31/01/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Rachel Horne and Sally Bundock.

As many big US businesses rally against President Trump's travel

ban, will he be able to get them back onside with lower taxes

Live from London, that's our top story on Tuesday 31st January.

With $2.5 trillion stashed overseas, can America's biggest companies be

convinced to bring it back and boost their own economy?

Also in the programme, jitters in Japan.

Profits fall at Canon and Sony sees a big write-down on the big screen.

The FTSE 100 up slightly, the Dax is flat.

And, how a wine industry is trying to put Lebanon's vineyards back at

the top table. And, bad maths skills

could be costing us as much Let us know, have your maths

skills ever resulted US President Donald Trump has only

been in office for 12 days but he's already turned every Presidential

convention on its head. Temporarily banning immigration

from seven countries may have emboldened the President's

supporters but it has been Leading experts now say those

international relationships could be further tested and even result

in a trade war if Mr Trump follows through on his

radical plan for tax cuts. There are around $2.5 trillion worth

of US profits currently overseas held by some of the biggest US

companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple that would get

hit by some of the highest tax rates in the world at 35%

if they were repatriated now. Donald Trump has "proposed" three

areas of tax reform. A "one-time tax rate of 10%"

for companies bringing money earned in other countries back

into the United States, he's also talked about a cut to 15%

in US tax rates to improve competitiveness, and potential

border taxes on firms that outsource With me is our Business

Editor Simon Jack. You were talking to some of those in

the know about this recently. Businesses have been very

enthusiastic about the proposed tax reforms? Yes, the less tax a company

pays, the more of its own profits it gets to keep, and the more valuable

the company is, and you have seen share prices rise since the

election. But crucially, trillions of dollars are held overseas, and

getting those back, there is a massive disincentive. The Chief

Executive of the Boston consulting group sits on Donald Trump's policy

Forum, he explained what is keeping the money overseas.

That creates a discouragement to bring it back, you leave it

overseas, you show higher earnings, because you have not pay taxes on

it, but the money cannot be put to work in the US, so it creates

challenges the companies. Most of the rest of the world does not

operate that way, and there has been pressure for years. It is by both

parties, the system is antiquated, but the gridlock has prevented any

action from being taken. Trillions coming back into the

country would be good for the economy? It depends on what you have

it. If it came back into the country and you put it to work on building

would be one thing, but some people would be one thing, but some people

fear if they buy back shares and the financial engineering with it...

Depends. You would see the dollar shirt as well. If you move to put $5

trillion in a short order, something will happen, there will be some sort

of disturbance. Christopher Smart is a former adviser to Barack Obama, he

explained what the problems could be.

The potential is for a great deal of instability, both on the financial

market side and on the political side. For the financial markets the

issue is a large amount of money destabilising things, but the

political issue has to do with the potential for retaliation, and areas

that we have been removing start going up again, it could lead to a

trade skirmish. This is the problem. People cannot

figure out whether Donald Trump is good or bad for American business.

We have this story about Washington State following through with legal

action against the travel ban that was signed off last week. Companies

are unsure what it will mean for them. There is no such thing as a

tax free lunch. Anybody that has you reform is simple is crazy, occurs

lots of administrations have tried to address the issue, without

success. Businesses are cheering less regulation and lower taxes.

Putting boulders up, that is the one thing that could throw sand in the

engine of the global economy. And the travel ban. You have seen some

of the big tech companies come out strongly against this, Google,

people walking off campus. We knew that tech was anti-this in the first

place. What is more interesting, some of the big banks are getting

involved, sending a text to the Goldman Sachs employees, saying,

diversity is at the heart of what we do. Business was excited about tax

and regulation reform, but these barriers being erected, they think

it might be a barrier to trade, and that is what might go the wrong way

for them. A lot more from Simon on our

website. Royal Dutch Shell says it will sell

some of its UK North Sea assets to the oil company Chrysaor for up

to $3.8 billion. Around 400 staff are expected

to transfer to Chrysaor once the deal, which is subject

to regulatory approval, Deutsche Bank has been fined

$630 million by US and UK regulators for failing to detect and stop

a Russian money-laundering plan. Under the scheme $10 billion

was moved illegally out Deutsche Bank says it is cooperating

with regulators and has put aside money to cover the cost

of the settlement. Japan's central bank has

finished its first meeting of the year by leaving interest

rates unchanged, but upgraded its forecasts for the world's

third-biggest economy. The Bank of Japan cited rising

exports, easy lending conditions and stronger government spending

ahead of the 2020 Olympics The strong yen is causing

difficulties for some It is causing problems. Some of the

biggest names in corporate Japan are posting results, and it is a less

than stellar report card. We heard from Canon, their profit tumbled in

the last three months of last year, hurt by the strength of the yen

after the Brexit decision. Its operating profit fell 25%, following

the UK's vote to leave the EU. We have heard from Sony, it is more

than just the Sony, it includes movies. Their movies

excite cinemagoers at the global box excite cinemagoers at the global box

office, so they are having to take a hefty write-down on the value of

their movie business. It is due out with its results this Thursday. I

did see Angry Birds, but I was not their target audience!

US stocks saw their biggest selloff yesterday since

The markets looking unnerved by President Donald Trump's

The dollar was down and the Japanese currency the yen and gold gained

A rise in the yen often pulls down the Nikkei,

and you can see its biggest daily decline since November.

In Europe, figures out this morning showed an unexpected fall of almost

1% in retail sales in Germany for the month of December.

However, this indicator is often revised.

But let's find out what's ahead on Wall Street Today.

The Federal Reserve, America's Central Bank,

starts its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday.

The Fed has forecast three rate hikes this year,

but it is expected to leave rates unchanged at this meeting.

This is the first since Donald Trump became President.

The Fed lifted interest rates in December by 25 basis points.

Apple will be reporting earnings on Tuesday.

It seems the revamped iPhone 7 will give the tech company a boost.

Apple is predicting record-level revenues for this quarter.

Analysts will be looking out for comments on the smartphone

industry and expectations for the next iPhone.

Finally, ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly

traded oil producer, will be benefiting from rising crude

prices and it should be reflected when it reports fourth quarter

Joining us is James Quinn, Group Business Editor

A busy time in the US, it seems to be orientated and around the US,

especially with Asian markets closed. Markets yesterday were

focused on the travel ban, imposed late on Friday, eight. Have a chance

to react Friday. The Dow Jones having its worst day since the

president was elected in November. The bump was surpassed last week,

but now investors are questioning whether or not the momentum can to

-- continue. It is only a little bit down. Not terrible, it is all about

momentum. A slew of results coming out today from corporate America and

over the next week, so we will get a test of how the big culprits and the

economy are doing, as opposed to whether the president will be good

for the economy, the hopes and dreams. What impact are we expecting

the president to have? There is the question of whether Janet Yellen can

remain as Federal Reserve chairman, that is up to the president and

Congress. The Fed will take a balanced view and hold rates. A rate

hold is expected from the Bank of England as well. Central-bank week.

It is also tech week. We have Snapchat's parent company's IPO. If

you are a central bank watcher and a tech watcher, this is your week. We

will see you again soon. He got away with me asking about his maths

skills, we will tell you why later! We'll get the inside track why wine

is making a comeback in Lebanon. You're with Business

Live from BBC News. Britain's commercial aerospace

industry is celebrating its sixth successive year of growth,

that's according to figures More than 1,400 planes

were completed in 2016, and it raised ?27 billion

for the UK economy. Paul Everitt is the CEO

of the trade body ADS. What could happen once Brexit kicks

in? We do not tend to produce whole planes in the UK, we are integrated

in a European system. Brexit will be a big challenge for us. We have a

long cycle industry and we have record order books are fed of us,

something equivalent to seven or eight years of work at current

rates. It is not an immediate problem, but we need to use the next

two years to get the conditions right for a successful Brexit, both

for the UK and our European industrial partners, because we are

an integrated industry, with complex supply chains, so for us the Brexit

negotiations are important, but we believe they can deliver a

successful outcome for our industry. Can you be specific about what a

successful outcome is? Is that being out of the customs union or being

firmly in the single market? There are key priorities. The number one

is remaining part of the European Aviation Safety Agency, the

regulatory regime for Aerospace in Europe, because that, in addition to

providing our route to market, it is the organisation that negotiates

technical equivalence with major partners in the US, China and other

parts of the world. The regulatory regime is important, and achieving

this frictionless trade is also important. We are not impacted by

tariffs in the way the car industry is. The cost and administration of

multiple border crossings, because our supply chains are integrated,

our products are developed and produced in many sites across Europe

before being brought together either here and then exported out

elsewhere... Thank you very much for your time

this morning. So good news for the British aerospace industry.

You're watching Business Live. Our top story:

As many big US businesses rally

against President Trump's travel ban, one of his

top economic advisors tells us that they should repatriate

billions in overseas profits so they can put that money to work.

A quick look at how markets are faring.

They have been open for 45 minutes and you can see actually they are

all in the green. We mentioned some retail sales figures out in Germany

which were disappointing for December, but it doesn't seem to

have had that much of an impact on investors.

Now, think of the global wine industry and places like France,

California and South Africa will probably spring to mind,

but one of the oldest wine industries in the world is to be

The country's civil war caused a lot of disruption for the sector.

Well, now there is a revival of interest and our next

He's the boss and head wine-maker of Domaine des Tourelles.

The company was founded way back in 1868 by a French engineer,

making it the oldest winery in the country.

It's thriving, producing 300,000 bottles of wine a day and 350,00

bottles of the local alcoholic drink, Arak.

But just think about this - the Syrian war is raging

Faouzi Issa is managing director and head wine maker at Domaine des

There is two families that run this company now. Yes. And you are from

one of those families? Yes, we are two families running the winery. We

are a committee of four younger team all from the 30s, so we are the

youngest team running the oldest winery. I bet you'd love to be

making 300,000 bottles a day. I would be the leader worldwide! It is

an interesting story. It goes back many, many years with the French

influence at the beginning, but now it is purely a Lebanon wine grown by

two Lebanese families, isn't it? Domaine des Tourelles is a wine that

was the first winery to launch a ready bottle to the market because

at that time it was producing wines for the monks. Today, we are putting

Lebanon back on the map by producing high quality wines and most of the

people everywhere in the world, they don't know that Lebanon has wine.

Well, that's what I was going to ask you. Being in Lebanon, it is not a

traditional wine making region. What specific challenges do you face

being based in Lebanon? It's a fabulous work because you are really

taking something exciting, something sexy to the world. Tell them,

listen, you know, all the negative things maybe about this region, but

come on, taste some good wines. Taste some great potential we

produce in Lebanon. This is what we're really trying to make and

we're succeeding. We're in 17 countries today. Your vineyards,

where you are, is eight kilometres away from an enormous refugee camp

full of Syrian refugees. You are keenly aware of the 1.5 million

refugees in Lebanon. Your population is over four million. What impact

does that have, if any, on what you do? The security impact, but

globally, I mean, that's fine. I mean we are the closest country to

Syria so we are the number one responsible country to solve their

problems. If they want shelter, we're ready to cope with this. There

is no direct impact on our business exactly, but of course, on in the

long run it might be catastrophic. You can't employee any of the

refugees, can you, because they haven't been processed and they're

not in that position? No. Syria is one of your main markets, you export

to Syria? We export a lot to Iraq as well. Now days a Syria, big quality

industries are down. They stop producing so they are importing lots

of niche products from Lebanon. Tell me about your Arak, how many bottles

of Arak do you produce and tell me about the aniseed? We produce

300,000 bottles of Arak a year. We are the leaders in the market, in

the niche category. We use Anna seeds. It is a cocktail, isn't it?

It is a spiritment we use it for cocktails as well, the Lebanese

spirit, the Lebanese national spirit is the Arak. And you have had to

start growing your own aniseed? Because of the problems in Syria, I

launched my new plantation and last year we had the first produce and it

was amazing, amazing and I think we will divert to Lebanese aniseeds

very soon and I hope that we will play this, we will play a role of

diverting aniseeds plantation from Syria to Lebanon. Well, we shall

keep an eye on what you're up to. Thank you for coming in. It is

fascinating and I know your wife is watching you in Lebanon. Just say

hi. Hi Ruba. The whole family is tuning in. It has been good to have

you. In a moment we'll take a look

through the Business Pages but first here's a quick reminder of how

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and you can find us on Facebook. Business Live, on TV and online,

whenever you need to know. No excuses. The story about our

maths skills. Not many of you have been in touch.

It is a revelation? Those of us who have to use maths in our work, the

bits that we have to use, calculations that we use all the

time, they are fine, but the bits that you learnt in school, thaw

don't have to put into practise with your work, they fall away and I find

it with my kids, if you're talking about maths, actually I can't

remember that! It is cobwebs. Citizen maths is launching this new

online course that will allow you to go and refresh your maths skills and

get up to speed. Very, very useful. A good idea. I'm on it. I'm going to

do that. Will says mental arithmetic isn't needed since we have

calculators on our phones. I don't agree. You still need to know how it

works. How about when your phone isn't working? Wall Street Journal,

we've got Mark Zuckerberg trying to reach China. I love the line that he

even took a smog jog in Beijing? To woo over the Communist Party.

Facebook has been blocked since 2009. A lot of people won't

remember, Facebook was blocked along with Twitter in 2009 and they have

tried everything to get back in. Not only because it is a big market, but

because of the way that the Chinese use their social media. There are

some big players here who are really, they use them in a different

way, they use them as banking systems and payment systems all done

through social media and Facebook is worried they are losing a

competitive march here. Well, losing, they have not got in here.

They are worried the Chinese having developed all the fantastic extra

services on their social media sites will export them to the West and

Facebook will be unable to survive. Do you think that's a worry that's

going to become a reality? I don't think that people are loyal to any

service. They will go to the one with the best services. Facebook

itself is vulnerable to a nimble agile competitor and the chin he is

are developing them. Let's talk about Cathay Pacific. They are

looking to fly on rubbish. They are switching to biofuels? They have

been working on these for years and years, but they are saying they are

going to fly 80% flights just on biofuels. One of the hold-ups is

safety. If you're a safety regulator, you don't want to certify

that fuels are OK. I wonder if you could get a cheap flight and say,

"I'm going to donate all my rubbish for six months. Can I have a ticket

to Shanghai?" There have been a lot of questions about the real green

credentials of bio fuels, if they are diverting fuel that was meant

for crops, are you really saving that much CO2? Cathay Pacific are

doing the best they can. Thanks, Dominic. What's it called Citizen

Maths? That's it. I will test my skills later. Thanks for your

company. I will see you soon. The weather is looking pretty

unsettled for the rest of this week. Some rain in the forecast and things

turn windy for Thursday and Friday. Today though, it