On all our stories on our website, bbc. Co. Uk news. And you can find me on twitter. Im benmbland. Now on bbc news, live to singapore for Asia Business report. Mnuchins optimism. The us treasury secretary is up beat about a possible deal, but can trump and xi make progress at the 620 summit . Worse than china, is the European Union about to become the new focus for the us president s global trade wars . It is a thursday. 6ood morning, asia, hello, world. 6lad you could join us for another exciting addition of Asia Business report. Im rico hizon. Lets kick off the programme with the ongoing trade conflict that is us treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin have said that the us and china are close to a trade agreement. He said he is optimistic progress can be made during talks between donald trump and xijinping at this during talks between donald trump and xi jinping at this weeks 620 summit injapan. The bbcs Samira Hussain has the latest from new york. That optimistic tone from the Trump Administration was enough to send us Financial Markets higher, a clear sign that investors are really looking for a trade deal between the us and china. That said, similar notes of confidence have been uttered in the past. But, as we know, those talks ultimately fell apartand know, those talks ultimately fell apart and resulted in an increase in duties on some products going in and out of china. Now, many trade watches are feeling somewhat optimistic about the upcoming meeting between us President Donald Trump and chinese president xi jinping on the sidelines of the upcoming 620 summit. There is little expectation of a deal being signed at this meeting, but mr mnuchin did suggest that one could come by the end of the year. Meanwhile, donald trump has directed criticism at another target, the European Union. The us president launched a scathing attack on the block, saying it, quote, treats us worse than china, and that is making 6erman carmakers nervous, not least because they fear that washington will go ahead with the threat to impose 25 tariffs on vehicles imported from the eu bloc. 0ur berlin correspondentjenny hill has been gauging the mood in frankfurt. Stealing themselves for a trade war. 6erman Manufacturers Court between two superpowers, as america and china battle for economic supremacy steeling. This company is already paying the price in tariffs, and donald trump has started to squeeze europe as well. Why would you make an investment into something that is so uncertain, because the rules dont come in . And if this pattern increases, this way of doing business, many more companies will be hesitant to make those kinds of investments in future technologies, which means less people investing, which means less jobs, and less growth in the economies, and that is bad for 6ermanys motoring success infuriates donald trump. So does the countrys export surplus. A trade deal between the eu and america might help, but talks arent going well. The threat of crippling us ta riffs well. The threat of crippling us tariffs on german cars enough to keep manufacturers awake at night. This will not work with the European Union, because they will be retaliation measures, so we should not be fooled. We will stand strong. 6ermany not be fooled. We will stand strong. Germany has built a brand around reliability. Here, every forklift is custom made to order. It takes just over 3. 5 hours to put one of these together from start to finish. It is a process which depends on order, predictability, qualities which are valued by german business, but which they will tell you here are increasingly hard to find outside in the global marketplace. Country which built its success on exports jostling now for position in a new and volatile world order. Jenny hill, bbc news, frankfurt. Earlieri asked an australian correspondent whether investors believe the us china trade deal is indeed 90 complete. I think the key takeaway from mr mnuchins points was that they were 90 done on the trade deal, and i think what he failed to go into was what that final 10 comprised. And we know that actually the two sides are quite far apart on some of the crucial issues that the us are demanding from china with respect to intellectual property rights, forced technology transfers, andi rights, forced technology transfers, and i would say that that is probably what that final 10 is made up probably what that final 10 is made up of. And in that sense, we are potentially somewhat pessimistic about the outcome of that final 10 , andi about the outcome of that final 10 , and i think really the best that we can expect from this 620 is potentially a handshake between the two lea d e rs potentially a handshake between the two leaders and an agreement to resume talks. All right, if that 1096 turns sour, if not during this 0saka meeting but after that, could we see trump imposing more tariffs on additional chinese product . We certainly could. We saw trump overnight in an interview with the Us Television network saying that he was ready to impose 10 tariffs on the remaining chinese goods if the talks go sour at the 620 or following the 620. And i think really, at the moment, we are in a position where this data is of a deal is going to depend on trumps calculation of what is going to score points with his voters. And at the moment he doesnt really have a reason to back down. His polling remains 0k, equity markets remain high, and the chinese economy is more visibly slowing. So why would he backed down, particularly when the onus is on him with the eyes of the onus is on him with the eyes of the world watching not to squander this opportunity to level the Playing Field with china. And you mentioned about the chinese economy, and it is indeed visibly being affected by this ongoing trade war. Will xi jinping affected by this ongoing trade war. Will xijinping back affected by this ongoing trade war. Will xi jinping back down . Affected by this ongoing trade war. Will xijinping back down . Well, actually i dont think so. I think that yes, we do see that the chinese economy is slowing. We have seen cooling pmis, industrial output slowing as well, but this is potentially something that could mean that trump overplayed his hand as he looks and focuses on the incoming chinese data, but may be underestimates the fact that this wont mean that Saxo Capital Markets will kowtow to his demands, and underestimates the nationalist stands in china and the ability to wait it out in the long march, as we have heard frequently from Chinese State media. Eleanor creagh there on the ongoing us china trade conflict in sydney, with warnings us china trade war could hit the economy hard in coming years. The chairman of a london based and china focused lender Standard Chartered told the bbcs mariko 0i lender Standard Chartered told the bbcs mariko oi the world cannot afford to have its biggest economies locked in conflict. That is at thing we dont need now, at a time when monetary policies have much less room to manoeuvre, very little in a number of places, where our public debts are so high, i think that we dont want to put the world again to a test of having to cope with a significant slowdown of economic growth. I guess it is the big question that Everyone Wants to know the answer to, but what would be, in your view, the plausible outcome of the meeting between President Trump and president xi . My hope is that there would be some sensible conversation between the two of them, between President Trump and president xijinping, them, between President Trump and president xi jinping, and them, between President Trump and president xijinping, and that them, between President Trump and president xi jinping, and that there would be an agreement to de escalate the tariff wall. But this is a hope more than an expectation. But beyond that, what i think we need to be careful about is not to have a sort of globalisation which gets sort of bifurcated or separated into two different parts of the world, because i think that would be very difficult. So we have to think of trade, but we have to think also of intellectual property, technology, and what are we going to do in order to have a better Global Economic and trade order . And that i think is what we need to solve for the long term. But in the short term, what i would hope for is that there isa what i would hope for is that there is a de escalation of what we have seen. The chairman of Standard Chartered bank s speaking to my colleague mariko 0i. The Us Federal Aviation Administration has found a new risk that boeing must address on its 737 max. The issue was discovered during a similar test last week and it means that boeing will not conduct a certification test flight until eightjuly at the earliest. Approval of the 737 max had been expected as early as the end of this month. Meanwhile, United Airlines has said it will remove the boeing 737 max from its flying schedule until september three. That isa schedule until september three. That is a month longer than planned, and will lead to almost 2000 Flight Cancellations in the month of august. And before we go, here is a quick recap of our lead story at this hour. The us treasury secretary has said washington and beijing are close to a trade arrangement, with 90 of the work to secure agreement already complete. Steven mnuchin also said he is optimistic progress can be made during talks between donald trump and xijinping at can be made during talks between donald trump and xi jinping at this weeks 620 summit injapan, and that dispute is basically the core of Investor Sentiment in the Asia Pacific Region right now. You have the nikkei 225 in the all 0rdinaries index currently headed in separate directions, but overall trade is lacklustre, the nikkei up by just trade is lacklustre, the nikkei up byjust 0. 3 while the all 0rdinaries index is down by 21. Everyone hoping that a resolution is insight in this ongoing dispute between two of the worlds biggest economies. Thank you so much for investing your time with us right here on Asia Business report. Im rico hizon in singapore. Sport today is coming up next with all the cricket and world cup action in france. 6oodbye for now. This is bbc news. The top stories this hour discussions continue in the us congress to try to secure emergency aid to ease the migrant crisis on the border with mexico. The first debate between the rival contenders for the democratic partys us president ial nomination gets under way in miami in the next hour. Prince william says he would fully support his children if they told him they were gay. But the duke of cambridge said he would worry as a parent about the additional pressures and discrimination they could face. The prince made the remarks during a visit to an l6bt charity in london. Ben hunte reports. It was a visit to support the l6bt community, an opportunity for the duke of cambridge to listen, but also an insight into some personal concerns. The Albert Kennedy trust, or akt, helps young l6bt people who are made homeless after being rejected by theirfamilies. During the visit, Prince William was asked how he would feel if one of his own children was gay or lesbian. Id fully support, you know, whatever decision they make. But it does worry me from a parent point of view how much how many barriers, you know, hateful words, persecution and discrimination that might come with it. Thats the bit that really troubles me a little bit. But thats for all of us to try to help correct, and make sure we can put that to the past. It was a candid moment from a Senior Member of the royal family, a recognition his own three children might find it harder to be accepted as gay or lesbian because of the public role theyve been born into. Hes willing, with his whole heart, to fully support his children, and hes willing as well to support our l6bt community as well. And that, across the world, it would really change peoples minds. We are normal people. It would really influence a better kind of like safe space, safe environment, for l6bt people. It is not the first time Prince William has voiced his support for the challenges faced by the l6bt community. In 2016, he was the front cover star of gay lifestyle magazine attitude. But his comments today could have an even wider impact. Homosexual activity is still a criminal offence in 35 of the 53 commonwealth nations. Many will wonder whether Prince Williams words could change opinions in these places, where people are still fighting for their lives because of who they love. Ben hunte, bbc news. The uks population is estimated to have risen to 66. 4 million, though the growth rate appears to have stalled. The office for National Statistics says the annual increase tojune last year was 0. 6 , the slowest since 20011. For the fifth consecutive year, International Migration was a bigger driver of population change than births and deaths. Now on bbc news, sport today. Hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. Coming up on this Programme Pakistan inflict a first defeat on new zealand as they win by six wickets to keep their cricket world cup hopes alive. Mo salah scores as hosts egypt beat democratic republic of congo 2 0 and qualify for the knockout phase of the africa cup of nations. And defending champion Caroline Wozniacki is out of the eastbourne international, beaten by Aryna Sabalenka in a repeat of last years final. Hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that pakistan have kept their play off hopes alive at the cricket world cup by ending new zealands unbeaten run. Babar azam notched a century as he led his side to a 6 wicket victory which also adds pressure to hosts england who sitjust above them, as patrick 6earey reports. If pakistan have a plan, it is not an easy one to work out