11/01/2017 World Business Report

As Donald Trump gets ever closer to the White House,

will he heed calls to step down from his vast business empire once

and put his assets in a blind trust?

And where in the world will there be growth in 2017?

The World Bank says Brazil and Russia will prosper

despite the shadow of uncertainty from the United States.

VW is on the verge of parking the emissions scandal in the United

States. Details in just a moment. In the last few hours we've heard

President Obama's farewell speech with just over a week left in charge

of the world's biggest economy. Later today his successor

Donald Trump will give a long-awaited press conference,

his first since winning And there are still questions

about how he will separate himself In his latest disclosure,

the President-elect revealed These have had dealings

in least 25 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa,

South America and North America. Democratic Party politicians

are amongst those to express concerns this could influence his

policies towards some He derives much of his income

from developing real estate and operating

golf courses in the US, Britain, Ireland and

the United Arab Emirates. But he also makes money

licensing the Trump name to property developers

around the world. Some of those projects have been

engulfed in controversy. However, it should be

noted that as president he is legally allowed to continue

to run his businesses. But previous presidents have

put their businesses into blind trusts to prevent

conflict of interests I'm outside 40 Wall St in front of a

building that is managed by the Trump Organisation, effectively

making Mr Trump the landlord. Trouble is, several of the tenants

inside this building are being investigated by government

regulators, and if they're found guilty of any wrongdoing, they could

stop operating, which means they would no longer be paying rent to Mr

Trump. But as president, Mr Trump could push for more lenient

sentences or make the charges go away, effectively ensuring he

continues to make money. If we make our way further uptown, we find

ourselves at Deutsche Bank, one of Mr Trump's biggest lenders. The

German bank continued to work with him even as several of his

businesses went bankrupt. Deutsche Bank is also facing billions of

dollars in fines from the US government, stemming from the

financial crisis. Regulators could rule with a softer touch given the

bank's history with the President-elect. We need to make one

more stop on our New York tour. I've shown you two examples of potential

conflicts but move over just a few blocks and you end up at Ground Zero

for the Trump business empire, with the potential conflicts of interest

multiplied many times over. The company's massive global Holdings

and international ties mean opportunities for corruption go far

beyond New York City. Foreign countries could question how their

treatment of the President-elect's business interests will impact

diplomatic relations. This is truly unprecedented territory for an

American President. Democrats are proposing legislation that would

force Mr Trump and his family to sell any assets that could pose any

conflicts. But without Republican support it is unlikely to pass.

Samira Hussain, BBC News, New York. With me is Allyson Stewart-Allen,

Chief Executive of International Marketing Partners who help

companies develop in overseas markets and in the US

in particular. Nice to see you. We've outlined some

of the issues, it is what everyone wants to know in the press

conference, what he will do about his business empire. What do you

think he will say? I think he's going to be a bit vague because he

was asked in the campaign about his tax returns and there wasn't a

concrete answer given. Legally he can continue to run his businesses,

but perception is everything and when you are trying to engender the

trust of the American people from day one, as a new president, you

probably want to go into that office not on the back foot but from a

position of strength with a mandate that people say... You have our

mandate and our vote, we trust you and trust is the key word here. He's

going to have to do something more than just a token gesture. It's not

just about him but about his daughter and his son-in-law and the

various family members who have been involved in running his businesses

with him for years. They would also have to step back? If you want to

be... If you want to get the perception that you're doing things

by the book and ethically then a conflict of interest means that you

are... You don't have your own family members in the next. By

having your family members in the mix your obviously compromised, you

have an interest. -- members in the mix. It's about not having an

interest fundamentally. What are you advising companies that approach you

about dealing with the US from here on in? Of course it's difficult to

know what a Trump presidency will be like when it comes to trade and

protectionism, all those issues. Absolutely. In the case of my

clients, I'm recommending it is business as usual until we know

whether there will be import tariffs, what taxation regime we are

looking at once he's in. The ambiguity is high and therefore

companies can't sit and wait. They still need to go for the

opportunities that the US afford them and during this time that we

are still trying to figure out where he's coming from, used to have to go

after and build your business in the country, so it shouldn't put people

off or stop them. We will watch this space and I will talk to you about

it in the future. Thank you for coming in this morning.

So that's what's ahead for Donald Trump but what about the rest

The World Bank is predicting 2017 is going to be a difficult year

for achieving one of its main aims of cutting extreme poverty.

But it expects the global economy to grow by two point 7% mainly

thanks to improvements in emerging markets such as Brazil and Russia.

But what about the world's two biggest economies,

where the new president's policies remain unclear.

We know one thing, it could be one way or another, some kind of tax

reduction on the corporate income side and personal income side as

well. If we just simply focus on those tax cuts, that will translate

into high growth in the United States as well as higher growth in

the global economy. Having said that there are many caveats, China is

going to continue its slowdown, we expect growth to be around 6.5%.

Authorities have done a remarkable job taking this economy, growing at

De double-digit rates to the rates we see now.

Let's cross to our Asia business correspondent Karishma Vaswani.

Tell us more about the World Bank report. As you were saying and as we

heard from the World Bank a few minutes ago, the key focus in this

part of the world is China, the second largest economy and the World

Bank says it will make that gradual slowdown to 6.5% this year, keeping

in line with the broad estimates we have seen from the Chinese

government. The government expects the economy to slow down to around

6.7% this year. The King and the rest of Asia, the World Bank says

emerging economies will do better than last year, pointing to above 4%

for the region excluding China. -- looking at. That's better than what

we saw in 2016. That's largely on the back of commodity prices, we

seen a pickup there over the last few months. That is helping emerging

market economies like Indonesia and Malaysia. Thanks very much indeed,

Karishma Vaswani, in our bureau in Singapore. That is it from WBR.

Prosecutors in the US have charged three UK based former currency

traders with trying to rig foreign exchange rates, they worked at

Morgan, Citigroup and Barclays. You can see more on that online and you

can read about Volkswagen's advisory board said to me today to sign of an

agreement with the US Department of Justice and customs. As soon as we

get news on that we will update you. Thanks for watching and I will see

you in a moment to review the press.