0:00:00 > 0:00:00before evidence showing he was innocent was disclosed.
0:00:00 > 0:00:04Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19The economy, trade and infrastructure, which of these hot
0:00:19 > 0:00:24topics will Donald Trump focus on at his first State of the Union
0:00:24 > 0:00:28address? And UK Prime Minister Theresa May
0:00:28 > 0:00:32travels to China with the tricky task of improving trade relations
0:00:32 > 0:00:33post-Brexit.
0:00:38 > 0:00:44Good morning, Asia. Hello, world. It's a Wednesday, glad you could
0:00:44 > 0:00:47join us for another exciting addition of Asia Business Report,
0:00:47 > 0:00:52I'm Rico Hizon. Well, in about half an hour the US President Donald
0:00:52 > 0:00:56Trump will be delivering his State of the Union address. Immigration
0:00:56 > 0:00:59policy is expected to be the centrepiece but there are
0:00:59 > 0:01:02expectations he will continue with the tone he took at the World
0:01:02 > 0:01:07Economic Forum about the state of global trade.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12We cannot have free and open trade if some countries exploit the system
0:01:12 > 0:01:16at the expense of others.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20Well, the president's speech is expected to hit on the economy as
0:01:20 > 0:01:23well as military buildup and infrastructure spending, which Trump
0:01:23 > 0:01:29has said will come up to 1.7 trillion US dollars. But everyone's
0:01:29 > 0:01:32waiting on the details in terms of what portion will be from the
0:01:32 > 0:01:35government and how much will be funded by the private sector.
0:01:35 > 0:01:42Earlier I spoke with someone from the US studies centre at the
0:01:42 > 0:01:45university of Sydney and I asked him if Donald Trump was likely to
0:01:45 > 0:01:47announce more tariffs.
0:01:47 > 0:01:47I doubt there announce more tariffs.
0:01:47 > 0:01:47I doubt there will announce more tariffs.
0:01:47 > 0:01:48I doubt there will be announce more tariffs.
0:01:48 > 0:01:48I doubt there will be new announce more tariffs.
0:01:48 > 0:01:48I doubt there will be new tariffs announce more tariffs.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50I doubt there will be new tariffs announced in the speech itself but
0:01:50 > 0:01:54there's definitely going to be a continuation of what he said at
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Davos in terms of being more aggressive to take on what he called
0:01:57 > 0:02:02economic aggression in the global trade system. It's basically China
0:02:02 > 0:02:06where he is trying to take on what he thinks is unfair trade practices
0:02:06 > 0:02:12there. While he may not announce new tariffs, I think he will definitely
0:02:12 > 0:02:16announce some core principles in terms of taking on economic
0:02:16 > 0:02:22aggression in China.What do you think will these specific principles
0:02:22 > 0:02:27be?I think he will talk about free but their trade. What does that
0:02:27 > 0:02:33mean? At Davos he talked about how he may be open to joining the
0:02:33 > 0:02:38Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP, now known as CP TPP. He may say that
0:02:38 > 0:02:42again, something about that, but ultimately he will want their trade
0:02:42 > 0:02:47deals and the specifics of that are still coming out in terms of
0:02:47 > 0:02:49negotiations with career, negotiations with Nafta between
0:02:49 > 0:02:56Mexico and the US. The Trump administration is focused
0:02:56 > 0:03:00particularly on balance of trade, in my opinion and economically
0:03:00 > 0:03:05irrelevant topic but something that means a lot to him.Do you think the
0:03:05 > 0:03:11chorus or the career US free trade arrangement can be renegotiated or
0:03:11 > 0:03:17will it be cancelled?-- Korea. It is still up in the air. If you look
0:03:17 > 0:03:22at what he's doing with Nafta between Canada, the US and Mexico,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26it looked like he was going to cancel it and he was sure of it and
0:03:26 > 0:03:31he was persuaded at the last minute not to so it's a tough thing to
0:03:31 > 0:03:37predict, his presidency.You have Paris being slapped on some Asian
0:03:37 > 0:03:41goods -- tariffs. Then you have the renegotiation of trade arrangements.
0:03:41 > 0:03:48What do you think will be Trump... The positive impact of Trump's
0:03:48 > 0:03:55agenda for Asia, will it be good or bad?Right now it looks like for
0:03:55 > 0:04:00those in the renegotiated CP TPP it looks OK but if you look at what TPP
0:04:00 > 0:04:05was before the US left, it was 40% of the global GDP and now it is less
0:04:05 > 0:04:10than half. I think Asia wants the US to join the Asian architecture, as
0:04:10 > 0:04:16set up by the Asian global trade architecture by the Obama
0:04:16 > 0:04:20administration and led by the Obama administration, but it's very
0:04:20 > 0:04:24unlikely that I see them joining that and it's unfortunate for the US
0:04:24 > 0:04:26in particular.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31We will bring you the State of the Union address of President Donald
0:04:31 > 0:04:39Trump in full, that starts at 0200 GMT, 10am Hong Kong Singapore time,
0:04:39 > 0:04:45right here on BBC World News. In other news, Indian ride hailing
0:04:45 > 0:04:49company Hola announced plans to enter the Australian market, its
0:04:49 > 0:04:53first overseas foray. They will begin inviting private vehicle
0:04:53 > 0:04:57owners and driver partners to work with it in cities like Sydney,
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Melbourne and Perth with plans to start commercial operations early
0:05:01 > 0:05:06this year. Let's go to Delhi and we are joined by our business reporter.
0:05:06 > 0:05:12How does this Indian start-up plan to compete against its bigger rival,
0:05:12 > 0:05:18Uber, in Australia?It has a wealth of seven years of experience
0:05:18 > 0:05:23operating in a tough market conditions like India, its present
0:05:23 > 0:05:30in over 100 cities in India and has 125 million customer base. It's been
0:05:30 > 0:05:42able to lead the sector. Here it is known for providing Electric
0:05:42 > 0:05:52vehicles, a first, and it has Ola Play, and it is connected with local
0:05:52 > 0:05:56food services, local transportation and bikes, this good work in
0:05:56 > 0:06:01Australia. It has made a start by offering lower conditions to private
0:06:01 > 0:06:08hire vehicle owners, which could lead to a competitive commission war
0:06:08 > 0:06:11in Australia if the other players get in but conditions in the
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Australian market are quite different, as you rightly pointed
0:06:15 > 0:06:20out. Uber has the advantage of being their first, unlike in India, where
0:06:20 > 0:06:25Ola had an advantage over Uber. There are local Australian
0:06:25 > 0:06:33aggregators who will be competing against them and also Taxify,
0:06:33 > 0:06:40present in Australia. Between the Uber and Ola, one common thread, and
0:06:40 > 0:06:43that's the Japanese investor Softbank. Even while they are
0:06:43 > 0:06:48competing, you have a common investor, Japanese Softbank, who
0:06:48 > 0:06:53will be laughing all the way because the competition leads to greater
0:06:53 > 0:06:59customer base.Ola versus Uber in Australia. We will be looking
0:06:59 > 0:07:02forward to that tough competition in the country.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Moving on to other business news making headlines and Samsung
0:07:05 > 0:07:10Electronics has reported a record is the 3% jump in its fourth-quarter
0:07:10 > 0:07:14net profit. The company posted profitability of $11.4 billion
0:07:14 > 0:07:19mainly driven by demand for its memory chips and display panels. The
0:07:19 > 0:07:26South Korean giant's shares surging more than 8% after it unveiled a
0:07:26 > 0:07:30massive 50 to one stock split. Facebook is banning ads for crypto
0:07:30 > 0:07:35currencies and initial coin offerings. The social media giant
0:07:35 > 0:07:40said they are looking to prohibit the promotion of financial products
0:07:40 > 0:07:44that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional
0:07:44 > 0:07:49practices. However, the policy is being kept broad and may be fine
0:07:49 > 0:07:52tuned. The chief executive of surfing
0:07:52 > 0:07:56company board riders, formerly known as Quicksilver, has gone missing.
0:07:56 > 0:08:02French coastguards are searching for the man after his boat was found
0:08:02 > 0:08:08washed ashore without him. The 54-year-old Frenchman had set sail
0:08:08 > 0:08:13on Tuesday morning but did not return. His company also owns DC
0:08:13 > 0:08:19shoes and the Roxy clothing brands. British Prime Minister Theresa May
0:08:19 > 0:08:23are three-day China tour today with a. Word before going to Beijing and
0:08:23 > 0:08:29shy Shanghai later in the week. The Prime Minister will be holding talks
0:08:29 > 0:08:49with President Xi and she will meet with business leaders and students.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53It is hugely important and that's what this trip is mainly about,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57post-Brexit. We have an op-ed in this morning's Financial Times and
0:08:57 > 0:09:01this is what isn't in those paragraphs. No mention of human
0:09:01 > 0:09:05rights, perhaps not a surprise but nonetheless many critics think
0:09:05 > 0:09:10people like her, prominent politicians, should be pointing to
0:09:10 > 0:09:15their human rights abuses. No mention of President Xi's pet
0:09:15 > 0:09:18project, the belt Road initiative, that massive infrastructure project
0:09:18 > 0:09:25led by China heading west. That apparently been a bone of
0:09:25 > 0:09:28contention, the Chinese leadership would like to see her mention that
0:09:28 > 0:09:33to give it added credibility. There's talk of dialogue, that sets
0:09:33 > 0:09:38the tone of what we can expect in terms of Theresa May's dealings with
0:09:38 > 0:09:47President Xi and China's Premier. She will talk about Varsity in the
0:09:47 > 0:09:52steel industry and IT intellectual property and respecting the rule
0:09:52 > 0:09:59book on global free trade -- capacity. There's talk about China
0:09:59 > 0:10:03not seeing eye to eye with the UK but she will describe them as
0:10:03 > 0:10:11partners going forward. Looking at China's growing economy, this is
0:10:11 > 0:10:16what the Chinese owner of House of Fraser said to me this week, nobody
0:10:16 > 0:10:20can ignore China now and Theresa May is in that position.Let's look at
0:10:20 > 0:10:26the markets, currently trimming earlier losses, down by 13 points
0:10:26 > 0:10:30for the Nikkei 225. Thanks for watching, I'm Rico Hizon,