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This is Andrew Peach with World Business Report. Today, the G7 minus Donald Trump. We'll look at the conversations about tariffs that other world leaders were hoping to have with the US president. Is China's biggest car manufacturer, BYD, playing fair? If any auto manufacturer go to invest in China, they will receive equally or maybe better subsidy from Chinese government because you contribute like a job opportunity.
And when songwriters end up in court... There was also this huge existential threat of what it actually meant for the world of songwriting and for songwriters in general, and I always felt the weight of that. First, the G7 in the Canadian Rockies in its second day. Defence and security top of the agenda with President Zelensky of Ukraine there. Here's what the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had to say as the two leaders met. I would like to start by condemning
in the strongest terms, the latest outrage, barbarism from Russia and express my deep condolences and those of the Canadian people to the families in Kyiv who were affected. This underscores the importance
of standing in total solidarity with Ukraine, with the Ukrainian people, and maximum pressure includes financial pressure. In the last few minutes, we've heard the Canadian officials saying the US has blocked a strong joint G7 statement on the war in Ukraine. In many ways, day two has been overshadowed by Donald Trump's absence. Here's what he had to say on board Air Force One, talking to journalists after his early departure.
You just posted right before we took off that you're not leaving because of a ceasefire. Can you elaborate? We're not looking for a ceasefire. I didn't say I was looking for a ceasefire, but I think we're looking for better than a ceasefire.
President Trump there, it was hard to hear. He was saying he was looking for something better than a ceasefire when talking about what's happening between Israel and Iran. Many leaders were hoping to have some one-on-one time with the president in the hope they might be able to talk about a trade deal before the implementation of global tariffs, which is looming. Brian Schwartz from The Wall Street Journal has been following all of this and is live with me on World Business Report.
Brian, let me just get your reaction to this breaking line first of all about a G7 statement on Ukraine, which it looks like the US has blocked. Yeah, that's fascinating, of course, and thanks for having me. I mean, so this is the latest from the reports that you're rehearsing to me, kind of an issue, right, that's come from the G7 summit in Canada. You touched on this kind of earlier on, but there have also been expectations
that President Trump would engage with world leaders and really at least come pretty close, if not really close, and actually provide agreements to move on from this trade war that he started in April. And so far, things have not been going the ways I think some, at least some in Europe and around the world expected from the president.
So there was a deal with the UK signed, but then the details of that were pretty much thrashed out anyway. That was just the sort of rubber stamping process. Japan's one example where there were a few minutes of talks, as I understand it, yesterday, no agreement reached. I'm sure the Japanese prime minister was thinking, well, let's have a few more minutes during the rest of the G7. And of course, that's now up in smoke.
That's right. I mean let's be clear about something here. We know of at least two deals, if you want to call them deals, between the US and a counterpart. One of them is with the United Kingdom, as you just mentioned, and that's more of a framework from I think how the White House has pushed out. They've said it's a deal, but in a way it's more of a framework to move forward. And the second, of course, is around China where the tariffs have been lowered and now the US has better access to
to exports around critical minerals, particularly licensing around those deals around critical minerals since China blocked those during the start of the trade war. Trade war, I guess, 2.0 from Trump's perspective. But again, there's still some tariffs on China, and China continues to put tariffs on the United States. We're not at zero tariffs on both sides. So there's still a long way to go here as we approach the July deadline.
And you mentioned Japan. I mean Japan has had their concerns around the tariffs that have been impacting their auto industry. The auto industry is coveted in Japan, and because the US tariffs have really in part targeted the Japanese auto industry, there seems to be a red line here where the Japanese
I just want these tariffs mostly, if not entirely, removed. And from everything I'm hearing, there is no indication that the U.S. is willing to go there. And I think that that is truly indicative of where we are right now, why there's been such a standstill, not just for Japan, but also for Canada and other countries that are looking to distance themselves from the tariffs that the president launched starting back in April.
And then there's the European Union. We don't seem to be anywhere close to a deal between the U.S. and the EU at all. In fact, Trump seems to have fallen out somehow with President Macron, doesn't he? He's been posting rude things about him on social media. Well, the EU is kind of a horse of a different color. I mean, the EU for the U.S., because the EU is looked at by the Trump administration as having so many different asks from all the different countries around.
that it's become for the U.S. really difficult to figure out how they're going to come to what they have been labeling as deals with those countries. And so that's been a concern for months. I remember I was at the G7 Finance Summit in Canada, in Alberta,
And when I was talking to U.S. officials there at the time, U.S. officials who were at the conference include people like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessa. But when I was speaking to U.S. officials about the situation between the U.S. and the EU, there was still a
long way to go before there was any indication that the EU and the United States were willing to come together to have a deal. And I think there really hasn't been much change since the G7 finance summit going into the G7 leaders summit that we're seeing take place in Canada.
Brian, thank you so much. Brian Schwartz in the Wall Street Journal. Live now to Mandy Zhu, head of derivative market intelligence at SIBO Global Markets. Mandy, thank you for being with us. Just give me your take on this idea of trade deals with the US and the EU, the US and Canada, the US and Japan, which don't seem to have advanced as much as many people would have been hoping at the G7.
Yeah, no, thanks, Andrew, for having me on. I think there's definitely a disconnect between kind of what you guys were discussing in terms of the realities of the negotiations being quite difficult. It's going to take time. There's a lot of issues to be worked out versus what investors are expecting or what the market is pricing in. And that disconnect is that there's a lot of opportunity.
around the issue of trade in the markets. And we can see that not just in terms of just where the market's trading, you know, back to near all-time highs, but just the lack of a reaction on any good news that does come through on trade. So, for example, last week when, you know, we reached the so-called trade deal with China, the market barely moved on that headline, right? So that kind of tells you that that good news was already largely expected by investors. Similarly, you know, a few weeks back,
back when we had that headline, you know, that the tariffs were going to be struck down by the trade court. Obviously, that's going through, you know, appeal, et cetera. But even on that headline, you know, the market really didn't move. So I would say, at least from financial markets perspective, you know, they're expecting kind of the negotiations to ultimately be successful or for Trump to walk back a lot of the tariffs that he put on, similarly to kind of what happened
with China. So that disconnect, I thought, was very interesting when I was listening to your conversation earlier. Oil prices have been greatly affected by what's happening between Israel and Iran. They're pretty high today. Brent crude on track to close at its highest for months.
Yeah, I mean, I think geopolitical risk being obviously a driver, positive driver for oil prices, that's not surprising. What's surprising is kind of what we're seeing in the markets right now. Investors actually positioning for much higher volatility in oil going forward. So not just that oil prices have been volatile, they've been going up, but we're seeing positioning for that to even continue and be, you know, and continue.
even higher. So one measure of sentiment that we track in the options market for oil, that's reaching kind of record bullishness, if you will, in terms of the direction of crude oil. And I think that's particularly interesting given that we've had multiple of these episodes, for example, like
Right now, we're pricing for more bullish sentiment than we saw in 2022 during the Russia-Ukraine crisis or in 2011 during Arab Spring. So that to me, the level of optimism or bullishness in the oil market that we're seeing today certainly stands out to me.
Mandy, thank you very much indeed. Mandy Zhu with us live. Now, lots of data today about US consumer sentiment. None of it particularly good. Here's one piece of research out today. It's about spending at restaurants.
which in the US has seen its sharpest fall for a couple of years, down 0.9% in May, the biggest downturn since 2023. Kim Hanks runs Wim Hospitality, which runs hotels and restaurants in Texas, and joins us live now. Does this chime with what you've been seeing, Kim, over the last month or so?
Yes. First of all, thank you for having me. You know, we, along with most restaurants, are navigating a complex landscape where consumer behaviors are changing because of inflation and economic uncertainty. So we're really having to be nimble and change with the different spending habits. Right.
Right. What is underpinning this? And I guess what can you as a business owner do to try and combat it? Well,
Well, so what I'm noticing specifically is we, you know, just looking at our data and the volume of people that are coming in, we're actually seeing the same amount of people coming in because a lot of our restaurants are at destination locations, but they're not spending on high ticket items. So if you think about a Tomahawk steak or
or beautiful bottles of wine, multiple cocktails. They're just not spending on that. They're wanting pastas. They're wanting chicken. They're drinking a lot of beer because it's less expensive. So we've had to change our menu offerings.
And as a business, is that viable? I mean, so interesting to those of us who are not in your position to think about how all this works. So people still come in, they're not spending anywhere near as much, they're just choosing less expensive items on the menu. Does that work from your point of view as a business? It doesn't. But we are eternal optimists. So what we have to do is we have to hire less employees. So
So you'll see that in summer months when it's beautiful, just like in England, you know, you're expecting people to go out to your pubs and your restaurants, drink beer, drink cocktails, you know, kind of congregate together because it's a joyful time. You need more employees, but it causes us to constrict.
It causes us to look at our menus and say, OK, if I can't hire more people to have a more complex menu, what do I need to do? You are pulling in your operations so they're extremely tight, which means that you're hiring less people, which is not good for the economy. And do you get any sense from your customers that they're there worrying about
The economy, about what's happening in the world. Do people talk about that or are they too busy having a good time? Well, I'm concerned. I am a business owner, but I'm also someone that goes to the grocery store and I spent north of $400 for groceries.
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Hi, I'm Richard Karn, and you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number one expandable garden hose. Well, the brand new Pocket Hose Copperhead with Pocket Pivot is here, and it's a total game changer. Old-fashioned hoses get kinks and creases at the spigot, but the Copperhead's Pocket Pivot is here.
swivels 360 degrees for full water flow and freedom to water with ease all around your home. When you're all done, this rust-proof anti-burst hose shrinks back down to pocket size for effortless handling and tidy storage. Plus, your super light and ultra durable pocket hose copperhead is backed with a 10-year warranty. What could be better than that? I'll
I'll tell you what, an exciting exclusive offer just for you. For a limited time, you can get a free Pocket Pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size Copperhead hose. Just text WATER to 64000. That's WATER to 64000 for your two free gifts with purchase. W-A-T-E-R to 64000. By texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethose.com slash terms.
You're listening to World Business Report with Andrew Peach. This is the BBC World Service. And next to Brazil, which is selling rights to explore oil blocks near the...
Amazon Rivermouth at an auction which has been heavily criticised by some environmentalists, especially because Brazil's about to host the UN Climate Summit, COP30, in just a few months. I've been speaking in the last hour to Nicole Figueroa de Oliveira, who's executive director of the Arriera Institute in Brazil, an organisation that's fighting these oil and gas exploration opportunities.
We know scientifically that we cannot drill new oil wells if we want to contain climate change to 1.5 degrees. This is what science is telling us and this is what the nature is telling us. And we in Brazil have been continuously, over and over, offering new oil blocks in new areas for exploration.
And that's the case of what happened today. And I suppose there's an irony here that this is happening in Brazil, which is about to host the UN Climate Conference, COP30. Yes. So COP30 will be hosted with a narrative of climate leadership by Brazil, which is offering 172 oil blocks. And from these oil blocks that were offered this morning here in Brazil, 47 of them are offered in the Amazon coast, exactly in the state of...
of Pará and Amapá, where COP30 will be held. And even more ironically, all the boats and equipment that would go to the oil platforms in the Amazon coast would leave from Belém.
So this would even burden a city that is already being very exposed by COP 30. We are hearing a lot about problems of housing and sewage and water availability. And it will only be worse by this infrastructure for the oil exploration.
Absolutely hear that you're opposed to the principle of oil exploration, but just guide me through the specific environmental threats there might be on this coast of Brazil. Of course, the Amazon basin. So it's called Amazon basin and there's other five basins in the Amazon coast.
This one specifically that is the hotspot right now of Brazil. It's a big fight between Minister of Mines and Energy and Minister of Environment. One wants to really push for the licensing. The other one is trying to hold back because it's a very sensitive area.
From the biodiversity perspective, it's an area that doesn't have enough environmental studies. So we don't really know what are the dangers of exploring oil there because we don't know all the species threatened to extinction. We know that there is a reef coral system there. And the Amazon coral system is really important for the mangrove environment.
If there's an accident of an oil leak, for example, the whole mangrove coast, which is really important for reproduction of fishes, will impact artisanal features and also the industrial fishing that happens in Brazil in the Amazon coast. And
is important and relevant for the economy of export and import. A lot of our fish is exported to the US and to China, so there's going to be a big loss for this industry, but also for the traditional communities that live there. There's indigenous people, there's people who live in the extractivist reserves, so there's a lot of potential impacts and not enough studies to confirm that it's safe.
And I guess people in Brazil need the economic benefit that would come if oil exploration happened and was successful. But that's the thing. We have oil exploration in Brazil. We have ultra deep waters, which we call pre-salt. And we have been exploring it since more than 20 years. And the place where it's been done for the most time, Rio de Janeiro, the state, is a state that has...
the worst education level in the country. It has the last six governors either investigated or arrested for corruption. And we have a lot of people living below poverty level. Well, there'd be good reasons to need anything that might generate the economy, that might generate jobs and be able to improve those things. Yes, of course, we need to generate the economy and jobs, but not oil drilling. We have a lot of offshore wind potential. We have oil
solar potential and we have renewable energy enough, biomass, to do an energy transition to lead the way to decreasing carbon emissions and also be a world leader in providing energy, renewable energy and clean energy
products like steel and others that are not generated using fossil fuels. Do you think Brazil and many other countries are following Donald Trump's lead here when he says drill, baby, drill?
Oh, yes. Petrobras president Magda, she gave a statement two weeks ago saying drill baby when she was talking about the equatorial margin, which is strange because we are on the left wing government right now that has been criticizing Trump over and over again. And now we see a lot of alignment in the energy politics between Brazil and the U.S.,
And I guess the reason for that is that people, rightly or wrongly, seem to have decided that concern about climate change is a nice-to-have when you can afford it, but has to be crossed off the agenda when money's tight.
Yes, but climate change also impacts money. It generates millions and billions of dollars of losses when it's about climate impacts. It decreases food production, which also creates more needs for money to pay for this. Adaptation also requires investment. So we have to make calculations when it's about money of 360 degrees holistically and not just looking at one sector at a time.
And from oil exploration off the coast of Brazil to BYD, China's biggest car manufacturer. It started out making mobile batteries 30 years ago. Now it has ambitions of selling more electric vehicles than anyone else on earth.
My colleague Theo Leggett has been talking to the firm's executive vice president, Stella Lee, and first put to her claims from Western carmakers that it's only thriving because of subsidies from the Chinese government. It's an unfair claim because there's no fact base. If any auto manufacturer goes to invest in China, they will receive equally or maybe better subsidy from the Chinese government because you contribute like a job opportunity.
The same equally here. If we bring the manufacturing here, we will receive the same incentive because we bring the job, we bring the technology here. So instead of stay here, complain, why not focus on investing R&D, focus on to bring up technology? Are European manufacturers making excuses then?
I don't know. The European Union does believe that BYD benefits from subsidies and it's imposed a very heavy tariff on imports of cars into the European Union. How is that changing your strategy in Europe? Because BYD is a public company, our principle is to be transparent. So BYD is always an operated company with honesty and transparency.
But for us, our strategy is to make us a global company and also localize us. So even without this tariff challenge, BYD will localize our manufacturing here because our principle is if the market is here,
then we should produce locally. So by end of this year, BYD Hungary facility will start operation. OK, another allegation, potentially a more serious one made against the Chinese auto industry, is that in the supply chain, you've benefited from exploitation of labour, forced labour. How do you respond to that? It's also like a nonsense claim, because if you are...
like a world-class company, then you also build up a world-class management on the supply chain and on your whole system. So just to be clear, you have no concerns about any potential wrongdoing anywhere in your supply chain? No, zero concern. You'll be aware of some of the claims being made about Chinese technology and Chinese cars representing a security risk. We've even had
a former head of one of the British secret services, saying that you could immobilise London. I mean, how seriously do you take those claims? How much of a threat are they to you?
Everybody can claim anything if they lose the game. But so what? It's not a fact. BYD pays very high standard for data security. So we use local carrier for our data. And then we have the data center in Europe. And also we use the cloud service from Google or other international companies.
I think BYDs do 10 times better than even our competition on this field. But we do see these reports in the British press and elsewhere. They do get attention. You're trying to build a brand. How much of a concern is it for you that people are reading in their newspaper that Chinese cars are bad, that Chinese cars will spy on you?
So I just show the fact. Because in the end, the fact is the fact. I believe as long as you're transparent, honest, and then carry the high integrity to operate your business, then you're going to win the trust. So those negative perceptions of Chinese technology, you're confident that you can turn those around? Super confidence. Two years ago, barely anyone in Europe had even heard of BYD. Now you're a major player. Where do you see yourselves in 10 years' time?
My dream, my expectation is everybody in here was thinking about BYD as a part of like a local brand and then it's one of the brands they admire, they love, they dream about. They want to be BYD customer. They want to own BYD car. Do you want to be number one? Everybody wants to be number one. So this is always can be the motivation for everybody working hard.
Stella Lee of BYD. Now, to the end of a decade-long legal battle over a song. Beneficiaries of the track Let's Get It On and Ed Sheeran have been going back and forth via lawyers after the UK artist and his co-writer were accused of copying the Marvin Gaye track when they made Thinking Out Loud, which was a top ten song in more than 20 countries. As Stephanie Prentice now reports, the matter has finally been resolved. Darling, I...
Ed Sheeran's romantic ballad quickly became a modern classic, with more than 15 million copies sold around the world. But some people didn't embrace it. With three lawsuits filed by people connected to another classic, Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On, claiming the melody, harmony and rhythm were copied. Oh!
Mr Sheeran won one legal battle in 2023. Now the US Supreme Court has rejected a claim for damages from the others and sided with Mr Sheeran, who said he'd quit music if found guilty. His co-writer Amy Wodge says she's relieved, but the matter has haunted her for 10 years.
It felt like the walls were surrounding and so it was incredibly frightening and there was a personal element but there was also this huge existential threat of what it actually meant for the world of songwriting and for songwriters in general and I always felt the weight of that. It all took so long because it touched on copyright law, involved multiple parties and needed extensive expert analysis.
and followed one of the most famous copyright infringement lawsuits in recent music history. Robin Thicke and Pharrell had to pay Marvin Gaye's estate $5 million after being accused of copying the feel and vibe of Got To Give It Up.
Now judges say anyone challenging thinking out loud has got to give it up for good, saying the chord progressions and rhythmic patterns are too common to warrant protection. Stephanie Prentice reporting. There's more about today's global business headlines online at bbc.com slash news. From me, Andrew Peach, and the team on World Business Report, thanks for listening to the programme.