:00:00. > :00:19.Now it's time for World Business Report.
:00:20. > :00:23.The UK government says there'll be no return to a hard
:00:24. > :00:27.Later today, the US, Canada and Mexico will sit down
:00:28. > :00:32.to renegotiate the NAFTA free trade agreement.
:00:33. > :00:45.The British Government has unveiled its second Brexit position
:00:46. > :00:48.paper, ahead of the third round of negotiations planned
:00:49. > :00:50.in Brussels at the end of this month.
:00:51. > :00:53.This time, it's about minimising disruption at the Irish border.
:00:54. > :01:01.Under one option the government has proposed, there'd be no customs
:01:02. > :01:03.border at all between the UK and Ireland.
:01:04. > :01:06.This would enable goods to flow freely between
:01:07. > :01:17.-- The paper also highlights protecting
:01:18. > :01:19.the Common Travel Area and associated rights for UK
:01:20. > :01:23.Thanks to the current arrangement, people can move freely
:01:24. > :01:26.between Northern Ireland, the Republic and the rest of the UK
:01:27. > :01:32.The Centre for Cross Border Studies estimates
:01:33. > :01:39.that up to 30,000 people cross the border every day for work.
:01:40. > :01:45.And according to the Central Statistics Office,
:01:46. > :01:48.the value of Ireland's exports to Britain has grown by 14%
:01:49. > :01:53.Joining us now is Professor Lee McGowan from Queen's University
:01:54. > :02:13.Good to see you. So who is set to benefit most from the maintaining of
:02:14. > :02:17.this current border you like. Everyone is going to benefit from
:02:18. > :02:20.the current situation if it is allowed to continue but this is
:02:21. > :02:26.really a very contentious issue. What happens with the border. The
:02:27. > :02:31.government has set out its position. It has been welcomed by the Irish
:02:32. > :02:37.government in Northern Ireland. It gives that certainty. The problem
:02:38. > :02:44.is, were as Northern Ireland two or three years down the line? The
:02:45. > :02:48.government is seeking, it knows it is so contentious, it needs to find
:02:49. > :02:53.some sort of compromise consensus that reaches out to the two main
:02:54. > :02:58.communities in Northern Ireland in economic and political terms. Who
:02:59. > :03:05.gets the final say. Is it in the domestic governance sphere or is it
:03:06. > :03:10.up to the European Union officials? Everyone is going to be involved in
:03:11. > :03:16.this one. The Irish government will be there as part of the EU 27 and
:03:17. > :03:19.the other members will be sitting alongside Ireland. What we do know
:03:20. > :03:23.is there is goodwill for this situation in terms of what is the
:03:24. > :03:29.border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We saw that
:03:30. > :03:32.in the publications by the European Council, the commission and the
:03:33. > :03:39.Parliament. The goodwill is actually there. Can it be secured?
:03:40. > :03:45.Economically, how important is it to have a border without friction?
:03:46. > :03:49.Everyone wanted that frictionless border. We've seen since the Good
:03:50. > :03:54.Friday Agreement, it will be next year. There is more trade between
:03:55. > :03:58.Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Also to the Irish
:03:59. > :04:04.government, the issue of the East-West relationship. Mostly the
:04:05. > :04:08.trade goes through GB and to the continent. The Northern Ireland and
:04:09. > :04:17.the Republic of Ireland, many of these sectors are actually based in
:04:18. > :04:21.Ireland. If we look at agriculture, a lot of milk produced in Northern
:04:22. > :04:25.Ireland is then sent south on the border to be protest in most of that
:04:26. > :04:30.comes north again. It will be sold in Northern Ireland or sent to the
:04:31. > :04:34.UK. So this issue of the border in the real tricky thing is where will
:04:35. > :04:39.the government be when it gets the special customs agreement. What is
:04:40. > :04:47.certainly clear is, there has to be some form of checks. There will be
:04:48. > :04:51.some sort of check of the border and that's when it becomes costly or
:04:52. > :04:56.more costly to businesses but also politically divisive and
:04:57. > :05:01.problematic. Thank you very much indeed.
:05:02. > :05:04.Today, representatives from Canada, the United States and Mexico
:05:05. > :05:06.will begin to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement-
:05:07. > :05:10.For US timber workers, the trade pact has long been
:05:11. > :05:25.There is a lot of uncertainty. Nobody knows how will go. A lot of
:05:26. > :05:31.talk about free trade and fair trade. We need fair trade. Money may
:05:32. > :05:36.not grow on trees but softwood lumber is a billion-dollar business.
:05:37. > :05:42.Canada and the United States have been arguing over the industry for
:05:43. > :05:47.decades. So what is softwood lumber? It's a kind of wood that comes from
:05:48. > :05:53.softwood trees, obviously. Trees like cedar, pine and spruce. It is
:05:54. > :05:58.primarily used to build houses. Why is this important? Softwood lumber
:05:59. > :06:03.is big business. In 2014, the softwood lumber industry contributed
:06:04. > :06:09.$21.2 billion to the Canadian economy. And more than 350,000
:06:10. > :06:15.people work in the industry in the US. They are good paying jobs. We
:06:16. > :06:20.are not investing elsewhere. It's all money being put back into the
:06:21. > :06:27.community and it helps make a community lived and to be vibrant
:06:28. > :06:31.and survive. What is the problem? Because it is subsidised and because
:06:32. > :06:35.they have advantages we don't have and we are competing, we can't
:06:36. > :06:41.compete against a government and against subsidies. We need fair
:06:42. > :06:45.trade. For years the US has said the Canadian government is unfairly
:06:46. > :06:48.subsidising its lumber industry and Canada denies this so both sides
:06:49. > :06:53.took their arguments to a Nafta panel created to hear these kinds of
:06:54. > :06:58.complaints and repeatedly the Americans lost. So now the US wants
:06:59. > :07:03.to get rid of the panels all together and find another way to
:07:04. > :07:10.resolve conflicts. Not so fast. The Canadians said they will quit the
:07:11. > :07:15.Nafta talks if these panels go. So what now? Renegotiations will be
:07:16. > :07:19.testy and take time and these panels will be a sticking point. Mexico
:07:20. > :07:23.says it wants them to stay and even if the Americans get their way, they
:07:24. > :07:27.will still need to find a way to settle arguments that make up in the
:07:28. > :07:31.future. If one thing is clear, friends disagree.
:07:32. > :07:33.The International Monetary Fund has warned that China's credit growth
:07:34. > :07:38.The IMF says that without the boom in lending, China's recent rate
:07:39. > :07:40.of economic growth would have been significantly slower.
:07:41. > :07:59.Let's get more on this with Rico Hizon in Singapore.
:08:00. > :08:05.It is a double-edged sword with Beijing on the step path. It
:08:06. > :08:15.tolerated a rapid increase in debt -- get in order to increase targets
:08:16. > :08:18.between 2010 and 2020 and since the Global Financial Crisis, China's
:08:19. > :08:24.economic growth has slowed from 10% a year in the previous three decades
:08:25. > :08:29.to a rate of 6.7% in 2016 but China has also been trying to manage this
:08:30. > :08:33.transition to slower growth with a different pattern, one that is less
:08:34. > :08:37.dependent on industry and exports and has a greater role for consumer
:08:38. > :08:42.spending at home and service industries. This IMF report says the
:08:43. > :08:48.slowdown would have been more pronounced were it not for a boom in
:08:49. > :08:53.credit. It suggests over the years, 2012- 2016, a more sustainable
:08:54. > :08:57.pattern of debt and credit would have led economic growth that was
:08:58. > :09:01.lower by at least two percentage points and the biggest single group
:09:02. > :09:04.of debtors are the state-owned enterprises, although there have
:09:05. > :09:11.been large increases in deaths by the government. Some economists say
:09:12. > :09:15.this problem has to be fixed very soon. If not, this could lead to a
:09:16. > :09:19.serious debt crisis for the mainland economy. Water warning.
:09:20. > :09:22.Donald Trump has hit out at the business leaders who have
:09:23. > :09:26.stood down from his manufacturing council in the last couple of days.
:09:27. > :09:29.So far six high profile figures, including the bosses of Intel,
:09:30. > :09:35.Merck and Under Armour, have left Mr Trump's panel
:09:36. > :09:39.in protest of the President's response to the rally held by far
:09:40. > :09:40.right wing groups in Charlottesville, Virginia.
:09:41. > :09:44.At a press conference Mr Trump said the CEOs in question were not
:09:45. > :09:55.Tokyo stocks were flat on Wednesday following gains the previous day
:09:56. > :09:58.with strong US data propping up investor confidence
:09:59. > :10:07.Also - an easing of the US-North Korea tensions.
:10:08. > :10:10.Investors have cashed out of safe haven assets,
:10:11. > :10:13.like gold and the Japanese yen, and ploughed back into riskier
:10:14. > :10:15.assets like equities, with the US dollar also gaining
:10:16. > :10:30.A hospital trust at the centre of an inquiry into the avoidable
:10:31. > :10:33.deaths of several new born babies, has been criticised for failing
:10:34. > :10:37.to learn the lessons of past mistakes.