15/08/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Bland and Ben Thompson.

The UK government pushes for a frictionless trade deal

to help ease its transition towards a post-Brexit future.

Live from London, that's our top story

The British government has laid out it's strategy

for trade with the EU - calling for a temporary customs

union and a period of transition to avoid post-Brexit chaos,

Also in the programme Donald Trump puts America first -

opening an investigation into whether China is stealing

Intellectual Property from American firms.

And we will keep an eye on the market, positive start to the

trading day across the European indices, reflecting a return to an

appetite for risk. And also on the programme...

And is a lack of charging points holding back growth

The boss of the Uk's largest network of charging stations is here...

So today we want to know: What's holding you back

If you drive - would you go electric?

Let us know, use the hashtag BBC Biz Live.

The British Prime Minister Theresa May has this morning,

published a blueprint for future trade relations between the UK

In the first of a series of Brexit papers, the government suggested

creating an interim period of trade, saying one possible approach

would be a temporary customs union between the UK and the EU.

That means they would continue applying the same tariffs to goods

from outside the union - which can then move between them

The government's Brexit committee hopes a time-limited transition

period will give importers and exporters enough time to adjust

In a bid to create what it calls a "seamless and

the government has suggested either creating a brand

new arrangement that includes a new customs border...

or a special partnership which would negate the need

Brexit Secretary David Davis spoke to the BBC earlier.

It's a pretty simple, practical set of proposals we have put forward.

Primarily due have two elements, when we leave the European Union we

leave the customs union, will we have a transitional arrangement for

a year or two that will allow not just British companies to sell into

Europe at European countries who sell 60 billion more than us into

the UK? With me is our Business

Editor Simon Jack. It sounds very good in theory but

the first thing many people will think, having your cake and eating

it? This is the having your cake and eating it position paper. There are

reasons this has been issued today, they want to show that they have

been negotiating with each other, making progress. They want to leave

the customs union but they don't want anything to change. Are you out

or in? Technically out, but nothing much will change, the only thing

that will change, if we are technically out of the customs union

means the UK is at liberty to sign, negotiate and find new trade deals,

as you say, having your cake and eating it. This is what Boris

Johnson was so fond of and EU officials were not. Business will

probably like this, it means they will have to adjust once we find

other trade deals in place, rather than having to adjust once and again

when we signed trade deals, this relies on the fact that a deal will

be done, no sense that this will actually happen, we haven't started

discussing trade yet. That's a really important point, let's say

technically they say you are out of the customs union, you can negotiate

your own trade deals, it will be very hard to see how those

substantive trade talks with third-party countries can't even we

still don't know the overriding relationship between the UK and the

EU will be. They will say we need to see whether it's going to be

tariffs, trade terms, how they will go, the customs union is a border

issue, the wider issues will still be unsettled, you can't do a

substantive trade deal until you know what the UK relationship with

the US and we are not even in the foothills of that yet. It seems they

may have hit upon something that could give a bit of a breakthrough,

given how important it is for Germany in particular and the rest

of Europe to be able to access the UK market in terms of getting their

products here and carrying on sales. The fear was if you go out of Dover,

one of the main ports in the UK, you see trucks rolling on and off, at

the moment we are in the club you don't have to show ID at the door

and open your trucks, the fear was if you throw sand into that well

oiled engine, you get chaos. On both sides of the input channel. I think

in the order of probability, will be you agree to some sort of temporary

arrangement which. That happening? The answer to that is probably yes,

it is in the interests of both sides. Whilst that's going on, will

be be happy for the UK to negotiate and signed trade deals, probably

less, and then the vexed question of who is in charge of any disputes on

these things? At the moment it's the European Court of Justice, the UK is

desperate to avoid the purview of that caught and they think they can

do that, they may have a different view. This is a position paper, not

policy and no position paper survives first engagement with the

other side I suspect they will have a lot to say. Simon, for now, thank

you. Interesting that David Davis covered a long and turbulent

process, I think that is the truth. Simon, thank you.

Let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news...

The latest figures out of Germany show that Europe's largest economy

expanded by 0.6% in the second quarter of the year.

Economists were expecting a stronger rate of growth,

but the strong euro contributed to a weakness in exports.

Bill Gates has donated 5 percent of his fortune to an -

The billionaire and Microsoft co-founder donated 64 million shares

valued at $4.6 billion - that's according to a filing

at the Securities Exchange Commission.

It's the largest gift of Microsoft shares Gates has made since 2000.

The boss of Intel- Brian Krzanich has become the third

business leader to stand down from Donald Trump's manufacturing

council following the events in Charlottesville.

Neither he nor the chief executive of Under Armour, Kevin Plank,

said their resignations were as a direct result

of the incident, but Ken Frazier, the boss of the drugmaker Merck said

that he needed to "feel a responsibility to take a stand

US President Donald Trump has asked his country's top trade

official to review China's practices regarding intellectual property.

It could eventually lead to the US imposing trade sanctions.

The BBC's Beijing Correspondent John Sudworth has more for us.

It's interesting, very sensitive time to be doing this, at a time the

US is relying on China to help deal with the North Korean nuclear

threat. That's right, Trump himself has in the past connected to macro

issues suggesting if China wants a good deal from the United States on

trade it needs to do more to help on those diplomatic foreign policy

issues. But signing this memorandum, possibly setting in train this

investigation which could lead to unilateral sanctions, the President

said this was all about trade, this is him delivering on campaign

promises to stand up for US jobs and in particular to hold China to

account. Of course China has long been accused of stealing US

intellectual property as well as other trading partners because it

insists on in many cases and in particular in certain strategic

industries, enforcing those that want to come and do business here

into local partnerships with local players and of course, once you're

signed up to one of those, you know, your technology transfer, your

intellectual property lakes across to the Chinese side. But all these

been a concern and this is Donald Trump promising he will live up to

his pledges during his campaign to do something about it. Many thanks.

Let's take a look at the markets. As you can see, a bit of a return of an

appetite for risk in global equities, Asian shares rallying, the

dollar strengthening on Tuesday after a slight easing of tensions

between the US and North Korea. Prompting investors to move back

towards riskier assets which fell last week. McKay, boosted by growth

figures out yesterday, the strongest Japan has seen two years, the

stronger dollar against the yen boosting exports. US stocks

recovering from the sell-off last week, the SNP by the hundred, the

biggest single day percentage gain it has seen since April, technology

shares including Apple giving the index its biggest boost. That

positive sentiment has been setting the tone for the European markets.

Perhaps not a stronger performance in London, certainly on the

continent, Frankfurt as well reacting to the German growth

figures out. Let's take a look at what Wall Street has in store.

Here's Michelle Fleury. A lot of attention on Tuesday like many days

of the week will be paid to the retail sector. The big economic data

of the day as the retail sales report from the Department of

commerce, it will measure the overall sector's performance for

July and it is expected to show sales grew by 0.4% compared with

last, that would be a distinct improvement on the zero growth shown

in June. If numbers come in lower than that it may prompt some more

worries about the health of US retail. But investors will have

earnings from one of the nation's the DIY chains to mull over, home

Depot reporting its second-quarter results. The company has suggested

the quarter got off to a strong struts all investors will want to

see that has continued. That was Michelle.

Joining us is Mike Amey, Managing director and

Nice to see you, we mentioned the German story, the largest economy in

Europe growing by 6% of the second quarter, interesting all eyes on GDP

around the world as we are trying to work out how far beyond that

downturn we have come so far it doesn't leave Germany? The Europeans

and Germany in particular have taken time to get going. Growth they are

stuttering for a few years, seems to be on a pretty good trajectory and

Germany one of the stronger economies in Europe, doing very

well. I think it's good news, Germany and the European Union, the

eurozone finally picking up on the upswing... Why has it taken so long?

The main reason, their period of maximum economic pain was later than

it was for the Brits and the US, ours was 2008-9, there is was 11-12,

longer for the recovery to kick in there, their challenge period was

more recently than ours. Investors watching and analysts watching for

the UK inflation figures out later. Sure. UK inflation has been above

where most of us would like it to be. Most expectations are for about

seven, the long-term aim is about to macro and we know inflation is

running at a higher rate than wages which is the big challenge for the

UK and hope and -- hopefully we will see a peak soon. Analysts saying it

will hit 3% before it falls back on the body keeps on going up. There is

a challenge with forecasting the future, as we know. The Bank of

England has the challenges we all have. I think the main reason the

bank and we would agree with that, you will see its peak around the end

of this year, is normally you find when sterling fell and it fell about

a year ago it takes about a year or that to come through and higher

prices that we pay for foreign goods and that is what we are seeing. For

now, thank you. I know we will talk through some of the paper stories

later. For now, thank you. I know we are going to talk about

charging points for electric cars. Some of you have been in touch,

Julie says a lack of charging points, the cars are silent to

pedestrians, automatic cars, not manual but would like to try for

environmental reasons. Keep your comments coming in using the BBC

Business live hash tag. We'll speak to the man behind

the UK's largest network of charging But are there enough

to power our demand? You're with Business

Live from BBC News. Commuters are braced

for rises in rail fares... we'll find out how much

prices will go up, linked The Government links

the annual price rise with Let's speak to Economist

Bronwyn Curtis. This is interesting, aside from the

economic data and the economic impact of inflation it could really

affect our pocket when it comes to real fares? Yes, an increase of

three and a half percent is what we are expect in retail prices this

month. A year ago it was under 2%, that's a huge jump and it's a huge

jump in rail fares at the time when the consumer is struggling. Remember

60% of the economy, they have run down savings to record lows, and

consumer credit is up 10% over the year. This is just another squeeze

and it comes at really the worst possible time. We should say the

real fare increases will come into force in January next, the worst

time, wages are not keeping up, prices for most of the things still

rising and as we discussed, the Bank of England discussing it will go

higher before it falls back. That's right, I think, if we see a peak, we

are talking about a peak of 3%, the Bank of England is, in October for

consumer prices. That means retail prices probably peaking just under

4%. If they are right, unless sterling falls and we have heard

David Davis talk about turbulent times ahead and usually sterling

falls, that means inflation could go higher. If inflation is coming down

but we have locked in those real prices at three and a half, say

percent, for the next year, that seems pretty high and I wonder

whether they shouldn't change the basis on which they calculate price

rises in the real sector. Reticular it's a service, it has been

appalling as we've heard all year. Thanks for shedding light on that,

and on about 45 minutes we will find out how much prices will rise on the

railways. They are for specific fares, so keep an eye on that,

that's at 9:30am this morning. You're watching Business

Live - our top story: The British Prime Minister, Theresa

May, has published a blueprint for future trade relations

between the UK and The government suggested creating

an interim period of trade, saying that's one possible approach,

would be a temporary customs union But remember there is a lot of

negotiating still to go. A quick look at how

markets are faring... We're told the future is electric -

cars, vans and lorries around the world will be weaned off petrol

and instead be powered There are now more than 2 million

electric cars in the world. But the International Energy Agency

predicts that number will hit 140 million by 2030,

if countries are to meet Paris But what about the infrastructure

needed to power them all? In the UK, the biggest network

of electric charging points It works with BMW, Kia,

Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, David Martell is the founder and

chief executive of Chargemaster. Nice to see you. The first thing

that strikes me is working with so many brands, I know trying to plug

in my tablet, my phone, they need different wires. Is there a

universal plug? Not quite but it works. There's two types of

charging, one is a relatively slow rate, and a universal standard

called type II microcell all of the charges around the country have the

type two socket. A rapid Charger is slightly more complex. All of the

rapid Charger is we have on the network at Chargemaster have all of

the cables on so many car can charge. A lot of people are getting

in touch this morning. One of the things holding people back is that

they will go on a journey, run out of power halfway there or cannot go

on a journey because there's not the charging points there. How do you

reassure people about that? The vast majority of cars coming on the

market have 200 mile range, once you have that, you dispel all of the

fears people have about charging and running out en route. There is

sufficient battery chargers around the country, so you can drive from

London to Bristol to Manchester, stop for maybe half an hour on the

route and have a cup of coffee, exactly the same as you would in a

petrol car. Is your own car and electric one? And what made you

decide to take the switch? I haven't been in a petrol station for two

years and that's a refreshing achievement. So what came first, you

started using electric cars and then block the company up and running? I

was motivated by providing the infrastructure for the

electrification of transport. About ten years ago I came to the

conclusion that motor manufacturers were going this way, needed to for

air quality, climate change and so on, and the very fact I could see

electric cars were nice to drive. If you have electric cars, you need

infrastructure and I saw the opportunity to provide it. We have

been asking for tweets from this because some people have

reservations, money upfront, they can be more expensive than petrol

and diesel cars. One person says my worry is finding a charging points

and it is out of order. Years ago many of the charging points were

supplied by local authorities who don't have the motivation to

maintain them. Now companies such as Chargemaster have taken over and we

have and 99.5 cent reliability record. When you roll out the

infrastructure it's a real chicken and egg thing, isn't it? Do you need

to see the demand from cars to put them in? Where do you make those

decisions? It is a commercial decision that the end of the day.

Chargemaster will put 5000 charging points out there in the next couple

of years, there is already 13,000 across the country and we don't see

it constrains to the growth of electric cars. There is so much more

I want to ask, but time is tight this morning. David Martell, thank

you for coming in. 70 years have passed

since the end of the British Raj. Partition resulted in Muslims moving

to the newly formed state of Pakistan and Hindus moving

to independent India. Among the millions of people

affected, the owner of one sweets franchise eventually managed

to thrive in a new homeland. But it was a painful

and challenging journey. We had three restaurants, and due to

partition we had to move to Bombay. The memory cannot be wiped out

entirely, and therefore the pain is still there. The mockery of the

whole thing is it was not a question of either vision, so what was the

cause of partition? Much more coverage of partition on the BBC

throughout the day. We are talking about the business pages now. Uber

is changing some of its rules, talk us throughout. Yes, I think they are

trying to change the news flow on the country. They are changing the

waiting times, all in favour of the driver. We will be allowed to tip

within the app and drivers will be allowed to charge us if we don't

turn up within two minutes, so they are trying to make it more

attractive to the driving community. The group of drivers representing a

lot of Uber drivers save this is pre-empting regulation. You are

trying to sweeten the deal before regulation. That's right. I think

the thing they are looking at is in the US and New York, where Uber did

the same thing. They pre-empted regulatory change so they have been

allowing this for a couple of months now in New York. I think there is a

front running of some of the regulations, that's true to be

honest with you. Shall we talk electric cars? Do you have an

electric car? Yes. How do you find charging? Fine, it has over 200

miles, with only had it a couple of months but we are delighted so far.

A total convert? We still have a petrol car for long journeys and

that is the challenge. I mentioned the tweet earlier, lack of charging

points, who else do we have, will seems more enthusiastic, says it

will save ?2000 in petrol every year so it is getting there. Silence for

pedestrians is quite a big point actually. And the question of if it

has a noise, what should the noise be. That's for another day. We will

see you at the same time, the same place tomorrow. See you then,

goodbye.