00:00Well, let's get a little bit more on those trade ties.
00:03Ali Renison is former UK Trade Department official and now at consultancy firm SEC Newgray.
00:09Great to have you back on Global Business Europe, Ali.
00:11So look, as we were hearing there, the two leaders have agreed another two months of trade truce.
00:16Tariffs, though, still sit above 30% in both directions.
00:20So is this going to be enough for businesses to plan around?
00:25I don't think it will be, certainly.
00:27Now, we know that there was a possibility that they were mulling a three to six month extension.
00:31This is a lot lower.
00:33I think it points to probably Washington's slight impatience in wanting to try and push its negotiating hand.
00:39Now, they're not talking about hugely sensitive issues.
00:41I think they're looking for areas of non-national security sensitive spaces.
00:45But certainly, I think from a business perspective, it's just constant up and downs.
00:48Now, President Xi has invited 100,000 young Americans to China over the next five years.
00:54What does that kind of people to people exchange mean for business, for investment?
01:01I think it certainly points to a general overall warming of ties and perhaps shows the rest of the world
01:06that, you know, there is nothing necessarily wrong inherently if they want to pursue their own economic and trade liberalization
01:12ties as well.
01:13But I think the people to people point is really about kind of injecting some personal touch, I suppose, into
01:19the talks.
01:19But also from a business perspective, it means that perhaps we might have business and mobility on the table as
01:25well for services trade.
01:26You talk about the personal touch.
01:28And we saw a lot of that over the course of this visit.
01:31The red carpet was rolled out.
01:34Pandas are going to be heading to Atlanta.
01:37And then, of course, we have all of the tech bosses, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, all at that
01:42state dinner.
01:43Does that goodwill translate into sales for brands in both countries?
01:49I think it certainly gives companies more of a relaxed approach to operating in both jurisdictions, that there is some
01:55trust and confidence between both sides, that, you know, the ability to license and operate their services and their technology
02:02and other markets isn't going to necessarily be yanked at a moment's notice.
02:05So I think very often, a bit like with political leaders, when you have the individual big business leaders, that
02:10can sort of signal a bit more stability for other businesses to come into the market.
02:15Ali Renison at SEC Newgate.
02:17Thank you very much.
