And the markets still loving President Trumps pro growth drive of tax cuts, big spending and deregulation. And as the head of bt europe resigns over an Accounting Scandal, well be getting the inside track from our business editor, simonjack, on that and all the rest of the stories hes been covering this week. After ten years of almost constant growth, the sales of soft sugary drinks in australian supermarkets has fallen by more than 60 million. We want to know are you more aware of sugar, and is it changing the way you shop . Just use bbcbizlive. Welcome to the programme. We start in the us, where, as you have been hearing, uk Prime Minister theresa may will become the first world leader to meet President Trump when they hold talks later today. Mrs may has called on the president to renew the Special Relationship between the two countries. She is keen to show britain can prosper outside the European Union, so lining up a Post Brexit Trade Deal is high on her agenda. But is it really a priority for the us . Take a look at this. In terms of individual countries, the United States is the uks top export destination. Britain sold goods and Services Worth 125 billion to the us in 2015. Thats17 of all its exports. Taken together, though, the European Union is by far britains top export market, worth 280 billion, 44 of britains total exports. Any drop in those exports as a result of brexit could see britain relying far more on the us. Britain is far less important to the us than the us is to britain. America sold 65 billion of goods and services here in 2015, half the amount that went the other way. And to put that in the context of the vast us economy, that is little more than 4 of total us exports and less than 0. 5 of us gdp. So putting aside the warm words, will this really be a priority for the white house . Dr brian klass, fellow in comparative politics at London School of economics is with me. Thank you for coming in. Lets go to the figures we were talking about. It looks like the uk on paper is far more dependent on the us than the other way around. Why is donald trump making such positive noises . For both politicians this is about an early political whim for people trying to transform their countries and trading relationships with the world. I think trump needs to say he has dealt with a global power and come away with a deal. He makes himself out to be a deal maker and wa nts to himself out to be a deal maker and wants to show results. Its much more important for theresa may who wa nts to more important for theresa may who wants to show there will be a soft landing from brexit and this us trade deal is one way this can be achieved. In the uk its Headline News, but how aware are people in the United States of this meeting happening . I dont think they are aware at all. Its in the New York Times and washington post. Its not on the New York Times right now. Is the 35th story on the washington post. Its not Headline News for americans, who are much more concerned with things like the mexican war. Trump was not chanting about trade deals with the uk. Little bit of a problem that i believe the uk faces. All well and good that the Prime Minister and president will be talking. But they are not the ones who really do the negotiating. Its the teams behind them. Apparently the uk lacks Trade Negotiators where america has some of the best in the world who will wipe the floor, so i hear. Thats right, the uk hasnt negotiated trade deals independently for a long time and they only developed a new office last summer. They are getting up office last summer. They are getting up to speed to the us has done for a long time. Combine that with the leveraged the us saw the ball is in the uss court. Leveraged the us saw the ball is in the uss court. Both politicians looking for an early win. What sort of headlines tomorrow will give that impact . I think they will commit to working on a trade deal and try to have one in place, a framework, to be in fermented as soon as the uk leaves the eu. Those are the headlines. Whats not clear is whether they can battle the Deregulation Concerns that make the trade deal difficult to hash out and whether it will be a good deal for britain in the end. Thank you for joining us, really interesting. When is 5. 3 billion profit in three months just not enough . When youre google, it seems. The Parent Company of the Internet Giant Saw its shares fall in after hours trade after its Quarterly Results disappointed investors. As dave lee reports from san francisco, there are concerns about a slowdown in the growth of Online Advertising and just how future proof the company may be. We call it pixel. The final three months of 2016 were important for google it launched a new smartphone range, the pixel, and went big with its voice activated assistant, google home. The company didnt break out the numbers for those new devices, so its hard to know exactly how they have performed, but googles chief executive, sundar pichai, said he was comfortable with the direction things were going with the new products. Hes going to need them to succeed. Alphabets revenues, which are up 22 on this time last year, still rely heavily on earning money through googles advertising. As even more of us turn to mobile computer in, people are clicking or rather tapping on google ads more than they used to, but advertisers are paying less per click than before. Aside from google, alphabet has what it calls its other bets things like superfast broadband, Smart Thermostats and self driving cars. The revenues of these other bets has doubled compared to this time last year, but overall in the past three months those bets collectively lost the company 1. 1 billion. Dave lee, bbc news, san francisco. Toshiba has said it will split off its operation that makes memory chips for smartphones and computers and will sell a stake in the new business. The Japanese Company needs to raise funds after revealing a heavy one off loss at its Us Nuclear Power business. Toshiba will unveil the size of the writedown next month, but some estimate it could be around 6 billion. Swiss banking giant ubs Beat Expectations in the last three months of 2016 to post a pre tax profit of 847 million. It said that Rising Interest Rates and stocks boosted the us Wealth Management and securities units, whilst the bank also put less money aside for litigation. Ubs is among the few european banks still facing a us probe into sales of mortgage securities. The bank has 3. 2 billion in reserve for legal matters. Always good to see you. Happy friday. Ali bacher doing it again. Didnt they recently buy something in the states . They are making a big push in the states, but the country we are talking about today, the affiliate is called Ant Financial. They are buying moneygram. Ant is chinas Biggest Online payments company, and its one third owed by the boss of eilidh barbour. Its an interesting deal. The business of International Payments is a really tough one. It looks quite counterintuitive given that the world is deep globalising. Ultimately, this is what Ant Financial get through this purchase of moneygram, a big brand name and network in america as well as immediate expansion of the global remittances business. How do you say happy new year in china . Right back at you. Chinese new year tomorrow. Let me show you those numbers. The dow on wall street continued extending those gains after breaking that 20,000 market on wednesday. And that rebound continues rippling Around The World markets. The Third Straight rise forjapans nikkei, banks and exporters leading the charge today. Europe is expected to follow that optimistic wave, because despite President Trumps words toward trade protectionism, investors are betting the new us president will embark on a pro growth drive of tax cuts, big spending and deregulation. Everything the markets love. So lets find out whatll be making the headlines in the us today. Heres samira. The end of the week has finally come, and what a week it was but before we look to the weekend, there are still a few bits of Business News to look at. Now, investors here will be focused on the Fourth Quarter gdp estimate, thats the gross domestic product. Now, the us economy grew by 3. 5 in the previous quarter. Now, economists are not expecting anything that high, but they will be closely watching this metric. Also happening on friday, durable goods orders. Now, that is really looked as a proxy for how businesses are going to spend here in the us. Now, after seeing a drop in the month of november, analysts are expecting to see an increase for the month of december. And finally, in earnings news, American Airlines will be reporting. Now, it is the number one airline by passenger traffic, but that may not be reflected in their earnings. Cheap airfares and higher wage costs have really hurt American Airlines this quarter. Joining us is jane foley, Senior Currency Strategist at rabobank thank you for coming in. Lets start with currencies. Sterling is on a much firmerfooting this with currencies. Sterling is on a much firmer footing this week. With currencies. Sterling is on a much firmer footing this weekm is. Its off the highest levels of the week but if you go back to the beginning of last week, its much stronger. A lot of this is to do with uk politics. Theresa mays speech last week, what the market liked was the idea that the government in the uk has a plan, and not only that it has a plan on brexit, but theresa may has been busy filling up her agenda. She has a busy to do list. Shes talking about trade with the us. That will garner positive headlines for both. That will give sterling a bit more a boost . Itll be in the press. Sterling coming off its highest levels, so what the market often does is price in, wait for the news and see if it matches expectations. Theresa may has talked about Industrial Policy this week and says shes lining up talks with china about trade there. Shes trying to firm up this belief that the uk does have a strong outlook post brexit. But brexit talks havent yet begun. So we still have a volatile ride for sterling for the rest of the year. Going to the us dollar, which has had a ride recently. We are getting us gdp Growth Numbers out today. Its a funny old game because President Trump doesnt want a strong dollar. 0thers President Trump doesnt want a strong dollar. Others do, though, in the us. The us treasury, is in charge of Dollar Policy, not the central bank. For years the us treasury has been saying theyve had a strong Dollar Policy but we havent heard much about it recently, because if you have slow growth and inflation, you dont want a strong growth and inflation, you dont want a strong currency. Growth and inflation, you dont want a strong currency. They kept quiet about it. The Treasury Secretary said yes they wanted a stronger dollar but he has backed down again. Donald trump wants to export more, import less, and if you want to export more, you want a weak dollar. So products are cheaper for us Around The World . So products are cheaper for us Around The World . Precisely. Youre coming back to take us through the papers. We will see you shortly. Still to come, well get the inside track on the Big Business Stories of the week from our business editor, simonjack. Tesco has agreed to buy uks biggest food wholesaler, booker group, in a £3. 7 billion deal. The Companies Said the deal would create the uks leading food business. The joint announcement also said the deal would bring benefits for consumers, independent retailers, caterers, small businesses, suppliers, and colleagues, as well as delivering significant value to shareholders. Our business correspondent, theo leggett, joins us from our business unit. This is really a boost for consumers . Isnt this just tesco, which is a whopper as it is, just getting bigger . Certainly, there may be concerns that tesco is gaining an even bigger slice of the uk food market than it already controls, and some analysts are saying that Competition Regulators may want to look into it carefully. Tesco says, were not buying any more big stores, so there is no reason for Competition Regulators to get involved, but that is a discussion for the future. Tesco says it is looking to broaden its business, so the Supermarket Business itself, which is its core business, is very competitive, dominated by a small number of large players, very hard to gain market share, hard to grow your business and expand revenues or cut costs in that way. So it is taking Ona Cut Costs in that way. So it is taking on a different part of the food business, making itself bigger in that way, expanding what it has to offer. It says it is particularly interested in what it calls the out of home offering, so people who go to supermarkets, prepare at home, thatis to supermarkets, prepare at home, that is traditional business for them. But restaurants, catering, convenience stores, that is another pa Rt Convenience stores, that is another part of what it is looking at here. Tesco says this is not about refining its Supermarket Business and making that cheaper, it is about expanding its business and increasing its offer into new areas. 0k, great stuff, enjoy your mg 0n the weekend, i meant it is the chinese new year, it is going to be the year of the rooster, give me your friday fact. President trump and the chinese leader were all born in the year of the rooster. Were you . No idea lets look into it welcome back for our international viewers, you are watching Business Live britains Prime Minister says shes delighted that new american president Donald Trumps has made a trade deal between their countries a top priority. Theresa may is set to discuss it when she becomes the first foreign leader to meet him later. They are going to do that in the 0val they are going to do that in the oval office in a few hours time. Lets have a look at how the markets are getting on, just up ever so slightly in london, a bit of Profit Taking on the dax and the cac 40. And now lets get the inside track on some of the Big Business Stories of the past few days. 0ne story we have been covering is the growing Accounting Scandal at bts italian operation. Its now being reported by reuters that bts head of continental europe, corrado sciolla, is to leave the company as a result of the crisis. Simon, you broke this story earlier in the week, it is your baby well, no, the boss of bt europe, i was told, was leaving several days ago, he has taken a long time to write his resignation letter, he is leaving today this scandal broke at the end of last year, back in 0ctober, they said, we have a £140 million poll in their italian division, but it turns out to be much worse than they previously thought, more than £500 million, a whopping black hole for a business which is a tiny part of bts total revenues. So something has gone seriously wrong. What has happened is that employees and customers have been colluding to pad out invoices, hitting profits targets. It was missed by the external auditors, pwc, and i am told that bt is reviewing whether it even wants to have a subsidiary in italy anymore. A couple of interesting things, it is the one country where when you do a forensic investigation like this, personal e mails of employees do not have to be handed over. And the authorities approach to this is generally to find against the company, the company did wrong, not the individuals. So if you put that together, you have the potentialfor scandals like this to happen. Bt, a Big Worldwide company, it is facing challenges and a number of fronts, it has a whopping pension deficit, it has a whopping pension deficit, it has a whopping pension deficit, it has got a stagnation in its core revenue, some of its biggest customers are not spending money, and that is worrying for the wider economy. When a company as big as bt sees customers holding off, some people say it is to do with brexit, then they have a problem, and moodys downgraded them the othe