24/01/2018 Asia Business Report

I'm Babita Sharma

with BBC World News.

Our top story.

President Trump says he's not

expecting a trade war with China

despite new US import tariffs that

target Asian manufacturers.

The tariffs on washing machines

and solar panels are part

of Mr Trump's "America First" policy

to protect local industry.

China and South Korea are among

those unhappy at the move.

The US Attorney-General,

Jeff Sessions, has become the first

member of President Trump's

cabinet to be questioned

by the Special Counsel investigating

alleged Russian interference

in the presidential election.

And this video is

trending on BBC.com.

It's a timelapse of the Philippines'

most active volcano,

Mount Mayon - which has been spewing

ash on local communities.

There are fears of a major eruption

after two weeks of activity.

That's all from me for now.

Stay with BBC News.

And the top story here in the UK.

The Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson, has been rebuked

by the Prime Minister and other

cabinet colleagues after saying

the NHS should be

given extra money.

Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

11 countries have agreed to join the

Trans-Pacific Partnership but how

much does this deal will mean

without the United States? Prime

Minister Narendra Modi tells the

World Economic Forum that India is

open to business. Good morning,

Asia. Hello, world. Glad you could

enjoy and dashed glad you could join

us for another exciting addition of

Asia Business Report. 11 countries

are aiming to form an Asia-Pacific

trade pact. They have all reached a

deal and will be signing a final

agreement this March in Chile. Also

called the TPP 11, it does not use

include the United States after

Donald Trump withdrew. Timothy

McDonald is in the newsroom. How

significant is the TPP without the

United States?

The answer is much

less significant. Given that it is

in fact the biggest economy in the

world. You are talking about a

market of 300 million people. Of

course, by any objective measure, it

is less significant. That said, US

wheat growers have expressed concern

about not being included. Canadian

auto workers are worried about being

part of the deal. It is also a very

interesting snapshot of where things

are at with trade negotiations

because on one hand, we have this

agreement, which is about come off.

We have the President, Donald Trump,

slapping tariffs on Chinese solar

and large family washing machines

and on top of that, there is an

extremely vigorous round of Nafta

negotiations going on. That is going

to be made even trickier by the fact

the US has imposed tariffs on

Canadian aerospace company

Bombardier. The Australian Prime

Minister Malcom Turnbull said that

all would be open for the US should

it ever decide to join but it's

difficult to see that happening at

least within the next three years.

The other members want to prove they

can do it without the United States.

This agreement comes as world

leaders gather in Davos. Prime

Minister Narendra Modi is the first

Indian leader to attend in 20 years

and it's one of the fastest growing

economies in the world. The

government expects growth of 6.5%

this fiscal year while growth is

expected to increase next year.

Despite some economic rot -- despite

some economic reforms and the goods

and services tax. Narendra Modi is

facing a huge challenge of the

wealth gap. 1% owned 60% of the

wealth, a gap second only to Russia.

He opened a form with some tough on

trade.

TRANSLATION: forces of protectionism

are raising their heads against

globalisation. Their intention is

not only to avoid globalisation

themselves but they also want to

reverse its natural glow. The result

of all of this is that we get to

witness new types of tariff and

nontariff barriers. Bilateral and

multilateral trade agreements and

negotiations have come to a kind of

standstill.

I am joined by our business

correspondence. What does this mean

for Indian's relationship with the

rest of the world?

The comments of

Narendra Modi really echoed what

China's president said last year at

Davos as well. He tried to position

India as a counter to the US and

China. He brought up a lot of things

including terrorism and climate

change and of course protectionism

as we heard. He went after China and

Blues alluded to its hunt and

natural in Africa. And its

relationship with Pakistan. But

really, his speech was aimed at one

country. As we heard, non- barrier

tariffs are really affecting

domestic business in India, they are

affecting the price of imports. So

the speech of Narendra Modi was

really in trying to reduce that.

That was affecting investments,

business. Indian investment could

really help that. He also wanted to

pitch India as an investment

destination. He quoted scripture

that said the world is one big

family and we need to bridge those

gaps rather than break them down.

Thank you so much for that update.

Stating with India. Over the past

few years, the country has emerged

as a fierce battleground for

International technology companies.

Amazon, Google, Facebook, Uber, all

want a slice of a promising market.

Shelling out $12 million in a

little-known start-up.

We find out what caught Google's

interest. At this time last year,

this 33 wrought was staring at a

crisis. His app based servers had

started off well. The ship

professionals used macro free -- is

Dunzo to so many things but two

years on, he was struggling to pay

his 1500 bikers. That is when Google

came calling.

It's been tough people

invest in. They will all about

solving a problem.

With almost 500

million users, India is the world's

second largest on line market and is

growing. Global giants like Amazon

and Ali Barba realise the potential

in India and with an investment in a

home-grown start-up like Dunzo,

Google is sending a clear message

that it is here to stay and it can

be more than just a search engine.

To do that, Google is going beyond

the virtual world into the real

world, by allowing customers to

search and then purchase within its

ecosystem.

A number of companies are

doing this like in many markets. We

had done a number of investments

like this. We tend to look at, are

they in the right space, do they

have the right product? In this

case, we were really excited by all

three factors.

The deal has changed

the fortunes of those working for

Dunzo whose regular income and job

security are invaluable to them. Are

you feeling cold? And for Dunzo

customers like this woman, it is a

service she has come to rely on,

especially on days when the office

is cold.

It would have taken me an

hour to get my jacket but I got it

in ten minutes.

Dunzo serves almost

3500 customers every day and is

planning to expand. You can't put a

price on convenient and that is

something Google has realised is the

key to getting a foothold in the

Indian market.

Investigators in the United States

are investigating the crash of a

Tesla vehicle with a fire truck

while driving in semiautonomous

mode. It's the second time a crash

may be linked to autopilot. It

highlights some of the concerns with

the technology but the chairman of

Nissan and Mitsubishi motors says

despite the worries, autonomous

driving will be here very soon.

This

is going to happen in the next 5-6

years, gradually. This is something

on which we are working very hard.

It is development to put this

technology into the car. A lot of

announcement made by many carmakers.

We want to see who is going to come

to mass market this technology.

Obviously today, we are the largest

producer of electric cars in the

world. We have the intention to be

in between the first carmakers to

bring autonomous and connective

cars.

The US Senate has confirmed

Joe Rowen Powell as the next head of

the Central Bank, succeeding Janet

Yellen. -- Joe Powell. He will hold

the job for four years. And before

we go, let's have a look at the

markets. As you can see, most of

them are in negative territory.

This is after the Dow Jones

industrial average