08/06/2017 World Business Report

Now it's time for World Business Report.

Turning up the heat - Qatar's credit rating is cut

Plus - he's cut ties with his business empire

but a lawsuit claims President Trump is still flouting

Also coming up - China's trade figures surge in May,

they are surging, cheering investors but spelling more controversy

Concerns are growing about economic fallout after fellow Arab states cut

ties with Qatar over their links with alleged terrorist groups.

Standard and Poor's has cut their rating, the stock market is down 10%

in the currency is at 11- year low. Qatar is a tiny nation but a very

important one business terms. It has one of the world's largest

reserves of natural gas - it has seen exports of its liquefied

natural gas or LNG soar That's made the state

phenomenally wealthy - it has built up one of the world's

biggest sovereign wealth funds, It's used that money to buy

assets across the globe. They range from Paris

Saint-Germain Football Club, in Volkswagen, Russian oil giant

Rosneft and commodities trader Not to mention millions of square

metres of London including the Shard The success of Qatar Airways has

made it a major aviation hub. But more than 50 flights

a day have been grounded And it's a huge employer

of migrant workers - many of whom are working on stadiums

for the 2022 World Cup. Families from India

to the Philippines depend There are half a million workers

from India alone in Qatar. So how serious could

the economic impact be? Joining us now, Laura James,

senior Middle East analyst Give us an idea of how important it

is that this is solved quickly. It's important. The most obvious is food

imports. Qatar is completely food independent. Around 10%, especially

most of the dairy and more of it is shipped through ports controlled by

Dubai, for example. If we then lurk at the impact on the air sector. In

advance of the 2022 World Cup. If we look at how migrant workers will be

affected. It's an extremely serious impact. For those reasons alone, do

you think Qatar will have to give ground here? At the moment, it is

not doing so. It's a question of who is going blink first. It is. Saudi

Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and Egypt are throwing everything

they can as this, forcing Qatar to concede quickly. Political and

economic pressure is being piled on. There has never been a break like

this in the Gulf. There was a crisis in 2014 which was nothing like this.

They want them to concede quickly. Qatar at the moment has decided not

to fight back. For example, they are still sending gas through the

Dolphin pipeline to the United Arab Emirates. The sovereign wealth fund

has not taken any action on redeploying assets. They've not

expelled any citizens of other Gulf countries or the hundreds of

thousands of Egyptian migrant workers who are in Qatar. If they

decided to fight back, there would be a 2- way impact on the other

countries want to avoid this, they want to click concession. If it does

escalate in Qatar decides to fight back, what the implications? Your

Mac there is a real break in the Gulf. Other countries must take

sides. For example, shipping lines would have to do is -- shipping

lines would have to decide if they brought cargo into Doha or into the

UAE. They may -- they might not allowed to do both. Given the Gulf

Cooperation Council has spent the last several decades trying to

improve economic integration, plenty of Gulf citizens intermarry and live

in each other's countries, this really affects the world economy. We

appreciate your time and analysis. Something we will discuss a bit

further as well when we look at how some of the newspapers in the region

are commentating. To Asia now where there's news that

China's economy is doing Exports and imports were up

strongly last month, More good news out of China.

That's right, the -- keeping our fingers crossed the economy might be

turning a corner, this could be sustained in the following months

but exports rising, imports up 50%, and that that the country with a

trade surplus of around $41 billion for the month. Boosting exports for

China and other trade reliant Asian economies. After several lean years

of declining shipments. One of the export numbers that analysts are

watching is China chasing statistics with America. The mainland had a $22

billion trade surplus in the US with May. The surplus was the mainland's

highest since November but if we know President Trump, this could

stir up a tweet from him because he's been complaining about the

widening Budget deficit with paging. Also in the minds of investors, the

strong appetite for imports, particularly industrial commodities

which is boosting resources worldwide. For Donald Trump, the

fact that a We are also talking about another

potential worry for President Trump. Not today's testimony from sacked

FBI director James Comey - but a lawsuit claiming

he is flouting the US constitution. It bans presidents from receiving

gifts or payments from foreign governments - something the lawsuit

claims Mr Trump receives through his hotel

and business empire. The President of the United States,

Donald Trump, is being sued. The lawsuit argues that Mr Trump's

businesses are getting money from foreign governments which is a no-no

according to the US Constitution's Morley 's calls. What is in

emoluments? It is an 18p -- an 18th-century term for bribes? Given

the connection to the President it's easy to see how this all tolls and

restaurants have an advantage in attracting business. It's hard to

compete against them and customers might choose a Trump business in

case it gives them a little in with the commander-in-chief. When those

dignitaries choose to dine there and hold events there, they are not

going to some of the restaurants that are owned by the restaurant

owners that are part of our organisation so they are uniquely

harmed by those decisions. Our members can't compete with the

President of the United States. This is exactly what the authors of the

Constitution were worried about and why they included the emoluments

clause in the first place. But so what? If a bunch of restaurants are

losing a bit of business, isn't that just capitalism? The American people

shouldn't have to question whether the President of the United States

is actually taking into account his personal business interests and

favouring, say, Russia or China or some other country. The Justice

Department is representing the president and on Friday they will

submit reasons why they think this case should be thrown out

altogether. But assuming the judge will hear the case, or that

threatens to reveal business information that Mr Trump would

rather keep private. The markets are going to be watching everything

going on Capitol Hill. Also, they are watching very closely the

European Central Bank meeting which takes place today and the UK

election, the outcome -- the outcome of which we will know the bubbly

this time tomorrow. Fairly flat in Asia at the