One of the world's biggest shippers says China's exports are holding up despite tariffs.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
The EU's trade chief pays a visit to New Delhi and US flights are cut thanks to the shutdown.
Yes, one of the world's biggest shipping companies Maersk, has reported stronger than expected results and says China's exports remain buoyant despite ongoing trade tensions with the United States.
Maersk's chief executive, Vincent Clerk, has been speaking to my colleague, Will Bain.
What we've seen already since the end of 2023 is the exporting machine from China gaining pace and seeing significant growth across all of its trading regions.
Really, whether it is Latin America, Middle East, Europe or North America, we've seen that growth.
We've seen most growth even into the other Asian countries.
So a very, very broad-based growth from China, a market that, for the last eight quarters, has kept on surprising by its resilience, despite some of the changes, including some of the ones that happened during this year.
We see a market that is growing around 4 this year, but China is going to grow 11 which, when you think about the base and the size that China has 11, is an astounding number.
And it was already the case last year.
What is the situation right now, particularly in the Red Sea, with Houthi rebels firing on shipping through that area because of what's been going on in the Middle East?
So today we're still avoiding it completely.
But I have to say that The ceasefire in Gaza is a great step in the right direction for Gaza, for the world, but also towards the reestablishment of normal trade routes and us being able to reopen.
For us, a question is how safe is it today, but also how safe is it for the long run and the foreseeable future?
Because having to change trade routes back and forth all the time is extremely disruptive to our customers.
I mean, they need to carry two weeks more of inventory because that's how much longer it takes.
Another problem that we don't talk so much about is the fact that actually throughout the European continent And the UK, we have not been adding terminal capacity fast enough to cope with the trading volumes.
Long term, then, is that something that governments in Europe and in the UK need to think about?
Yeah, I think that Europe is in critical need of increasing its capacity of critical infrastructure.
It's certainly true for ports across the continent.
With climate change, we're having waterways like the Rhine that are no longer as reliable or able to move as much goods as they were before.
So some of the goods are starting to move towards roads or rail.
We are not prepared for the future.
If trade continues to grow, we're going to see significant congestions, extra costs, bottlenecks and delays as a result.
That was Maersk's Chief Executive, Vincent Clerk.
Now, speaking of Europe, European Union officials are in New Delhi to try to hammer out a free trade agreement with India before the end of the year.
I've been speaking to a man who's part of the talks, Dr Asif Iqbal, President of the Indian Economic Trade Organisation.
We spoke on the engagements that could dissolve our outstanding issues and also towards the balanced framework that we have had for both sides.
This particular agreement.
We trusted that the FTA agreement, if it happens faster, it can be contributing to the equitable framework that can benefit both of us.
So a lot of meetings, a lot of talking, but has there been a lot of progress made?
Oh, yes, absolutely.
A lot of progress.
And I think it all starts with the dialogue.
And since the FTA process started in 2008, it's been a very long time now.
And it is really high time that we finalise on something that could garner for both our trade bodies.
Now, things like talent, steel...
Carbon, auto, these are all hot topics in these negotiations.
So how can both sides benefit from an agreement in these areas?
If you see the negotiation part of it, it is very important that, because of the oil duties that have been laid, the expectations from the EU are much more higher now because of this particular area that we have not been addressing.
Also the fact that the agenda, you know it includes 60 areas of cooperation.
This EU strategic agenda.
And the FTA is the first and foremost, and it's at the center of this whole thing.
Typically imposing 50 duty on Indian imports would be very counterproductive and this requirement is going to be breached.
So we need to work on this duty, the 50% duty.
And for this reason alone, Europe will not place tariffs on India.
And our dependency on US and China is what Europe needs to deal if they want to boost its export and diversify their existing portfolio with India.
That was Dr Asif Iqbal, president of the Indian Economic Trade Organization.
Tesla shareholders are set to vote on Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay deal today.
To get the full amount Musk needs to boost the company's value six times to 85 trillion and boost earnings 24 times to 400 billion.
But some shareholders have said they will be voting against the deal.
Now here in the UK, the central bank, the Bank of England, has held its interest rate at 4%.
Emma Wall is chief investment strategist for Hargreaves Lansdowne.
Emma, what is the saying about the UK economy?
Well, it's giving a mixed message because actually, although the rate has been held, if you look under the bonnet at how the voting was split, that's what's really interesting.
So five members voted to keep rates on hold, but four of them voted to cut.
And this is because we put a mixed picture in terms of the data coming through on the economy for the UK.
Inflation is finally under control and it's trending downwards. the economic growth is weak.
And the thing on the horizon, the budget which is in a couple of weeks here in the UK, that could potentially knock either the economy off course or indeed inflation off course.
So I think what we're seeing here is a mixed picture, although the market is very much pricing in another cut in December.
Okay.
Emma Wall, Chief Investment Strategist for Hargreaves Lansdowne.
Thank you so much.
Now, the U.S. government shutdown is the longest in history now, and it's starting to hit the skies.
U.S.
Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, has announced plans to cut flights at 40 major airports, citing safety concerns, as air traffic control staff face mounting pressure.
Sean Perknicky is an aviation expert based at Ohio State University.
All the air traffic controllers are not being paid during this whole episode we're having over here.
We're starting to see a lot of them are walking off the job.
They're going to get other jobs, part time jobs to bring some money into their households.
You know, we were already short of controllers and now we're even more short of controllers.
So the person that's in charge of all of this, Secretary of Transportation he is recognizing that the national airspace is significantly challenged and cannot handle safely the amount of flights are there because of all the controllers we're losing.
So he is reducing the amount of airplanes to essentially match the number of controllers we have.
That was aviation expert Sean Prucknicki.
And Jack Criss is an air traffic controller in the U.S. state of Maryland.
We're working already up under a lot of stress because of how perfectly you have to operate as an air traffic controller.
There's zero margin for error.
And then when you add that stress with the financial stress of not knowing when you get paid.
Listen, you know, everybody that goes to work goes to work for a reason.
We go to work because we want to get paid and we got bills and obligations. and children.
We kind of feel betrayed by our own government.
It's not a good feeling.
It's un-American.
It just doesn't feel like there's something that America should be allowing to occur.
I do respect the safety-sensitive nature of the position that I hold as a controller, but I also have bills to pay.
And how long this shutdown is going to last is unforeseen.
So I'm trying to do everything I can in order to manage.
But again, it's difficult because I love my job.
I love doing what I do, but the tension is mounting at work.
The hostility is getting higher at work from management officials.
And so it almost feels like this is a targeted attack on us as controllers.
It doesn't, it's not a good feeling.
That was Jack Criss, an air traffic controller in the US state of Maryland.
The cuts will start at 4 on Friday and rise to 10 next week, though international flights will not be affected.
And that's it from World Business Express today with me, Leanna Byrne.
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