version of the mini in the uk as a vote of confidence in britain. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. us president donald trump says apple has pledged to build three big manufacturing plants in america. and hybrid car manufacturers are worried that a new government ‘s tax will drive away customers. —— government tax. welcome to asia business report. president trump says apple's chief executive is committed to building three plants in the united states. the investment would help the administration follow through on a big campaign promise, revising the country's manufacturing industry. earlier, i spoke to our north american business correspondence about how significant this move would be for us manufacturing. this was in an interview with the wall streetjournal. donald was in an interview with the wall street journal. donald trump was in an interview with the wall streetjournal. donald trump came out and said that tim cook had committed that the tech giant would yield three big, beautiful plants in america. we reached out to apple, they would not comment at this point. we are left wondering how much of this is true. did the conversation take place? one must assume that it did. we am not sure of the nature of the conversation. one thing is clear. ever since the president came to power, he has talked about america first, a policy of bringing manufacturing and jobs back to america, making that point. we have seen companies court favour by trying to do more in terms of manufacturing in america, whether that was part of the conversation we don't know. we have an apple but fall, they have signalled that they wa nt to fall, they have signalled that they want to start a billion dollar fund to promote manufacturing jobs in the us. how might this be carried out? obviously, costs will spike. where will they be passed on to? consumers? that is the fear, that if you start making in america, is it more expensive to manufacture here? there are reasons when companies are making decisions about where their customers are, where the biggest profits while. those are the considerations that go into planning the location of a factory. the horizons for business leaders are not usually just the horizons for business leaders are not usuallyjust the next horizons for business leaders are not usually just the next year, horizons for business leaders are not usuallyjust the next year, but five or ten years, given the scale of investment required. we have already heard that one of the parts suppliers for the iphone has talked about opening a plant in the us. how much of that is driven by business, how much is driven by considerations elsewhere, political concerns and so on, we are not quite sure. it is worth noting that, if we look at the iphone, and the us is certainly one of the biggest markets, china being an ottawan, but there are concerns in china that it is perhaps starting to fall behind. gambling in macau has helped to lift revenue at resorts, however the us‘s company ‘s reve nu es we re resorts, however the us‘s company ‘s revenues were down slightly. one company rose at 7% to —— compared to last year. they are the largest casino hub in the world. we also have quarterly earnings being released later from have quarterly earnings being released laterfrom nintendo. the question is what the moneyspinner will be for nintendo. they launched a new day in in march, and they have sold 2.7 million units worldwide. in comparison, xbox sold over 3 million, that was in the first month of their launch. nintendo says they hope to sell 10 million more switchers in march. they are having some issues with production. earlier i spoke to an analyst in taipei and i asked whether that will impact earnings. they are in a great place, revenue and earnings will be up. they had big losses in 2013. why? they had big losses in 2013. why? they had big losses in 2013. why? they had a product that was a big failure. in contrast, the switch is doing quite well. we heard earlier that demand and supply for the switch could not quite meet up with production. what could that effect in terms of revenue? they have a contract manufacturer for their products, last year, they based their demands on numbers that were quite low. right now they have a good problem, to manage demands, not enough supply. next quarter, they will try to build up inventories, and they will also build sales in the lead up to black friday and christmas. now, the shoe company jimmy choo has been purchased by michael kors. jimmy choo has been purchased by many celebrities, however is struggling after ray series of heavy discounts. we got more information on the deal. series of heavy discounts. we got more information on the dealm series of heavy discounts. we got more information on the deal. it may have an impact on the company, michael kors. the main point is that michael kors. the main point is that michael kors. the main point is that michael kors wants to sell more in asia. european brands have a lot of cachet in asia. if you have a european brand that is associated with luxury, that is one way of expanding your sales. in europe, they are perhaps not quite as ship as they were. european brands in china, the big growth market with a rising middle class, that is where it is that. they want to double sales in asia. britain is hitting the brakes on petrol and diesel vehicles. the government plans to introduce new cars powered by fossil —— wants to ban cars powered by fossil fuels by 2040 —— wants to ban cars powered by fossilfuels by 2040 in —— wants to ban cars powered by fossil fuels by 2040 in an attempt to reduce pollution. it follows an announcement earlier this month by the french government. staying with that topic, we have got carmakers who are rethinking their strategy on hybrid cars after the introduction of the gst. hybrid vehicles are being charged as high as 43%, compared to an earlier rate of 29%. many companies are worried that the tax will drive hybrid cars out of the market altogether. we spoke to one of the biggest carmakers, siddiqi, to get an opinion on the matter. i think it is something which requires less tax —— suzuki. we need a new policies for hybrid ca rs. we need a new policies for hybrid cars. at this point in time, electric cars don't have customers to purchase them. the movement towards electric cars and the electric —— electrification of transport makes a lot of sense. but we need customers who are willing to buy them. global alliances between suzuki and toyota, how is this going to play out, particularly in india? they want to access the indian market, which gives them the potential for using these new technologies. on a much larger scale thanit technologies. on a much larger scale than it would be possible anywhere else. the toyota partnership with suzuki is going to be of great interest and value to us here, because i think that helps both suzuki and toyota. looking ahead, how do you see the indian car market panning out? i think not the major towns, but the slightly smaller towns, but the slightly smaller towns, they are very underserviced in terms of cars. you would not get to the level of china, 24 million ca rs to the level of china, 24 million cars in china, i don't think we have the infrastructure to support that. and i think we should get to 10 million cars and. do you think that is good enough to sustain the market? you have more than ten manufacturers in the country, and no foreign manufacturers. people make investments in india. creating a market, which allows long—term investments to grow. i think people can still succeed here. it can be treated as a short term quarterly result market. a quick look at the markets. and that is it for this edition of world —— asia business report. the top stories this hour. one of the vatican's most seniorfigures, cardinal pell, has appeared in court in australia to face multiple charges of sex abuse. he insists he's innocent. us lawmakers have overwhelmingly backed tough new sanctions against russia — as well as iran and north korea. uk animal welfare standards could be under threat after brexit, if farmers are left to compete against cheaper, less regulated rivals from outside the european union. that's according to a house of lords committee who say the government must insist on similar standards in any new trade agreements to avoid a race to the bottom on welfare. duncan kennedy reports. it is one of britain's's premier showcases for agriculture. 100,000 people admiring 2000 animals. it's all part of an industry were animal welfare is paramount. but farmers like mike smales are worried about what might happen after brexit. he says if we start importing food from countries with lower standards, it may be cheaper but animal welfare could suffer. how cheap can food get? you have to ask that question. this downward spiral in expecting food to keep getting cheaper and cheaper, i think it's a bit naive. the government said today that farmers shouldn't worry about animal welfare after brexit, because britain will keep what it calls our gold standard policies. any future arrangements covering trade in animals, or trading anything, for that matter, will be subject to the uk parliament. but some people say they don'tjust have concerns about animal welfare after brexit, campaign groups say they are also worried about food safety levels in some countries. food that could be exported to britain. processing plants use a variety... they pointed to american practices like washing poultry in chlorine to kill bacteria, which they say would be unacceptable to british consumers. others say it is patronising to dismiss safety standards in countries like the united states. why would american food producers produce food that kills, injures or makes ill the people that eat that food? it is not a sensible business proposition. it won'tjust be american farmers trying to get a foothold in britain after brexit. today's report says it will be down to consumers to decide how much they want to pay for high—quality food. don't forget you can get in touch with me on twitter — i'm @babitabbc. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: sending records tumbling. britain's adam peaty sets a new world best twice in one day at the world swimming championships. reigning champions germany are through to the quarter—finals of the women's euro 2017 tournament along with sweden. and fears that novak djokovic may miss the forthcoming us open through injury. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that britain's adam peaty became the first swimmer ever to go sub 26 seconds in the 50m breaststroke on tuesday. the 22—year—old broke his record not once but twice as he reached the final at the world aquatics championships in budapest. he's already retained his 100m title in the same discipline when he took gold on monday but the olympic champion clocked 25.95 seconds in his 50 metres breaststroke semi—final, going even quicker