World Business Report

The US has agreed to reduce import taxes on a number of British goods - should we expect other deals on the way?Also, who is Pope Leo XIV? And how is he going to deal with the Vatican's finances?The Spanish parliament is debating reducing the current workweek from 40 to 37.5 hours for over 12 million people, we hear why the Spanish business association thinks it's a bad idea.And not all of us have $200bn to give away, but Bill Gates does and he says he will. We find out why.You can contact us on WhatsApp or send us a voicenote: +44 330 678 3033.

President Trump has announced that his administration has reached a trade deal with the United Kingdom. Speaking in the White House, President Trump said the agreement would provide access to the British market for American beef and agricultural and industrial products.The presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, have held what they described as productive talks at the Kremlin. China is Russia's biggest trading partner. It buys large amounts of oil and gas, helping to compensate for the loss of Western markets that followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.And Andrew Peach hears that Western Sahara, a disputed territory in North Africa, is experiencing a major economic change. Why? Well, it traces back to President Trump’s 2020 decision to recognise Morocco’s claim over the region, and now, with Trump back in power, highways, airports, and wind farms are rising from the desert in a multi-billion dollar development push.

The Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said America's central bank would leave its key interest rate unchanged because of tariff 'uncertainty'. We hear from Gary Schlossberg, a global strategist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute and a former researcher at US Treasury and Federal Reserve.You can contact us on WhatsApp or send us a voicenote: +44 330 678 3033.

In this World Business Report special, Will Bain looks at how US tariffs have affected the Chinese economy, with the two countries set to hold their first talks since the start of the trade war. The US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, will meet China's Vice Premier, He Lifeng, in Switzerland on Saturday. The US introduced a one- hundred and forty-five percent tariff on Chinese imports last month, while China placed retaliatory one hundred and twenty five percent import taxes on American goods. Will hears from Chinese exporters and trade experts.

The big event of 2021 that will shape economies all over the world for decades to come was the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow in November. The meeting saw a deluge of promises, but what was actually achieved? Martin Webber speaks to Tim Gould, chief energy economist at the International Energy Agency and economist Irwin Stelzer, from the Hudson Institute in the United States.It was another boom year for the pharmaceutical industry as it crafted the vaccines that have saved so many lives. Of the 8 billion coronavirus vaccinations worldwide, one billion have been delivered by the US logistics company, UPS. We hear from Wes Wealer, President of UPS healthcare.And small business owners have had a bleak time for much of the past year. But many of those that have survived now feel optimistic. We hear from the owner of the Aroma speciality coffee shop in Bologna in Italy, Cristina Caroli, about her year.

Covid-19 is set to prompt radical long term changes to how we live and work, so what lessons can be learnt when we eventually emerge from the pandemic? Could the changes in the way we work herald higher productivity and happier people in the future?We hear the stories of the people who managed to thrive during a very difficult year, including the milkman who saw a boom in deliveries and the dancer who found work in South Korea when the London stage went dark.Martin Webber is joined by Professor Devi Sridhar who holds the Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh; economist Roger Bootle, of Capital Economics; Robert Reich, former Labour Secretary under President Clinton; Tomas Philipson, who was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under Mr Trump; and actor Thomas Inge who is currentl starring in the musical Cats in South Korea.