Elephant in the room. Thats how much more japan sells to the us than it buys from the us and thats what will dominate talks at the white house later today. Plus, its back greeces debt crisis returns to haunt europe. Can its lenders agree a new deal. Or will we have to add grexit to brexit . Welcome to World Business report. Good morning, britain, and hello, world. Welcome to the programme. We have got that friday feeling. If you are tuning in for the first time, stay where you are. I am only asking to ten minutes, that is all i have. I will give you an exciting snapshot of all the latest in a world of this the same money. We start in the United States, where you have in hearing that japans home United States, where you have in hearing thatjapans home minister, shinzo abe, meets with President Trump later today. Prime minister. Trade will be high on the agenda. Remember, one of mr trumps first actions as president was to withdraw from the I2 Nation Tra ns Pacific Partnership trade deal, signed by obama and strongly supported by the japanese. Mr trump called it a terrible dealfor the us. He wants a fairer trading relationship with japan lets show you why. Last yearjapan sold almost 69 billion of more stuff to the us than it bought from the us. That Trade Surplus, as its called, is one of the biggest any nation has with america. To give you an idea of why, look at this. In 2015, the latest figures we have, the us exported a little over 16,000 cars to japan. Heres how many Japanese Cars were sold that year in the us. 17. 5 million thats an all time record. Heres a vital point, though. Most of those cars are actually made in the us. Mr abe is expected to stress that 1. 5 million americanjobs rely, either directly or indirectly, on japanese carmakers. On top of this you have the so called currency wars. Mr trump has claimed the japanese yen is kept artificially low against the dollar to help japanese exporters. The japanese deny that they do this. And theres another big figure that is causing tension. 5. 5 billion was the bill to keep us troops in japan last year. Japan actually paid for almost half of that, according to their defence ministry, but mr trump says the us is shouldering too much of the burden of security in the region. So how best to diffuse all this tension . Over a round or two of golf of course, as Samira Hussain reports japans Prime Minister will be meeting with President Trump at the white house on friday. But where most of the diplomatic charter may actually take place is on the links. American president s have a long history of wayne gulf, and mr trump is no different. Play in goal. In a recent interview, the president said he believes playing golf is a better way to get to know somebody then having lunch, one of the reasons he has invited shinzo abe, a fellow golf enthusiasts, to join him at mar a lago, the winter white house. This is a testament to the importance the us places on the bilateral relationship and the strength of a bite our alliance and the deep Economic Times ties between the us and japan. But the japanese Prime Ministers trip to florida is raising questions of Conflict Of Interest. Who will pay for the Prime Ministers stay at Donald Trumps resort . I braise for also raised when the Prime Minister met with the then president elect trump after his election win. The presents daughter, eve anke trump, was also there. That raise questions of potential Conflict Of Interest between the president and his familys isner s ventures. So what will the two leaders be discussing . Security and trade will be top of the agenda. Now that the us has pulled out of the tpp, the 12 country trade act, mr trump is going to be looking to try to get some sort of a Lateral Trade deal with japan on the books. Why lateral. Shinzo abe will be coming to washington with a massive Business Proposalfor washington with a massive Business Proposal forjapanese companies to invest in the United States in infrastructure and job creation projects. And the Prime Minister has already picked up on the subtleties of this new game. He has said he will give trump a credible figure. Tweetable figure. It slack mr trump may have to pencil ina lot it slack mr trump may have to pencil in a lot more golf, certainly some with resonance xi jinping in a lot more golf, certainly some with resonance xijinping of in a lot more golf, certainly some with resonance xi jinping of china. Some with president xi jinping. Weve just had some figures that show china is still selling far more to the us than the other way round. More than 21 billion in december alone. That puts those japan figures in perspective somewhat. Lets go straight over to the singapore bureau, where mariko 0i joins us. I know that you are married to a golfer. A professional golfer, actually. So i want to know, has he told you anything . The japanese run minister, he is a dab hand at golf . I am wondering who is the best, trump or shinzo abe . We do not talk about golf at home, aaron, nor do we talk about news, because we have no interest in each others sessions, unfortunately. Buti we have no interest in each others sessions, unfortunately. But i am sure they would both be welcome if they come to singapore, that is for sure. I think i have to say, it is fairto sure. I think i have to say, it is fair to say President Trump would the having a much you issue with that china Trade Surplus thanjapan. I think that china Trade Surplus thanjapan. Ithinki that china Trade Surplus thanjapan. I think i minister shinzo abe will be emphasising that when he meets the president , that, hey, ourTrade Surplus is not as big, and japan actually contributes to the us economy. You are talking about the jobs that are ready in america, but he has reported they are also offering to create 700,000 us jobs. Whether or not that is achievable is another matter, because if it is that easy he really should have done it back home already. That will definitely be high on the agenda. For the rest of the world, or at least for the rest of asia, chinas Trade Figures are not actually bad news, because as you mentioned, the Trade Surplus with the United States is huge, but also its exports are rising 8 and its imports are rising to 7 . Both beat expectations. That indicates chinas economy is off to a good start. That is great news because china is the biggest Trading Partner for many asian countries. Indeed. Thanks for that. I am wondering what you do talk about at home, then, if you dont talk about yourjob or about golf . Home, then, if you dont talk about your job or about golf . home, then, if you dont talk about yourjob or about golf . I kid do yourjob or about golf . I kid do you actually talk to him . Do you talk about things with your husband . We talk about our daughter a lot, yes. Have a great weekend. See you soon. We are also looking at this. Welcome it is coming. We are also looking at greece, which today has to pay back 1. 4 billion euros to its creditors. Its the latest instalment on the countrys 320 billion Euro Mountain of debt. And its just one in what will become an avalanche of payments over the next few months. The crunch will come injuly when greece will need fresh funds from its european and International Creditors to stay afloat. The problem is, the International Monetary fund says it wont pay any more unless europe agrees to write off a sizeable chunk of greeces debt. And it warns that greece is not doing enough to reform. I think we would agree that europe has provided extraordinary support to greece and we would agree that it is encouraging that europe indicates, reiterates again today that it will stand by greece for the long term. We obviously welcome both of those things, but i think its important to say this also that that support is not unconditional. The standards chief of the us Congress Says a senior trump aide Kristian Scholz joins us. Kristian scholzjoins us. Thanks for coming in. You know what im going to say to you. I am so bored of this. I am so bored of it. I cannot believe it is back, ifeel like i am either in a Timewarp Warp or it is groundhog day. The same old arguments, greece needs more money, greece is not performing. The european lenders and europe are battling over what to do. Can i put a gun to my head now . What do you say to that . This is square one. Another thing that is or is the same is that there is a deadline approaching, and external deadline. At some point greece will have to make a payment. The big ones are perhaps in april, and the really big one you mentioned is the repayment of the ecb. That is private creditors, injuly. Of the ecb. That is private creditors, in july. Does it have the money now to make these payments . Probably has the money for the april payment but not the july probably has the money for the april payment but not thejuly payment. By july, it needs that big amount of money. It needs to pass the second, only the Second Review of the programme, which was agreed back in 2015. But the problem, or the issue, which is slightly different this time, is that it is still so many months away. The first understood half months away. The second is four and half months away. It is almost half a year away, and we are already ina mode half a year away, and we are already in a mode where it feels like we are on the brink. We are not on the brink. We still have lots of time
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