:00:00. > :00:19.Chancellor Merkel heads to the White House amid growing US
:00:20. > :00:32.complaints that German business isn't playing fair.
:00:33. > :00:37.Plus, a yawning hole in our finances. We lack of sleep could be
:00:38. > :00:37.wiping billions from the global economy.
:00:38. > :00:43.We start in the US where President Trump will be hosting
:00:44. > :00:49.German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House later.
:00:50. > :00:59.Coming up, Singapore has its best month for trade in five years. Now,
:01:00. > :01:00.back to the US, and their meeting with Germany later.
:01:01. > :01:02.The two nations are major trading partners -
:01:03. > :01:05.but there's been growing concern on the US side
:01:06. > :01:07.that their relationship is simply not fair.
:01:08. > :01:09.The rhetoric has raised fears of a damaging trade war.
:01:10. > :01:14.Last year the US sold $49 billion worth of goods
:01:15. > :01:16.to Germany - everything from Boeing airliners to Pfizer medicines.
:01:17. > :01:20.That sounds like a healthy figure until you look at this one
:01:21. > :01:23.$114 billion was the value of goods Germany sold to the US.
:01:24. > :01:32.That's a lot of BMWs - not to mention everything
:01:33. > :01:33.from industrial machinery to medicines.
:01:34. > :01:38.known as America's trade deficit with Germany -
:01:39. > :01:42.That's a bigger deficit than the US has with Mexico -
:01:43. > :01:45.and in fact any other country except China and Japan
:01:46. > :01:48.In January one of President Trump's top trade advisors accused Germany
:01:49. > :01:55.of using a "grossly undervalued" euro to "exploit" the US.
:01:56. > :02:00.Chancellor Merkel rejects the claim - and points out the thousands
:02:01. > :02:04.of jobs created by German investment in the US.
:02:05. > :02:07.She says she will remind the President that BMW's US plant
:02:08. > :02:10.exports more US-made cars than GM and Ford put together.
:02:11. > :02:14.The bosses of BMW and another huge employer in the US -
:02:15. > :02:17.industrial giant Siemens - will be travelling with her
:02:18. > :02:24.We'll be getting the views of a Frankfurt-based economist in 20
:02:25. > :02:29.Carsten Brzeski is Chief Economist at ING-DiBa and joins me via webcam
:02:30. > :02:40.It seems clear that her tactic during this meeting is going to be
:02:41. > :02:45.focusing on trade and the benefit that Germany brings to the US and
:02:46. > :02:50.not the other side of the coin. She makes a point clear by taking these
:02:51. > :02:57.business people with her. She will try to teach Mr Trump a lesson in
:02:58. > :03:02.trade economics, trying to let him know that German exports are a good
:03:03. > :03:07.thing for the global economy, that Germany is a big employer in the US
:03:08. > :03:11.economy and the trade sanctions to Germany would be harmful not only to
:03:12. > :03:16.jump Germany but the rest of the world. They had widely differing
:03:17. > :03:29.views in terms of things like the environment as well. Do you think
:03:30. > :03:35.that will be of brought up in the meeting? That do have a lot of time
:03:36. > :03:41.but it is a issue for Angel Merkel. There are many things on which they
:03:42. > :03:47.do not agree. The environment, refugees, and I don't know if they
:03:48. > :03:52.have the time to go through all these points. I think it will be
:03:53. > :03:55.more of a courtesy visit to the first time, to exchange views and
:03:56. > :04:01.shake hands have doubts over whether they will really have an in-depth
:04:02. > :04:06.discussion. There is a feeling among some and, particularly in the Trump
:04:07. > :04:11.administration, that Germany is getting the best deal as far as the
:04:12. > :04:17.euro is concerned. It has a huge trade surplus because of the
:04:18. > :04:21.relatively weak euro compared to the state of the German economy. There
:04:22. > :04:27.is some truth in that, isn't there? Obviously, as with so many people
:04:28. > :04:32.that the Trump administration has said there is a tiny bit of truth
:04:33. > :04:37.there and the fact that Germany is running a high trade surplus has
:04:38. > :04:41.been criticised not only by the US but by the European Commission. The
:04:42. > :04:46.other thing is that it you cannot blame the Germans for producing good
:04:47. > :04:53.products. Or you can blame the Germans for is that they import too
:04:54. > :04:56.little comment little. They need more investment in Germany and then
:04:57. > :05:04.the surplus would automatically disappear. Let's stay with the
:05:05. > :05:08.subject of trade and go to Asia now where there are some very positive
:05:09. > :05:12.news from Singapore. The citystate is seen as something of a barometer
:05:13. > :05:18.of global trade and it has posted its biggest jump in exports in five
:05:19. > :05:31.years. Rico Hizon has been looking at that for us. If you take a look,
:05:32. > :05:38.if you take a look at the February domestic exports grew at the fastest
:05:39. > :05:43.pace since September 2012, fuelled by demand for tech products and a
:05:44. > :05:49.sharp jump in shipments to China. The petrochemical industry was also
:05:50. > :05:57.a major bright spot for the economy. So the stronger than expected data
:05:58. > :06:04.adds to optimism now over a manufacturing revival for Asian
:06:05. > :06:13.exporters. But despite these numbers analysts remained cautious because
:06:14. > :06:19.it is still a trade dependent economy and that could change at any
:06:20. > :06:25.time. There is concern over trade protectionism and geopolitical risk.
:06:26. > :06:30.The annual rise in February was the biggest in five years students
:06:31. > :06:35.strong shipments to China and South Korea. The United States is also
:06:36. > :06:39.rebounding and the economy has been on the ropes over the last few years
:06:40. > :06:46.with growth slipping to a seven year low in 2016 as exports slowed amid
:06:47. > :06:50.sluggish global growth. Thank you very much for that update. And, one
:06:51. > :06:55.of those trade figures, if that gives you have your eyelids or, like
:06:56. > :06:59.me, you start work at three a.m., this may wake you up. A lack of
:07:00. > :07:03.sleep is costing the world economy billions of dollars in lost
:07:04. > :07:07.productivity. Today is world sleep day and our reporter as being to
:07:08. > :07:09.find out why nodding off instead of logging on could be good for
:07:10. > :07:16.business. We all know that we need sleep. Some
:07:17. > :07:20.people probably need more sleep than others. But what happens if you do
:07:21. > :07:25.not get enough? What does that mean for your ability to do your job? To
:07:26. > :07:29.find out more, I have come here to the clinical research Centre at the
:07:30. > :07:33.University of Surrey in southern England. The experts he will look at
:07:34. > :07:37.what happens to your mind when you take a nap and what happens if you
:07:38. > :07:42.don't get enough sleep. I will go every few things that we will do
:07:43. > :07:46.after we finish wiring you want. This doctor is a research fellow at
:07:47. > :07:51.the University. 18 studies what happens to a sleeping brain and has
:07:52. > :07:56.analysed how insufficient sleep can have damaging effects on health and
:07:57. > :08:00.performance. Sleep deprivation can lead to a mental state which is very
:08:01. > :08:06.similar to being drunk. In part, because you are not aware of your
:08:07. > :08:14.inability to focus or perform at your best. And your judgement is
:08:15. > :08:19.paired you, your speed is impaired. We have some instructions now from
:08:20. > :08:26.the control room. This comes at a cost. Analysts say that lost sleep
:08:27. > :08:33.can cut economic output by up to 3%. In the United States costs to $411
:08:34. > :08:39.billion a year. In Japan, 138 billion. And in the UK, $50 billion
:08:40. > :08:45.just over ?40 billion. People who do not sleep enough died prematurely
:08:46. > :08:49.compared to those who slip a healthy number of hours. They are more
:08:50. > :08:54.likely to die of cancer, cardiovascular disease or to have a
:08:55. > :08:57.car accident. And the other end, we know that people who sleep enough
:08:58. > :09:02.are more likely to come into work and be productive compared to people
:09:03. > :09:07.who do not sleep enough. Sacrificing sleep to work long hours may impress
:09:08. > :09:11.your boss but it may be dangerous and could be costing your company a
:09:12. > :09:15.great deal. So was a lack of sleep is really costing economies
:09:16. > :09:18.billions, what can be done about it? Employees can help themselves by not
:09:19. > :09:22.staying up so late at night when they have an early start in the
:09:23. > :09:27.morning. Employers can help by not sending so many late-night in mouse
:09:28. > :09:31.and perhaps dividing a nice quiet comfortable place for their workers
:09:32. > :09:36.to have a well earned nap. If you excuse me, this reporting business
:09:37. > :09:39.is tiring so I am going to have a nap.
:09:40. > :09:46.I always know where to find him in the newsroom. A quick look at the
:09:47. > :09:58.newsroom. -- market. And I dropped slightly. -- the Japanese yen --
:09:59. > :10:01.market dropped slightly. The dollar has continued slide that began after
:10:02. > :10:09.the Federal Reserve was unlikely to speed up military tightening. Wall
:10:10. > :10:25.Street was subdued after strong gains following the rates decision
:10:26. > :10:27.from the Fed. Now a think tank is warning that the average secondary
:10:28. > :10:34.school in England could seed funding drop in real terms by nearly
:10:35. > :10:37.?300,000 by 2020. The education policy Institute has been looking at
:10:38. > :10:38.the impact of the