05/04/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Sally Bundock

Britain s Prime Minister suggests freedom of movement could be

extended after Brexit as the European Parliament has

Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 5th April.

This is the scene live in Strasbourg where politicians are laying out

what they see as the priorities for Brexit negotiations.

We will talk more about that in the programme.

Iceland's parliament considers making

it the law to pay men and women the same.

Employers who don't could face fines.

Attention is now turning to tomorrow s meeting

between President Xi and President Trump.

And we'll be live at London's City Hall where business

leaders from Europe's big cities are working out how to get

And as Iceland legislates to enforce equal pay -

we want to hear from you - what would you do to level

Welcome to the programme. Perhaps some transparency on what

people are actually paid. I'll just throw that one out there. Send us

your comments. It has been a week since

the United Kingdom finally gave the European Union

notice it wants to leave. The British Prime Minister Theresa

May has suggested freedom of movement of people between the UK

and the EU could be That's just one issue

the European Parliament is discussing and it matters

because it can veto any final agreement made between the UK

and the European Council. One of the other big issues they'll

be looking at is the size A figure in the region of $60

billion has been widely reported. At the moment the two sides

are bound by trade worth The future of that will be discussed

and the initial draft warns the UK against starting any trade

negotiations with other countries whilst it is

still a member of the EU. Britain s role as the world's

biggest exporter of financial services is also picked out

with a warning the UK shouldn't expect "privileged access"

to the EU's internal market. There is also a call for "legal

certainty" for companies. An estimated 300,000 UK firms

currently export to the EU. Two leading industry

regulators are also facing the prospect of being relocated

from their current London offices. They are the European Banking

Authority and the European Medicines Our correspondent Dan Johnson

is at the European Hello there, Dan. We have heard

about the red lines being laid down. Which issues, among those Sally was

just talking about are the most pressing, do you think? Well, the

European Parliament, MEPs appear to be all agreed that the main priority

is to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who live in the UK and

Brits who live in other parts of the EU. So sorting out what access they

will have to health care, benefits and pensions to, to education, they

want certainty for those people as soon as possiblement other issues up

for discussion today that they think need to be addressed quickly are the

bill, the accounts that have to be settled by Britain as it leaves the

EU and also the border situation in Ireland. Everyone agrees that that

needs to be sorted out as simply and as smoothly as possible, but the

debate has got off to a tetchy start. Some of the MEPs who have

spoken have been jeered and booed by the Ukip MEPs and the president had

to appeal for calm. He said he doesn't want the chamber to descend

into the atmosphere of a football stadium so perhaps an idea already

that the discussions are not going to run smoothly. There is going to

be really tough debate and some strong words have been spoken

already here this morning. What do you think will be made of Prime

Minister Theresa May's comments that it's looking as though perhaps three

movement of people between Britain and the European Union could be

extended during a so-called implementation phase? Yes, that's

interesting news. Two admissions from the Prime Minister this

morning. One, that there will likely be some sort of implementation phase

exist and also an admission that a exist and also an admission that a

new trade relationship between the EU and the UK couldn't be agreed

until after the UK actually leaves. Now, that is all in accord with what

MEPs have been suggesting. The draft resolution that they're debating

this morning calls for a transitional period of up to three

years for a new arrangement between the UK and the EU to play out. So it

sounds like the two sides are perhaps coming closer together on

that, but worth bearing in mind what the MEPs set down this morning, are

only advisory guidelines. It's the European Council, which is in effect

the heads of Government of the other 27 states across the EU, that will

actually have to sit down with the UK on the other side of the table

and hammer out the details. That won't start for a few weeks yet. OK,

Dan, thank you very much. And Brexit is also getting people

talking here in London. European business groups are meeting

at the Mayor's office City Hall to discuss how

they can work together. We'll speak to one of them live

later in the programme. Interesting to hear what he has to

say. That's coming up in ten minutes.

The US President has promised sweeping reforms to US banking

regulations that were introduced after the financial crisis.

Donald Trump has vowed to give a "haircut" to the Dodd-Frank rules

Iceland's parliament has presented a bill to enshrine in law equal pay

for women and men across the public and private sector.

If passed, the bill would require all employers with over 25 staff

to prove they offer equal pay to all employees.

The law would be a world first and would come

US anti-trust regulators have given preliminary approval to ChemChina's

$43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticide and seed giant, Syngenta.

However, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that it

would require ChemChina to sell off its business interests in three

chemical products to maintain competition in the market.

The takeover would mark the largest overseas takeover by a Chinese firm.

UK Chancellor Philip Hammond is on his final day

He's there with Mark Carney, Governor of Bank of England

Today's he has been meeting India's fintech community and the head

Tell us more about how it is going today. Well, we are here at a

company in Mumbai. The Chancellor visited this place a few minutes

ago. He just left five minutes ago. He interacted with different

start-ups, the start-ups are operating in the financial services

space, that's one area where this delegation is focussing a lot

because they have been trying to tell the Indian Government that

that's the area where UK and India can work closely. Later in the day

the Chancellor is also going to be meet the Governor of India's Central

Bank. He is addressing a conference where business leaders from both

sides will assemble. They are going to talk about financial services. So

clearly, lots going on, but the main thing is that once post Brexit, when

these two countries start negotiating a new deal, that's when

the pressing issues will come in front and that's something which

delegates here say will take sometime to emerge. This trip so far

has been going, let's see how the financial services conference goes.

Thank you very much. So we will watch that space. Prime Minister

Theresa May is in Saudi Arabia. Her agenda is trade to a descre,

security and defence is also on there, but it would seem there is a

lot going on this week, that's for sure.

Looking at markets across Asia, that's last night's close. These

have edged higher in Asia. Hong Kong opened today, and China and Taiwan,

they were closed yesterday for a public holiday. On the Dow, now, the

biggest car company by market valuation on stock markets is Tesla.

So the Tesla shares edged up again on Tuesday. So it is overtaken

General Motors, it is valued more than General Motors and Ford. Let's

look at Europe and how they are doing now. Flat. No major moves in

either direction. Interesting we will be looking ahead to President

Xi and President Trump meeting on Thursday. Let's discuss this in a

few minutes time. Also on the agenda in the States the construction

companies who are hoping to get the contract to build the controversial

wall that divides the United States and Mexico. So the deadline has come

and gone. Michelle Fleury is in

New York with more details. Donald Trump's proposal to build

a border wall with Mexico has drawn interest from hundreds of companies

around the country. A US official told the BBC

the finalists will be picked in the next few months and will be

asked to build a prototype wall Now, some of the ideas

are unconventional. One Miami firm is proposing

a sustainable structure built out of recycled shipping containers,

but according to some US media reports, many bigger companies

are actually steering clear Building a wall was a cornerstone

of Trump's presidential campaign, but it was also one of his most

controversial policies and the political challenges

may prove greater than It's not yet clear who

will pay for the wall. The deadline to submit bids came

as news emerged that illegal crossings from Mexico have fallen

67% under Donald Trump. Joining us is Kathleen Brooks,

research director for City Index. Hi there. Kathleen. Good morning. We

talked about the red lines being drawn as far as Europe is concerned,

but what about the red lines between China and the US? It emerged today

more of the position that the US is likely to take when President Trump

and President Xi meet? It may not be considered particularly friendly.

There is an article written by Trump's secretary of Commerce in the

FT about trade and how trump's harsh trade negotiation and renegotiation

if you like is, you know, really targeting China and those countries

with big surplusesment he went on to say that, you know, the US has the

world's largest trade deficit. People say that's good, but the

countries with the surpluses they have seen their economies expand.

That's a direct rirches to China. So this isn't necessarily going to be

the easiest summit. There is some talk that they could label or the US

could label China a currency manipulator, not that there is much

evidence to support that. That's something he said he would do on day

one in office. He said he would slap tariffs on goods coming into the

United States from China. Hefty ones. But in terms of the financial

markets, to what extent are they watching this discussion tomorrow

because it is about the geopolitics and North Korea in a major way? What

we have seen actually, we had this massive Trump rally from when Trump

came into power. That slowed down and the gains were slowest since

Trump came into power. If you add this, this is the first real kind of

major summit that he has held, I think stock markets will be watching

it really, really closely. They are moving on the back of politics, on

the back of a slip of the tongue from Donald Trump. We have seen

share prices Or a tweet? Or a tweet. If it comes out that America and

China are in a very tense position and maybe there is not going to be

any breakthrough with North Korea, that could spike volatility which is

really, really close to historical lows and we could see a harder time

for the markets going forward. Kathleen, many thanks. You will be

coming back to look through the business stories in the papers

including the story about how Iceland is bringing in a law to...

There is a vote on it. Financial services are set

to be one of the biggest priorities for Britain

in the forthcoming negotiations. Later in the programme,

we'll speak to a business leader representing the German

financial capital, Frankfurt. You're with Business

Live from BBC News. MPs are calling for more action

by British businesses on corporate governance

and executive pay. The report from the Business Energy

and Industrial Strategy Committee comes in the aftermath

of the Sports Direct and BHS inquiries and calls for companies

to do more to regain trust. Iain Wright MP,

chairs the committee. Thank you very much for coming on

the programme. To what extent were you disappointed by Theresa May

dropping proposals for employees on company boards? Do you think that

would have made a difference? When Theresa May came into office, she

talked some really strong words about corporate governance and how

there was a disconnect between business and society and she was

right, but by the time the corporate governance Green Paper came out

before Christmas, those proposals had been watered down considerably.

Now, we don't believe on the Select Committee that a one-size-fits-all

approach to corporate governance is the right one, however, having that

employee engagement, having that long-term and strategic view that

workers can provide, we think are a positive step for corporate

governance and the idea that you could have workers on boards,

providing that strategic challenge, thinking about the long-term views

is a positive one. Is it enough to close the gap

between what some company bosses are earning and those who work for those

bosses? Because in some places the gap is enormous. And it is getting

wider. I think I mentioned about a disconnect between business and

society. The ordinary man and women in the street will have seen that

restraint, stagnant wages for a decade and a constant ratcheting up

of executive pay. They will not have seen a commensurate rise in company

performance. So that link between pay and performance at the top of

companies seems to be broken. It is far too complex, it is difficult to

keep track of and therefore we are proposing in the Select Committee

report to simplify it, and the long-term incentive plan should be

abolished as soon as possible. Let me bring in another story this

morning. That of an end to the Bovis buyout bed. -- buyout bid. Bovis

have appointed the former Telford Tripos as their Chief Executive. --

Gallifrey at Try boss. Minister Theresa May has suggested

freedom of movement of people between the UK and the EU could be

extended after Brexit as the European Parliament lays out

what it sees as the priorities. That is happening in Strasbourg as

we speak. A quick look at how

markets are faring. The FTSE 100 is on the up, as you

can see. Pretty positive in Frankfurt. The CAC 40 is treading

water in Paris. There is quite a lot of uncertainty on the global market

still surrounding the meeting between Donald Trump and the Chinese

premier. Working out what the future trading relationship will be between

the US and China and finding out how that will affect the rest of the

world. You may be one of these people that

subscribers to a music service like Amazon Prime or Apple music. But

would you consider subscribing to a garden?

Our North America technology reporter Dave Lee mucked

in with a new idea starting up in California's famed wine country.

For 85-year-old Joe Allen, tending a vegetable patch is work that she can

no longer manage yourself. But she is now a customer of a new start-up

offering gardening undermanned. You know, I am old so I cannot do what I

used to do. And it is nice. They have such a variety. I like it. The

company provides this pair of tanks for a monthly fee of just over $200.

That includes the soil and plants needed due the year. It also

includes the help of the company who will come and tend the garden as and

when it is needed. We have a check list that our team goes through, and

we make sure that every plant has the proper nutrition but is also not

getting eaten by pests. And if it is, we get it replaced as soon as

possible, by taking whatever steps are appropriate. They say gardening

is a great way to relieve stress but you are taking away the manual part

of that. We're not taking that away. It is still their garden, it is

still in their yard. We're taking away the bugs, we're picking off

bugs, we're doing some of the nitty-gritty stuff. The company

hopes that as it expands, that a key work will be carried out by teams of

gardeners across the entire country. Those gardeners will be able to turn

to the company's mobile app for advice. This is where people can

take pictures of the beds so that the people servicing the beds can

take pictures of the plans and sent it back to us at corporate. We

review those and make suggestions or take steps to correct that. This is

not really affordable to most people just yet but if they can scale the

idea, it could mean more of us could start growing vegetables in our own

gardens. Dave Lee, BBC News, in California's Wine country.

I don't know if Dave has green fingers or not. I know he has a dog.

He tweets about his dog. You a gardening person? Occasionally, an

occasional gardener. Maybe on a Sunday afternoon, once every few

months. We were going to ask you today what apps you would like to

get rid of some of the regular household chores. I think that will

not cover it for me. It is the hoovering, the washing, the

BHP Billiton, listed in London and else is out there.

BHP Billiton, listed in London and Sydney, has declared a force measure

for its core products because of the damage wrought by Cyclone Debbie

which caused chaos last week across many parts of Australia. A force

majeure means that a buyer cannot fulfil its responsibilities,

typically after a natural disaster. typically after a natural disaster.

BHP Billiton has come out with that information today. Over to Thailand

in our series looking at the property industry. The real estate

prices there keep going up. Just last month, a luxurious condo unit

was sold at a record price of $19 million in central Bangkok. So what

is driving this property market? Jonathan Head has been finding out.

Once again, Bangkok is in the grip of a property boom, much of that

happening along new railway lines being built out into the suburbs.

Apartment blocks are rising along these routes. Aimed especially at

first-time buyers. But experienced property dealers steer clear of the

riskier, low-end market. He is focusing on luxury condominiums like

this project in central Bangkok. Here, demand is so high that he can

buy a small apartment and resell it almost immediately at a substantial

profit. People in the low-end, they do not have much money and the bank

does not give mortgages. So that is the problem. At the moment, rich

people still have money. They can buy anything they want. If you buy a

high-end property, people do not use rationale much because they have

money. He showed me another project which has been heavily marketed

overseas. Foreign, mainly Asian overseas. Foreign, mainly Asian

buyers account for nearly half of the purchases here. But is buying

property is a good long-term investment? Rent here is generally

low, but only if you believe the property price will rise. That is

far from certain. We think that the average will increase on an annual

basis, for a meat market high-end condo in Bangkok, just shy of 5%. So

if your loan is 4%, that just basically wipes out any return you

might make. So is all this construction is a sign of

dangerously irrational exuberance? Unlike 20 years ago, thyme banks are

being more cautious about their lending. Some projects will fail but

most will not. And there are not many people in Thailand are worrying

about another big crash. Jonathan Head, BBC News, Bangkok.

We mention that Philip Hammond is in Mumbai, schmoozing. We have Theresa

May in Saudi Arabia as well and the Parliament in Strasbourg, the

European Parliament discussing Brexit as we speak. And City Hall in

London, we have the London Chamber of Commerce hosting an event where

they have invited European business leaders from across Europe to

discuss Brexit and how to work together across Europe. We were

talking to -- hoping to talk to the president of the frank Frankfurt's

chamber of commerce but technical reasons mean we cannot so apologies.

But luckily, Kathleen Brooks is here in the studio to talk about the

papers. We want to focus on the story about this equal pay

proposition in Iceland. It is really at the forefront of equal pay and

equal rights. It seems like this could be a world first. Definitely.

Iceland already has the lowest gender pay gap according to the

consumer prices index. It is not just about financial equality and

pay equality but political equality will come into it. Also, Iceland's

economy is going great guns, expanding by 7% in the first

quarter. These type of things seem to happen when the economy is doing

well so will the same thing happen in the UK? No, for many reasons. To

be fair to Iceland, the economy was on the verge of collapse at the end

of the financial crisis and yet it has always pushed this agenda hard.

I was talking to the head of air chambers of commerce a few years ago

about this issue and he said the business leaders are really on board

when it comes to gender equality. They really are. When the economy is

doing well, like it is in Iceland, that is when bills like this will go

to Parliament and get past. Let's go to the tweets. Owen has said that he

only thinks equal pay will come about we extend paternity leave to

six months. Unless there are equal rights for men as well within the

workplace, we are not necessarily going to get equal pay. I think that

is right, but I do not think why women should be penalised because

they are doing what some people would consider a good thing for

society, by taking a year out and looking after their child. I do very

much. It is a huge topic of debate and busily we cannot discuss it all

now. That is all from Business Life. Good morning. If you were up early

enough you would have noticed the chill in the air. A touch of frost

in southern parts of the UK this morning. The payoff was a lovely

sunrise. This was a weather watcher earlier. Please continue to send

those in. The