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00:00:02Now on BBC News. The latest
00:00:04business news from across the globe.
00:00:06globe. Business Today. Stronger Together
00:00:17Together Canada's Mark Carney takes takes aim at US tariffs and big Tech
00:00:21Tech as he addresses the European
00:00:23European Parliament. Defying the the President, the Federal Reserve
00:00:26Reserve and America raises interest interest rates for the first time
00:00:29time in three years. But President President Trump continues to call
00:00:32call for lower borrowing costs. We
00:00:35We should be paying the lowest interest interest rate anywhere in the world
00:00:39world because we have the strongest strongest credit. And focus now turns
00:00:41turns to the Bank of England for for its latest interest rate decision.
00:00:45decision. Today, as energy prices
00:00:47prices continue to soar. Hello. Welcome
00:00:51Welcome along. This is Business Today. Today. I'm Ben Thompson. Now President
00:00:54President Trump has threatened to to cut trade with the European Union
00:00:57Union if it pursues a proposal to to make Canada an associate member.
00:01:01member. He said it could be viewed viewed as a hostile act that may
00:01:05may prompt further tariffs on the the EU. Well, in the last hour the
00:01:09the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Mark Carney, has been addressing addressing the European Parliament.
00:01:12Parliament. He quoted a German poet poet and alternated between English
00:01:15English and French. He took aim at
00:01:17at US trade policies and US Big tech
00:01:20tech as a threat. He said to Canadian
00:01:23Canadian and European sovereignty.
00:01:26sovereignty. Together, Canada and and the European Union can anchor
00:01:29anchor our ground to hold our values
00:01:32values while forming a protective
00:01:35protective canopy under which our
00:01:37our citizens can thrive. This is
00:01:42is about sovereignty our ability
00:01:45ability to live as we wish. It's
00:01:48It's about the freedoms we must fight
00:01:50fight for every day because sovereignty
00:01:55sovereignty requires resilience,
00:01:56resilience, the ability to withstand
00:01:59withstand shocks, sovereignty today today goes beyond being able to feed,
00:02:02feed, fuel and defend ourselves.
00:02:05ourselves. It now requires secure
00:02:07secure access to AI, semiconductors, semiconductors, critical minerals,
00:02:09minerals, payment systems, clean clean energy technologies, vaccines,
00:02:13vaccines, space based communications
00:02:16communications and we all have important important gaps in these strategic
00:02:20strategic capabilities. And we each
00:02:22each must rely on individual nations
00:02:24nations or individual companies to
00:02:26to fill them. So that's Mark Carney Carney speaking a little earlier.
00:02:29earlier. Let's talk now to Allie Allie Renison, who is the senior senior counsel at the consultancy
00:02:33consultancy SEC Newgate former government government trade adviser. Allie,
00:02:35Allie, always good to have you here. here. What do you make of what you you heard there from Mark Carney?
00:02:39Carney? Because I mean, there's so so many elements where he's calling calling for closer co-operation,
00:02:43co-operation, but it will feel at at odds with, you know, the relationship relationship they currently have
00:02:47have with their biggest trading partner partner and their neighbour, the
00:02:50the United States. Yes, you might might say that actually what Mark
00:02:54Mark Carney is doing is sort of not not a million miles removed from from what the UK was trying to do
00:02:58do after it left the EU in terms terms of reorienting and pivoting
00:03:02pivoting itself towards a less geographically geographically proximate neighbours neighbours in terms of leveraging
00:03:06leveraging its influence. Now, I I think that Mark Carney is trying trying to show that he means business
00:03:09business when it comes to diversifying
00:03:11diversifying and becoming less reliant
00:03:13reliant on what he might see as sort sort of hostile actions from that
00:03:16that next door neighbour, and that that it's not just words that he's
00:03:20he's following it up with action. action. Now, I think the devil is
00:03:22is in the detail about what on earth earth this associate membership will
00:03:25will mean. You know, does it mean mean actually sort of closer trade
00:03:29trade and regulatory alignment? That's That's a bit of an issue for firms firms that might be trading across
00:03:33across the US Canadian border. But But for right now it's more of a a sort of statement of intent and
00:03:37and direction of travel. Yeah. And And if you look at where they're they're calling for closer co-operation,
00:03:40co-operation, it sort of tells us us all we need to know, doesn't it?
00:03:42it? It's the buzzwords of the moment
00:03:45moment minerals, defence and AI. AI. And those really could be issues
00:03:48issues of national security. There There could be issues of sovereignty
00:03:51sovereignty because he laid aim at at some of those tech firms saying, saying, look, they have their own
00:03:55own interests at heart, particularly particularly American tech firms
00:03:58firms not really looking after the the rest of the world. Yeah, I think
00:04:02think it's a lot for Mark Carney. Carney. It's about sort of diversifying
00:04:06diversifying access and increasing increasing sort of stability and and security of supply, including,
00:04:09including, I suppose, on, on the the issues of the day, which are, are, as you mentioned, sort of digital
00:04:13digital and tech sovereignty. To To what extent if the US government
00:04:16government has a very close relationship relationship with and is able to,
00:04:18to, quote unquote, sort of turn off
00:04:21off certain technological platforms platforms in terms of other trading
00:04:25trading partners like Canada's access access to it, is that really sort
00:04:28sort of a good way to go about having, having, you know, sort of security
00:04:31security going forward in the 21st 21st century? Now, I think that the
00:04:34the way in which you do that is up up for debate. But certainly, as as you mentioned, this is all about
00:04:38about co-operation right now with with the EU and trying to diversify diversify who the Canadian government
00:04:41government is working with on some some of these issues. As we expected,
00:04:45expected, there was a response from from the White House, President Trump Trump saying that if they do that
00:04:49that when he's referring there to to that relationship, he said it
00:04:52it would be deemed as potentially potentially a hostile act. He says
00:04:55says if a good intention, that is is fine. If it's a bad intention, intention, we'll put heavy tariffs
00:04:59tariffs on Europe or even stop trading trading on some things. I mean, is
00:05:03is that all bluster and rhetoric rhetoric or, you know, should the
00:05:05the European Union be concerned by by that threat? I think that it really
00:05:09really depends on what exactly this this associate membership, if indeed
00:05:12indeed it is membership, we do have have EU association agreements that
00:05:15that are fairly sort of well defined defined trade agreements that are
00:05:17are pretty close when it comes to to economic integration. If it's
00:05:21it's really just about sort of doing doing the same kind of co-operation
00:05:25co-operation that the US and Canada Canada do in certain areas, that's
00:05:27that's probably fine by the US government. government. But if it's talking about
00:05:30about actually aligning with the the EU in a way that actually Trump
00:05:34Trump might say, the President might
00:05:35might say punishes or sort of discriminates
00:05:38discriminates against US firms in in favour of European ones, then
00:05:41then I think you can expect to see see some retaliatory measures. Ali,
00:05:44Ali, good to talk to you. Thanks Thanks so much. Allie Renison there
00:05:47there at Newgate. Really good to to talk to you. Thanks very much. much. Just a reminder, of course
00:05:51course we'll keep a close eye on on the press conference that's expected
00:05:53expected to get under way with Mark Mark Carney and Ursula von der Leyen.
00:05:57Leyen. So we will take you there there if that begins. Now, elsewhere
00:06:01elsewhere in the US, the central central bank has raised interest interest rates for the first time
00:06:05time in three years as inflation inflation worries superseded pressure pressure from the President to bring
00:06:09bring down the cost of borrowing. borrowing. In a unanimous decision,
00:06:12decision, the Federal Reserve raised raised rates by a quarter of 1% to
00:06:16to between 3 and 3 quarters and 4%.
00:06:194%. Now it's a bit too tame. It's It's a move to tame price rises that
00:06:21that have been driven by the soaring soaring cost of energy from the Middle
00:06:24Middle East. Well, it's fair to say, say, though, that President Trump
00:06:27Trump doesn't agree with the economic economic medicine they're taking
00:06:30taking to social media. He posted posted that interest rates in the
00:06:33the United States should be, quote,
00:06:35quote, 1% or less because he said
00:06:38said we are the best credit in the the world by far. That's in caps.
00:06:42caps. Samira Hussain has more from
00:06:43from New York. By raising interest
00:06:46interest rates a quarter of a percentage percentage point in saying that inflation
00:06:49inflation is the big reason why the
00:06:51the Federal Reserve did what it was was expected to do. Now, The Fed
00:06:55Fed also said that, look, the US
00:06:57US economy is growing at a pretty
00:06:59pretty healthy rate, despite geopolitical
00:07:03geopolitical developments, presumably presumably referring to the war with
00:07:06with Iran, which is really driven
00:07:08driven up inflation. In a press conference,
00:07:11conference, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh
00:07:13Warsh admitted look, this rate hike hike won't reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
00:07:16Hormuz. A quarter point rate hike hike does not reopen the Strait of
00:07:20of Hormuz. And so I wonder how you you think the smaller rate hikes
00:07:23hikes will be effective when it can't can't necessarily address the energy
00:07:27energy supply side of inflationary inflationary pressures. We cannot
00:07:30cannot affect any individual price, price, whether it be oil prices,
00:07:33prices, whether it be foodstuffs foodstuffs at the grocery store.
00:07:36store. But what we can do and will
00:07:38will do is ensure that any change
00:07:40change in relative prices don't broaden
00:07:42broaden out. So how will all of this this make a difference? Well, the
00:07:45the Federal Reserve really made it it clear that this is all about the
00:07:49the American consumer and specifically specifically those that are less
00:07:53less well off, that they really want
00:07:55want to try and get the cost of living living under control. And this is
00:07:59is one way that they can do that.
00:08:01that. Samira there with the details
00:08:03details from the US. But in the UK UK today it is the turn of the Bank
00:08:07Bank of England to make its latest latest call on interest rates. That
00:08:10That decision is due in less than
00:08:12than half an hour at midday UK time.
00:08:14time. The central bank, widely expected expected to keep interest rates on
00:08:18on hold despite facing similar pressures pressures to those of the US when
00:08:21when it comes to energy costs. Well, Well, the latest figures out on Wednesday
00:08:24Wednesday showed that inflation hit
00:08:27hit 3.1% in August. That is the highest highest level in five months and
00:08:30and as we said, largely driven by
00:08:33by increases in fuel costs. Well, Well, Kathleen Brooks is research
00:08:36research director at the trading trading platform XTB. She's been been telling us why she believes
00:08:40believes the bank won't follow The The Fed and raise rates today. Yeah,
00:08:44Yeah, I would agree that the labour labour market is a really, really
00:08:46really weak point. We've seen private private sector wage growth is now
00:08:50now below the level of inflation. inflation. And we've also seen payroll
00:08:54payroll employment that's actually actually been falling. So yeah, you're
00:08:56you're completely right. The US economy
00:08:58economy is on track to increase by by 5.1% this quarter. And our growth
00:09:02growth rates are just a mere fraction fraction of that. And I think that
00:09:05that the Bank of England they'll they'll want to see more evidence
00:09:09evidence that this inflation spike spike caused by the energy spike
00:09:12spike caused by geopolitics is having having a bigger and a broader impact
00:09:15impact on the economy before they they hike. But I do think that there's
00:09:18there's a potential for a hike in in November. Well, we'll have that
00:09:21that decision for you at midday here
00:09:24here on BBC News Now. Wearable tech tech is a growing industry for the
00:09:27the big tech firms, but few have have really nailed it completely. completely. Today, though, it is
00:09:31is the turn once again of Snap. It's It's launching its new eyewear. The
00:09:35The latest model is called specs, specs, and the firm says it enables
00:09:39enables an augmented reality experience
00:09:42experience using artificial intelligence. intelligence. While our North America America technology correspondent
00:09:45correspondent Lily Jamali has been
00:09:46been trying them out. Snap Inc here
00:09:50here in Santa Monica, California, California, is rolling out what they're
00:09:53they're calling specs. These are
00:09:55are augmented reality glasses that
00:09:57that they say act as a fully standalone
00:10:00standalone computer, but you might might look a little different walking
00:10:03walking down the street. Now to use
00:10:04use these AR glasses, I begin by
00:10:07by pressing the home button on my my hand and in front of me. What
00:10:11What I see is a home screen. Hey
00:10:13Hey specs, play my morning playlist.
00:10:16playlist. The idea is to be able able to play music. Take me the long
00:10:20long way. For real time navigation,
00:10:22navigation, watch TV and movies and and enable working, shopping and
00:10:26and real time translation in dozens
00:10:28dozens of languages. So if I press
00:10:31press this button, I can capture
00:10:33capture a video. You should be able
00:10:35able to see a white flashing light
00:10:38light right here in between my eyes eyes on the glasses. That's there
00:10:42there to indicate that filming is is taking place. One criticism that's
00:10:45that's come up with this form factor factor in general is privacy. Many
00:10:49Many people don't like being filmed filmed in public without their knowledge. knowledge. I've seen instructions
00:10:52instructions online about how to to hide the LED. Metre, for example,
00:10:56example, says it's remotely disabled. disabled. The camera on its devices. devices. When the firm is detected,
00:11:00detected, users tampering with the the indicator light. These aren't
00:11:03aren't available to consumers just just yet. They are available for
00:11:07for pre-order, but consumers can can actually get their hands on these
00:11:10these in the UK., in the US as well well as France in the fall. So in
00:11:14in just a couple of months and the
00:11:15the retail price is 2195 US dollars.
00:11:20dollars. Make of them what you will will answers on a postcard after
00:11:23after trying out the new tech, though, though, Lily sat down with Snap's
00:11:25Snap's chief executive. That's Evan Evan Spiegel. And amid growing concern
00:11:29concern over the pace of AI development, development, she asked if he thinks
00:11:32thinks AI is happening too quickly.
00:11:36quickly. I think there's. You know,
00:11:38know, a real difference between doing
00:11:42doing cutting edge research and then then how that's actually implemented
00:11:45implemented in the world. And so so I think it's a really important important moment to be thoughtful
00:11:48thoughtful in terms of the way that that we're actually using this new
00:11:51new technology to make sure it's it's furthering what's best for humanity,
00:11:54humanity, what's best for our society. society. And I'm glad that there's
00:11:58there's a really thoughtful conversation conversation happening right now
00:12:00now about the best way to do that.
00:12:02that. Do you have any position on on what all of these policy makers
00:12:06makers here in the US and around around the world are clamouring,
00:12:09clamouring, clamouring for which which is more regulation or some
00:12:12some form of guardrails on this development? development? I think it's really
00:12:16really important that we focus on
00:12:19on the most tangible risks rather rather than imagined risks. It's
00:12:22It's really, really hard to build
00:12:24build thoughtful and effective regulation regulation around imagined risk.
00:12:27risk. And so what I would really really encourage, you policymakers,
00:12:30policymakers, regulators around the the world to do is to really think
00:12:33think deeply about what the tangible tangible risks to AI development
00:12:36development are, and then work to to figure out what the best guardrails
00:12:40guardrails are for those real risks.
00:12:42risks. The boss of Snap there, speaking speaking to the BBC, a reminder that
00:12:46that interest rate decision here here in the UK happening at midday.
00:12:49midday. There'll be full coverage coverage here on BBC News television
00:12:51television but also on the website
00:12:54website bbc.com/business. MUSIC
00:13:05MUSIC
00:14:17coverage join me James Landale here
00:14:20here on BBC News. Here at BBC Verify,
00:14:27Verify, we use forensic investigative investigative techniques and tools
00:14:29tools to fact check stories, verify
00:14:32verify information and counter disinformation disinformation using data analysis analysis and the latest technology,
00:14:36technology, our journalists examine examine the evidence and get to the
00:14:39the facts. Watch our BBC Verify reports reports on the BBC News channel or
00:14:41or go online to find out more.
00:15:07King Charles has called on AI
00:15:09giants to keep tech in service of of humanity ahead of him chairing
00:15:13chairing a summit with industry leaders.
00:15:16leaders. Concerns about the existential existential threat of AI have intensified
00:15:19intensified in recent weeks, with with several instances of bad actors
00:15:23actors using artificial intelligence intelligence models for weapons development
00:15:26development and fraud. Yang Li co-founder
00:15:29co-founder and chief operating officer officer of AI Lab Co-Sign, who are
00:15:33are developing what they describe describe as the first fully AI model
00:15:36model to rival the likes of Anthropic
00:15:38Anthropic and OpenAI, has been telling
00:15:40telling me why sovereignty is so so important. I think a sovereign
00:15:43sovereign model is beyond just a a Union Jack sticker. I think as
00:15:46as we are depending on building on
00:15:48on top of AI, the UK needs to know know what is exactly inside the AI,
00:15:52AI, what data is inside it, does does it have a kill switch that is
00:15:56is beholden to another foreign government? government? And will we lose access access to it when we