"partners not rivals" — president xi of china warns us secretary blinken not to engage in vicious competition — but tensions over tech export controls remain. and a currency in crisis — the japanese yen plunges to a fresh 34—year low as the central bank keeps rates on hold. welcome to world business report. i'm tadhg enright. let's start with the world's two largest economies. america's top diplomat, antony blinken, has been meeting with the chinese president xi jinping in beijing. their talks covered several areas of tension between the two countries.

president xi told secretary blinken that china and the us should be partners rather than rivals. mr blinken for his part raised concerns over china's support for russia in its invasion of ukraine. he also raised what he described as china's unfair trade practices in a number of key industries that will drive the 21st century economy. solar panels, electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. china alone is producing more than 100% of global demand for these products, flooding markets, undermining competition, putting at risk livelihoods and businesses around the world. now, this is a movie that we've seen before, and we know how it ends, with american businesses shuttered and american jobs lost. president biden will not let this happen on his watch. let's speak now to our north america business correspondent, erin delmore.

in the background to this meeting was a warning we heard from president biden recently that more tariffs on chinese imports could be on the way. what does this meeting say about the likelihood of that? this is one of a string of meetings by high—level american officials meeting with their chinese counterparts, with president xi jinping himself. it's not antony blinken�*s first visit to china, we saw him last month. we saw a face—to—face meeting with president biden as well as in the california area. what the administration is doing is counter china economically without wrangling the relationship. the administration has worked on bettering the relationship from a multi—decade lowjust about one year ago. there are a few different fronts where they are casting some chinese actions as being of national security concerns of the us. we've

seen this debate around tick—tock and chinese parent company, but things like energy exports, like solar panels, electric vehicles, batteries. china also in the us is trying to contain its progress. meanwhile, we see meetings face—to—face trying to focus on more cooperation. some of the areas they can work together, meetings about artificial intelligence, student studying in one country or the other. these other things we see, face—to—face, but there is a big national security and economic comparative year that the biden administration is trying to push. tensions are at a level we haven't seen for a generation. this series of meetings might not bridge those gaps, but is it significant that you're actually happening? absolutely. this is part of the line the biden administration is trying

to straddle, were having this face—to—face can keep the door for cooperation open, military cooperation, all the way fentanyl, the drugs used in opioid production makes it way over to the us. these are huge issues in where the two countries could cooperate. but we have an election coming up in november, and it has been shown across polling that across democrats and republicans, being tough on china is popular. it is something biden is trying to embrace, and we've seen him come out and talk about massive, multibillion—dollar investment in semiconductor manufacturing in the us, part of what the us is calling an economic edge, trying to bring back to us soil some massive technology production whether us can begin to establish more of a globe leadership role among these big exports, and also create jobs. this role among these big exports, and also createjobs. this is role among these big exports, and also create jobs. this is a role among these big exports, and also createjobs. this is a big part of what they are trying to do. but

you have the chips act in the background which could keep high—performance chips from making their way to china. it's complicated, they are trying to straddle the line between having an edge against china but not wrangling the relationship.— the relationship. complicated. thank ou. let's head to japan now where its currency — the yen — has fallen to a new 3a year—low following the bank of japan's decision to hold interest rates near zero. there has been rising pressure on the central bank to tighten its policy and prop up the struggling currency. let's talk now to joe tuckey, head of fx analysis. thank you forjoining us. explain why is the yen in this situation. it is a continuation of this policy we've seen for so many months now, and... we didn't expect them to raise the bank rate today, but it

was the policy statement from the leader showing no indication to tweak policy. we are seeing a continuation of these your yields currencies getting sold in favour of higher yielding ones. what currencies getting sold in favour of higher yielding ones.— higher yielding ones. what is the rationale? they _ higher yielding ones. what is the rationale? they have _ higher yielding ones. what is the rationale? they have a _ higher yielding ones. what is the rationale? they have a huge - higher yielding ones. what is the | rationale? they have a huge debt higher yielding ones. what is the i rationale? they have a huge debt to gdp problem. _ rationale? they have a huge debt to gdp problem, the _ rationale? they have a huge debt to gdp problem, the biggest _ rationale? they have a huge debt to gdp problem, the biggest in - rationale? they have a huge debt to gdp problem, the biggest in the - gdp problem, the biggest in the world. they are reticent to raise rates because it makes it more expensive on the debt pile they have. they've been relying very much on verbal intervention, which clearly hasn't worked. they've tried to talk up the japanese yen, but no one is bigger than the market, and the market punishes the yen going forward. . ~ , ., ., the market punishes the yen going forward. ., ~' , ., ., ., now to the world of mining, the uk—listed company anglo american has rejected an unsolicited £31 billion offer by the australian mining giant bhp to buy and break up its smaller rival.

anglo said the proposal "significantly undervalues" the company and would be "highly unattractive" to its shareholders. so what happens next? i'm joined now by lucinda guthrie, executive editor of mergers & aquisitions at ion. thank you forjoining us today. where to from here for this deal? i think everyone in the market felt yesterday was an opening gambit. when you look at how it came about, i have to question whether this was almost leaked as a price discovery mechanism. typically when you see a player like this where there is a rejection, you would expect almost 30.5% increase based on previous deals before talks could start. the thing in my mind which is interesting is bhp's ceo takes a

very measured approach. we saw them walk way from a canadian nickel explorer in 2021 after a revised bid. in my mind, there could be another play as they come back to the table, but the fact this was already live means i don't think it will run away. the other thing is this really puts the ball back in anglo's court, there will be self reflection and pressure on anglo to come up with opportunities. ii reflection and pressure on anglo to come up with opportunities. if you were a betting _ come up with opportunities. if you were a betting woman, _ come up with opportunities. if you were a betting woman, would - come up with opportunities. if you were a betting woman, would you put money on this deal being achieved or falling away? do money on this deal being achieved or falling away?— falling away? do you know what, i think there _ falling away? do you know what, i think there are _ falling away? do you know what, i think there are so _ falling away? do you know what, i think there are so many _ falling away? do you know what, i think there are so many hurdles . falling away? do you know what, i l think there are so many hurdles for this to complete. it is just... there are so many risks. you have seen south africa... you have seen

the political opposition, shareholder opposition. there are so many hurdles. and that is not even to mention a bit were to get agreed, then you also have the competition framework in south africa. i think it is incredibly challenging. qm. it is incredibly challenging. 0k, lucinda guthrie, _ it is incredibly challenging. 0k, lucinda guthrie, thank you for those thoughts. now to the business of pets — because it is a big one. the global pet industry is worth around $250 billion a year — and it's expected to hit more than 400 billion by 2030. many of us got pets during the pandemic — but changing social patterns — such as young people putting off having kids for longer — are also adding to the growth in demand for dogs, cats and animal friends of all kinds. these are my dogs. aaron heslehurst has been taking a look at the world of pets for his talking business show this week. he's been speaking to lonnie edwards — who runs an agency for pet influencers.

industry generates a lot of money. these pet influencers are little businesses. each one of them is an independent little business. they have multiple revenue streams. they have the partnerships they're doing with brands that are traditional influencer work, where they're working with the brands, they're creating content, they're posting on social media. we also have clients that have new york times best selling books. they have merchandise, they have product lines, they do appearances. so the revenue streams are truly endless. they started with instagram and social media collaborations, but they've truly expanded beyond that to be true businesses that have limitless potential of earnings. ballpark figures... if you're a bigger influencer with a large following, very engaged audience, you can be getting five figures per instagram post and those add up. you do a lot of posts a year. they also have various revenue streams, everything from simple

things like branded t—shirts to books, novels, children's books, various independent products that are in production now that i can't talk about yet because they haven't been released. but also jumping into that revenue stream right now at the peak clients, which is super exciting, where they're launching their own brands and money. can you give me an example of the types of brands that are wanting a slice of this ever growing pie? yeah. so the types of brands that are tapping into this are across the board. so we have pet facing brands, we have human facing brands, we have entertainment companies, movie studios, cleaning products, hotel companies, travel brands. it's truly endless. so there's the obvious pet brands that make a lot of sense because the influencers are pets, but then all of the human facing brands that want to align with their pet loving audience. and you can find out more about the pet care industry and the businesses driving it with aaron heshelurst on talking business this weekend — right here on bbc news. in other news... the uk high—street bank natwest has

reported a 27 % drop in first—quarter profits, becoming the latest banking giant to report a sharp drop in earnings for the first 3 months of the year. increased competition for savings, lending and mortgage products has reduced margins across the banking sector in recent months. the instant messaging platform, whatsapp, has threatened to leave its largest market india if it's forced to break its message encryption. a lawyer for the company told a court in delhi that whatsapp's end—to—end encryption protects user's privacy. the indian authorities have been demanding to be able to trace chats and identify the first originators of information. a quick look at the markets before i go. it's been a week of record highs for the ftse 100, go. it's been a week of record highs for the ftse100, and it has hit another one. that is the price there, it is up by more than 0.5%. that is said, have a lovely weekend.

goodbye.

i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes, here with your latest sports news. liverpool managerjurgen klopp has given his appraisal of his likely successor — feyenoord's arne slot — saying "he likes the way his team plays football." slot, who's currently in charge of the dutch side feyenoord, is expected to replace klopp when he leaves at the end of the season. i like the way this team play football, i can't say definitely all the things i hear about him as a guy, good guy, some people i know know him, i don't know him yet but some people tell me he is a really good guy and i like that a lot. so good coach, good guy, looking forward to it if he is the solution, i am more than happy, it is not up

to me. it sounds all really good.