:00:00. > :00:00.and delivering Brexit are the biggest priorities if she's
:00:00. > :00:15.Now all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:22.APEC trade ministers gear up for a busy weekend in Vietnam, as it faces
:00:23. > :00:27.restructuring of major trade agreements.
:00:28. > :00:34.And who knew what you could do with used coffee grounds?
:00:35. > :00:41.Good morning, Asia, hello, world. Glad you could join us for this
:00:42. > :00:50.edition of Asia Business Report. Trade ministers are gathering in
:00:51. > :00:55.Vietnam this weekend and the person they will be wanting face time with,
:00:56. > :00:59.America's new trade Representative, who is in charge of President
:01:00. > :01:04.Trump's America first policy. Earlier I spoke to the executive
:01:05. > :01:09.director of a segment of APEC and he told me what ministers are keen to
:01:10. > :01:13.find out. We are pretty interested to talk to the United States trade
:01:14. > :01:19.representatives and have him come and elaborate for us some details of
:01:20. > :01:23.US trade and other related policies. We are pushing ahead with a lot of
:01:24. > :01:34.initiatives in APEC. It is a pretty important time. We have to have more
:01:35. > :01:37.clarity on what the US will be supporting, where their
:01:38. > :01:43.sensitivities are and how to proceed forward. The US seems to be
:01:44. > :01:48.supporting protectionist policies, so how will APEC respond to this? I
:01:49. > :01:51.am not here in the USA that he doesn't want to hear more trade, I
:01:52. > :01:55.think they do. They are mainly talking about rules of trade. We
:01:56. > :01:59.will have some discussion about that and we are really looking to work
:02:00. > :02:04.out what... Where these points of agreement between the US and other
:02:05. > :02:11.20 economies in APEC who are broadly aiming to want to push ahead with
:02:12. > :02:16.these things we are doing. Trade is very much on the agenda in
:02:17. > :02:22.the US. Washington has set mid-August as the date where they
:02:23. > :02:24.want to begin renegotiating the North America trade agreement.
:02:25. > :02:29.President Trump promised to use these talks to reduce the trade
:02:30. > :02:35.deficit the US has with both Canada and Mexico, but his plan threatens
:02:36. > :02:43.to disrupt Mexico's booming auto industry. It is the world's fourth
:02:44. > :02:52.largest exporter. This report from Mexico's industrial heartland.
:02:53. > :02:56.The city in central Mexico has seen the Autry and history booming for
:02:57. > :03:02.more than 20 years. The country is now the fourth largest car exporter
:03:03. > :03:06.in the world. -- or to industry. We import a lot of cars, we exporter a
:03:07. > :03:13.lot of cars. But good the boom be under threat? It was meant to be a
:03:14. > :03:17.shining example of free trade, but today it's a monument to Donald
:03:18. > :03:23.Trump's plan of protectionism. This is all that's left of a $1.6 billion
:03:24. > :03:29.investment that Ford was making to build a plant here. Jose shows me
:03:30. > :03:33.the deed to the land he sold the Ford. With the money he bought a
:03:34. > :03:38.tractor. For a while life was good. But it didn't last.
:03:39. > :03:45.TRANSLATION: Some people came to the plant and said there was no entry
:03:46. > :03:53.any more. The cars could go any more, it collapsed. For everyone.
:03:54. > :03:57.During his campaign, Donald Trump complained of bad trade, making the
:03:58. > :04:01.issue his own will stop we are living through the greatest jobs
:04:02. > :04:05.theft in the history of the world. And his attempts to coalesce several
:04:06. > :04:11.cars giants in moving production to the US seemed to yield results. Ford
:04:12. > :04:16.is keen to emphasise the market forces which drove the decision to
:04:17. > :04:20.abandon its previous plant. But the CEO admits presidential rhetoric is
:04:21. > :04:24.also a factor. At the end of the day we have to do what's right for our
:04:25. > :04:27.business and of course the administration and Congress have the
:04:28. > :04:32.ability to look at tax policy, trade policy, etc, which is the business
:04:33. > :04:36.environment we react to. The economic advantages which created
:04:37. > :04:40.Mexico's decades long car but haven't yet disappeared, but a more
:04:41. > :04:44.protectionist US administration could undoubtedly do great harm to
:04:45. > :04:50.many livelihoods in this part of Mexico.
:04:51. > :04:58.In other business news making headlines, BMW are among car makers
:04:59. > :05:02.which agreed to pay more than $550 million to set up a class-action
:05:03. > :05:07.lawsuit covering owners of recalled vehicles fitted with potentially
:05:08. > :05:11.faulty Takata airbags. The airbags were blamed for 11 deaths and more
:05:12. > :05:20.than 150 injuries and sparked the biggest recall in the auto industry.
:05:21. > :05:25.Revenues at Alibaba jumped 60% in the first three months of the year
:05:26. > :05:29.to $5.6 billion. But growth has been powered by a growing customer base,
:05:30. > :05:34.with more than 450 million Chinese shoppers using its sights during the
:05:35. > :05:37.quarter. On average annual spending was up by about one third. It seems
:05:38. > :05:43.investors were underwhelmed, at Alibaba shares fell by more than 3%
:05:44. > :05:46.on Wall Street. The explosion in e-commerce is
:05:47. > :05:50.putting pressure on traditional stores around the globe, not least
:05:51. > :05:56.in America. Many shops are closing down. The world's largest retailer
:05:57. > :05:59.Walmart has benefited from the surge in online sales, following its bid
:06:00. > :06:07.to compete with US e-commerce giant Amidon. -- Amazon. Our reporter told
:06:08. > :06:11.me why we should take note of these numbers. It is a giant in terms of
:06:12. > :06:15.the number of people it employs and the foot rent it has in American
:06:16. > :06:22.retail. -- footprint. It is really important. It is also looked at as a
:06:23. > :06:26.bellwether of the health of the economy in the US. It shows Walmart
:06:27. > :06:31.is in a good position to be a big competitor in different areas. We've
:06:32. > :06:37.seen that online was a huge boost to them in this last quarter. They are
:06:38. > :06:41.also doing well in terms of grocery numbers. That will be the next
:06:42. > :06:45.really big hitting area, where people will have to compete a lot
:06:46. > :06:49.for in terms of retailers and groceries and Walmart has positioned
:06:50. > :06:57.itself well. It is making its mark in the US, but it seems to have
:06:58. > :07:01.major problems, especially in the Chinese market and competing with
:07:02. > :07:04.the likes of Alibaba? Absolutely. The kind of difficulties you would
:07:05. > :07:10.see with Walmart competing with the likes of Amazon are already
:07:11. > :07:13.established, in terms of e-commerce. The task is that much greater when
:07:14. > :07:19.it comes to China and competing with Alibaba. Alibaba's earnings have
:07:20. > :07:24.just come out and Wylie didn't meet investor's expectations, it showed
:07:25. > :07:29.that the Chinese market is still hungry and looking to shop.
:07:30. > :07:33.That was from New York. Have you ever wondered what happens to use
:07:34. > :07:38.the coffee grounds, but are thrown out by cafes around the world? One
:07:39. > :07:44.man in Taiwan decided to gather them up and make fabric from them. Today,
:07:45. > :07:48.his award-winning material is used by about 100 clothing and sportswear
:07:49. > :07:54.companies around the world. As part of our Busy Breakfast series, we met
:07:55. > :08:02.up with him to find out more. This is what a lot of people think
:08:03. > :09:33.Taiwanese companies must do. Many Taiwanese companies want to
:09:34. > :10:06.become a global brand. What is your advice to them?
:10:07. > :10:14.Coffee being fabric made in Taiwan. Let's have a quick look at the
:10:15. > :10:17.markets. The Trump turmoil continues for the Asian financial markets,
:10:18. > :10:22.despite the recovery in US stocks overnight. The Nikkei bound by about
:10:23. > :10:29.11 points and the All Ords losing 22 points. Wall Street's indices
:10:30. > :10:33.closing higher overnight, with the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ in positive
:10:34. > :10:35.territory. Thanks so much for investing your time with us. Goodbye
:10:36. > :10:39.for now.