep up with new changes to tax

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laws. It has been difficult for them to adapt. The changes that are now

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happening in the tax code, it is a good buy things and make it easier

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for small businesses to survive, because there are all tax rate will

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go down. In spite of the better than expected GDP numbers earlier this

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week, do these tax cuts, these measures by the Chinese economy to

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try to prop up its economy, do they suggest that they are slightly

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worried? I think that this will probably not helped the economy that

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much in the short-term. But I think they are taking a longer-term

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approach you. If you look at the traditional model, it has been

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impressed, invest, invest. But they are realising now that they cannot

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invest in a lot more infrastructure projects. It is up to make the

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difference is they need. So this is actually going to give them the

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ability to really drive growth. -- invest. Do you think this is part of

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a larger fiscal reform China has in mind? It is hard to say. I want to

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say yes. We have been in a situation where we take to step forwards than

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one back. It is difficult to know with the current people in power

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what is really going to happen in the longer term. I suspect that with

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this tightening its publication, we are moving in that direction. And

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what are your forecasts for the outlook in China? Is a magic, higher

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than expected GDP, but can they sustain that? I am positive. I was

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worried will go to go through a sustained slowdown. -- as I said

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earlier, higher than. There was a lot of investment be. Highly cash. I

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think that we will have a good year and I think that they should be able

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to hit their targets or them. A quick look at the markets. They have

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all opened higher. That is it for today's addition. Thank you for

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watching. You are watching BBC News. Our main

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stories this hour: A shark attack on the Champs-Elysees has left one

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police officer dead and two word. The gunmen

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