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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Just A Few Senators Will Make Or Break The Democrats' Case For Witnesses, Which Could End In President Trump's Acquittal; Contagion Cases Confirmed In The U.K. As The WHO Declares A Global Emergency; The U.K. Finally Leaves The E.U. Today. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired January 31, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Live from outside Number 10 Downing Street, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here's your
need to know.
It is decision day on Capitol Hill. Just a few senators will make or break the Democrats' case for witnesses, which could end in President Trump's
acquittal.
Coronavirus. Contagion cases confirmed in the U.K. as the WHO declares a global emergency.
And Brexit gets done. The U.K. finally leaves the E.U. today.
It's Friday. Let's make a move.
Welcome once again to FIRST MOVE, coming to you from London, live from Number 10 Downing Street, as I mentioned. This is unique. It is 31st of
January, and it's official Brexit day. The U.K. and the E.U. are set to go their own way, to paraphrase a pretty famous song, a day of celebration, of
course for some, commiseration of others. Plenty more to discuss on this later on in the show.
But for now, a look as always, of what we're seeing for market action and I'll tell you what, they remain pretty unsettled at this stage.
Investors, I think continuing to juggle the potential coronavirus impact with what's been another quite nice batch of corporate earnings. I have to
say, Europe's features, if we give you a look at those are looking pretty soft here following a weaker European session, too.
Asian shares also finishing pretty mixed in the session. The Nikkei rising one percent, but if you take a look at Hong Kong shares, they shed another
half a percent. The Hang Seng in fact, dropping some five and a half percent in the last five sessions. It's down near 10 percent over the past
two weeks.
I think the real test for Asia though is going to come next week when Chinese stock markets reopen following the Lunar New Year holiday. That
will be a real gauge of sentiment.
But if you take a look at what we saw in price action yesterday, U.S. stocks actually ended higher, a relief rally I think after the WHO decided
not to restrict trade or travel in line with the broader assessment here of a global health emergency. What about earnings though?
Amazon simply phenomenal. If you take a look at what we've got there, the firm's market cap has now risen above $1 trillion again. There are many
market positives, I think to pull out here, but investors also keeping a close eye on what we're seeing all around the world, including what's going
on in Capitol Hill.
Let's get right to the drivers because we begin today's show there. The impeachment trial against President Trump could end today with his
acquittal.
The Senate set to vote on witnesses later this afternoon, but it appears the Democrats simply don't have enough votes to subpoena witnesses. If the
motion fails, Republicans could call a vote to acquit the President as early as tonight.
Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill with the latest.
LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER Well, Julia, it was only a couple of months ago, four months to be precise that Nancy Pelosi, the
Speaker of the House, announced that she was opening an Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Now, we are just hours away from that crucial vote on whether or not President Trump will be removed from office.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOX (voice over): Senate Democrats hopes to introduce witnesses into President Trump's impeachment trial seemingly dashed, thanks to a late
night announcement from key Republican Senator, Lamar Alexander.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm deeply disappointed in it. I think that it makes -- that makes it likely that the
Senate may have the first impeachment trial in history that have no witnesses at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOX (voice over): The Tennessee lawmaker releasing a statement announcing he will vote against this afternoon's motion to consider additional
evidence and witnesses.
Alexander writing, "It was inappropriate for the President to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States
aid to encourage that investigation. But adding the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the President from office and ban him
from this year's ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think with this announcement, the chances of additional witnesses now has plummeted, and I think we are likely to move
on Saturday to final judgment at the end of which, the President will be acquitted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOX (voice over): Overnight. Senator Susan Collins announced she has already made her decision, saying she'll vote yes because, "I believe
hearing from certain witnesses would give each side the opportunity to more fully and fairly make their case."
It's still unclear if Republican Senators Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski will join her. Their support would push the Senate to a 50/50 tie.
Democrats growing increasingly frustrated by their G.O.P. colleagues.
[09:05:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): He has been -- been off the hook by the Republicans who are not going to vote for his conviction, but he is not
going to be set free by the American people, I hope, forget that this was not a fair trial.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOX: Julia, we expect that vote on witnesses to happen around five or six o'clock tonight. We're still waiting to see what Lisa Murkowski does, but
if she votes in support of witnesses -- that would put the Senate at a 50/50 tie.
We don't expect that Chief Justice John Roberts would break that tie even though he could, therefore, we expect that the vote on witnesses will fail
and leadership has said that they will move swiftly to acquit the President soon after -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Lauren Fox is speaking there. All right, let's move on to our next driver, the coronavirus outbreak. Let me give you an update on what we
know so far.
The U.K. confirmed its first cases earlier today. The World Health Organization in the meantime has declared a global health emergency. China
has reported more than 9,000 cases and over 200 deaths.
The United States also disclosing its first case of human to human transmission on Thursday, too, and countries across the globe are
repatriating their citizens.
David Culver is in Beijing for us, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us also from the CNN Center.
David, I'm coming to you first on this just to give us an update. The World Health Organization choosing to say this is a global health emergency now,
but very importantly, I think hereto saying that they weren't going to suggest trade or travel restrictions.
And once again, laud in China, I think for the speed of the response that they've had there. Talk us through what we're seeing in in Beijing and what
we're seeing throughout the day.
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Julia, it's interesting that you point out that aspect that WHO has suggested actually against the trade and
travel restrictions, because that is exactly what state media is using here and putting out as a message to the world really.
And now with the WHO giving this designation of a public health emergency, I won't go into detail, I'll let Sanjay go into detail on that.
But I'll tell you the implications are something that we're seeing play out globally, because you're starting to see more and more airlines either cut
off or cut back some of their flights to and from Mainland China, and we're seeing more and more countries strengthen their borders and really prevent
Mainland Chinese tourists from coming in.
But not only Chinese tourists, back in Singapore, they're saying any foreign traveler who has gone through Mainland China cannot come in for a
certain period of time. That's the kind of stringent restrictions they're putting in place right now.
Meantime, we do know that the WHO's ruling is something that China is really trying to push out against and they're hoping that eventually their
containment effort will be enough to overcome that and this containment effort is one that is stepping up.
It's got the two hospitals that are rapidly under construction right now, and they've been pushing that quite strongly on state media as well. In
fact, the broadcaster, CCTV, the main flagship news organization here, the state media, they are putting out several of these images showing these
hospitals going up.
They're also showing the deployment of thousands of personnel into the epicenter of all this, Hubei Province in particular, the City of Wuhan, and
they're also showing the deployment of supplies.
But here's the reality that we're hearing from folks who are on the ground, is there is still a dire need to get those supplies. So while they may be
going into the province, several nurses and doctors tell us they're not necessarily getting to the hospitals into the front line, so to speak.
So they feel as though they are going into this battle as they put it without the armor, without the Hazmat suits, without the protective masks,
and we're hearing more and more cases of healthcare workers being inflicted with this virus.
In fact, one nurse tells us that some 30 of her colleagues, healthcare workers within the same hospital have contracted the virus and they're
either in intensive care units, or they've been sent home to be medicated and to be quarantined.
And she says that's the reality, and that's the fact that they need more medical personnel now, because of this is, because after all, Julia, who's
going to be treating the patients if the doctors themselves are sick?
CHATTERLEY: Yes, you raise some great points again, David. Great to have you with us. Just stay there for a moment because I do want to bring Dr.
Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay, great to have you with us as well.
I've read an astonishing amount of misinformation, fake information on the internet about this specific virus and people get flu every year. Can you
just give us a sense of what we need to know here and how worried people should be at this stage?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, look, you know, this is still a relatively new virus that we're talking about, you
know, just about a month into things, so we're still gathering information. You're absolutely right, Julia, there has been some misinformation that's
going around.
But I think to your point, the context does matter a bit here in terms of comparing this to something like flu.
[09:10:07]
GUPTA: Right now, you know you look at the numbers worldwide with regard to coronavirus, and I think it's around close to 10,000 confirmed
infections right now, just over 200 people have died of this. So, you know, those types of numbers are concerning in terms of the fatality ratio.
Compared though to flu season in the United States alone, there's already been 8,200 deaths, 15 million cases. The real question, I think, sort of
that's starting to arise among public health officials, when you look at the coronavirus is, is it possible there are many more people out there who
in fact have been infected, but either have no symptoms or minimal symptoms, therefore are not being officially diagnosed?
We don't know the answer to that yet, but I think anytime, Julia, you have a novel virus and I've reported on several of these over the years, I think
the question the public health officials always ask themselves, look, is this going to continue to mutate and become increasingly transmissible and
increasingly lethal? You know that's the concern.
Hopefully, that doesn't happen. You know, we don't know enough yet to say that for sure, but it's looking less likely as more time goes on.
CHATTERLEY: You know, it's interesting that the stand out for me in the last 24 hours, the World Health Organization, praising China for the
immediacy of the response, particularly when we go back and compare to the response that we saw during SARS, and a lot of the comparisons that are
being made today is with the SARS outbreak when we go back to 2003.
How fair is that comparison in your mind?
GUPTA: Yes, that's a really good question. I mean, there's no question that there has been a quicker response, I think this time around.
Although you know, if you start looking at some of what we've heard from China and comparing it to the data coming out of medical journals, it does
appear that this outbreak, coronavirus outbreak, started earlier than we are originally led to believe.
I think David can check me on this, but I think, you know, we originally thought it was going to be middle to end of December when this started. We
now know the first patient was diagnosed December 1st.
And interestingly, Julia, that patient had no contact with this animal market that we heard so much about. It's possible that there was
transmission in other ways, even human to human transmission earlier than we thought.
So in some ways, you know, you'd say, well, we did not get the information as early as we should have, but as compared to SARS, certainly far earlier.
Some of these measures they've taken that David has been reporting on these lockdowns in Wuhan and these surrounding cities have been very aggressive
strategies and I was a little curious as to why such aggressive strategies initially.
But now, given the timeframe that we have clarified through the medical journals, maybe it makes a little bit more sense.
So earlier, yes, early enough, hard to say. Remember you can travel with the virus in your body before you develop symptoms for several days, maybe
even a couple of weeks. And as you know, Julia, you can circumnavigate the globe several times during that time period. That's what makes this so
challenging.
That's what turns an infection anywhere into an infection everywhere. That's why the public health officials have zeroed in on that.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it makes perfect sense, we are far more mobile than we were back then. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, fantastic to have your insight with us.
And thank you for joining us, and David Culver, of course over in Beijing. Thank you, both.
All right, let's move on. Today is the day, 1,316 days since Britain's E.U. referendum -- I didn't do the math on that. The U.K. is set to Brexit at
the stroke of 11:00 p.m. local time this evening. A divorce of global proportions.
Max foster is here. Max, great to have you with us. I mean, you've reported on this throughout since the referendum.
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: For years. Pre-Brexit we're talking about Britain leaving the E.U.
CHATTERLEY: We've got the days there as well. I said earlier, a day of celebration for some, commiseration for others; but the truth is actually,
not much changes here and yet it is a momentous day.
FOSTER: Yes. We've got this transition period, those E.U. rules will still apply, many of the laws, the way we see things operate will be the same,
and it's very weird and eerie, don't you think here in London where this momentous moment we've been building up for so long, it just -- everything
is just plodding along as usual.
CHATTERLEY: Anticlimactic.
FOSTER: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: But maybe that's a good thing, actually, because carry on regardless ...
FOSTER: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: ... needs to be the case.
FOSTER: I guess when we had that election result, and it was clear that Brexit was happening, the remainers resigned themselves to this, but it's
interesting outside Parliament last night, there was effectively a vigil of remainers, really marking the moment. They feel still very saddened about
this.
And they are all obviously looking to the next stage as well, where the big challenges are going to be at the end of the year, and potentially another
hard Brexit as they see at the end of the year. So they don't think it's over, anyway.
CHATTERLEY: Do you think actually the only way to unite the country at this stage is to make Brexit work, quite frankly, because whether you're on
the remainer side or you're a leaver, you're no less patriotic about wanting the country to do well, whatever the circumstance?
[09:15:14]
FOSTER: I think you're right. I think a lot of remainers, you know, they have just resigned themselves to it, and they're now trying to look at the
best way forward. And that's going to be the message coming from Boris Johnson tonight. He is going to talk about this being the dawn of a new
era.
He is not focusing on the past. He's very much looking towards the future and Britain's independence.
But you speak to a lot of arch Brexiteers. They do talk about this sort of world where Britain retains all its own powers and the economy can boom and
go out, mark its own trade deals. But I think that in the medium term, a lot of economists all seem very worried about how you get to the point
where there is a trade deal.
And also some economists now warning that whilst Britain might want this deal with the U.S., actually the European Union have a deal with the U.S.
already and that might get in the way of the U.K. deal.
And there are so many complications coming up, but actually, probably today, we have to just look at it as a historic moment for the continent
and give the Brexiteers their day because they've been campaigning for this for, you know, decades, you could argue and this is their moment.
CHATTERLEY: Forty seven years in the making. Very Quickly, where's the cat?
FOSTER: The cat was there.
CHATTERLEY: I came to Number 10 Downing Street and I wanted to see the cat. Not that I don't want to see you, too, Max, but where is the cat?
FOSTER: It's nothing personal, but the cat went in as soon as you arrived. Sorry.
CHATTERLEY: I have now rage of momentous proportions. I am going to be here for a few hours. So hopefully, it will come back out again. Max, thank
you. Max Foster there.
All right. Let me bring you up to speed with some of the other stories making headlines around the world.
U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo is in Kiev meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr. Pompeo is the first high level Trump administration official
to visit Ukraine since the House impeached the U.S. President.
He used the opportunity to highlight the United States commitment to security assistance and diplomacy, and I think live timing.
The Australian Capital Territory is under a state of emergency as widespread bushfires move quickly across the region. Authorities say the
decision was based on predictive mapping throughout the weekend. Officials are asking everyone in the area to complete a bushfire survival plan.
Okay, you're watching FIRST MOVE live from Number 10 Downing Street. More to come on the show.
But for now, the business of Brexit. It still hours to go until the U.K. formerly leaves the E.U. What does it mean for businesses? Well, I'll speak
to the Vice President of the Confederation of British Industry. What assumptions are they making at this stage?
And Amazon rejoins the trillion dollar market cap club. Plenty more to come. You're with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:45]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE live from Number 10 Downing Street. After a tumultuous three and a half years for Britain Brexit Day, it is
finally here.
The U.K. formally leaving the E.U. in just nine hours' time. I'll tell you what though, U.K. stocks haven't done too badly since that 2016 Brexit
referendum. Take a look at this. The FTSE is up nearly 16 percent since that's June 23rd vote, helped along, of course, by a relative weakening in
the currency.
U.K. stocks, meanwhile, falling today, along with most global stock markets do. There's still so many uncertainties, so many questions about where the
coronavirus outbreak goes from here.
Goldman Sachs said today that the virus could shave half a percent off U.S. GDP in the first quarter, and around half a percent from Chinese growth in
2020. So that's one analyst estimate.
Let's get another. Robert Buckland joins us now. He is Head of Global Equity Strategy for Citi. Robert, fantastic to have you with us.
I know your team published their coronavirus assessment report today. Equities set to remain vulnerable, particularly in the Asia region in your
view until we see this outbreak stabilize. Talk us through your thoughts here.
Robert, can you hear me? No, I'm not sure. Robert can hear me there.
ROBERT BUCKLAND, HEAD OF GLOBAL EQUITY STRATEGY, CITI: Yes, can you hear me?
CHATTERLEY: We're going to try and see if we can bring him -- Robert, the joys of live TV. Robert, this is Julia, can you hear me? No. Okay. We are
going to see whether we can get him back.
His report suggests as I was mentioning there actually that equities will remain vulnerable until we see the outbreak and the spread of this
stabilize, which of course, at this stage, it's tough to gauge at this moment. We will try and get him back and talk through his assessment.
But he was suggesting, when you break it down, that luxury, airlines autos -- autos -- given that China is 30 percent of global demand will all remain
vulnerable.
Let me give you a look at what we're seeing as far as futures are concerned. Again, as we've said around the world, some cautiousness
remaining for equity investors.
I believe Robert can now hear me. Robert, can you hear me?
BUCKLAND: Yes, Julia, I can, yes.
CHATTERLEY: Oh fantastic. The wonders of modern technology. I was just doing your job actually and talking about the details in your coronavirus
report. Just talk me through your main assessment at this stage. We appreciate, it's early days with this virus outbreak, but you believe
equities will remain vulnerable until we see this virus stabilize.
BUCKLAND: Yes, a lot of people are taking the lessons from the SARS outbreak of 2003. A little bit reluctant in pushing that one too far.
But effectively, what happened is the Asian markets didn't stabilize until the number of infections had peaked. It's clearly too early to say that
we're going to see that right now.
So I think markets will remain vulnerable until we see some idea that the virus is contained.
CHATTERLEY: I was just mentioning that you've isolated specific sectors, the luxury sector, the airline sector, the auto sector, given the reliance
on Chinese demand here. We've already seen significant repricing in these sectors already. They're significantly lower.
At what point perhaps does this become a buying opportunity for investors, given the pullback that we've already seen?
BUCKLAND: Yes, I mean, it used to be good to own stocks with exposure to China, and that was a good trade to have on in markets last year. Now it's
turning out to be a bad thing.
Again, I don't think those stocks will find a solid base until we've seen some signs that the virus is being contained.
CHATTERLEY: You were already suggesting for the global growth outlook that we would be pretty stable actually on the growth that we saw in 2019. To
what extent was that predicated on seeing stimulus kicking in in China and that growth stabilizing, too, because I know you've also shaved your
forecast for growth in China. How material is that?
[09:25:10]
BUCKLAND: Sure, we've cut our GDP growth forecast or our economic growth forecast for China from 5.8 percent this year down to 5.5. So it's not a
huge cut.
I think the other thing we have to remember is that the Chinese economy is so important nowadays for the world economy. It's 17 percent of the world
economy right now.
Around SARS in 2003, it was just four. So yes, we've got a similar situation to SARS, but the economy is so much more important for the rest
of us now than it was back then.
CHATTERLEY: That's such a great point. It's four times the size of the pie. I want to set that aside for a second and talk to you about the U.K.
It's obviously the formal day where the U.K. leaves the E.U. today.
What's your assessment of U.K. assets at this moment? Do you see value?
BUCKLAND: Well, it's an interesting point, Julia. I always sort of think markets can think about one thing at a time and markets aren't thinking
about Brexit today. Markets are thinking about the virus in Asia today.
But in general, I think that we think that there are remain challenges ahead for the U.K. economy and the U.K. markets in terms of dealing with
Brexit.
Of course, there are lots of negotiations that have to be done on trade and so on, so we do still think that Brexit will be a drag on the U.K. economy
as we head out of this year into next year, just because of the short term imponderables that we have ahead of us.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, you even predict very quickly a recession potentially, a mild one in 2021. Robert, we'll get you back to discuss that.
Robert Buckland, the Head of Global Equity Strategy at Citi. Thank you for bearing with us there.
You are watching FIRST MOVE. The opening bell is next and there's plenty more to come here from Number 10 Downing Street in London. We're back after
this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE, I'm Julia Chatterley live from the Number 10 Downing Street in London. That was the opening bell back on Wall
Street, of course, lots of cheering and shouting, but we do have a lower open for the U.S. majors this morning.
Stocks again under pressure -- that nervousness that comes as China says that the coronavirus cases have risen above 9,000; more than 200 deaths
have now been reported. That's the backdrop here.
But U.S. stocks of course, had a pretty volatile week already. Let's put things into perspective here if we can. U.S. majors are on track for their
fifth straight monthly gain for the year so far.
The Dow, the S&P and the NASDAQ are up one percent or more. The NASDAQ in fact, is higher by more than three and a half percent, so some context
here, I think worthwhile understanding.
What about here in London though? Well, I can tell you that the U.K. is officially leaving the European Union today. Three and a half years after
the country decided to withdraw from the bloc and it dominates the newspaper headlines here in London despite what else is going on in the
world.
I've got a couple of them for you here. "The Times" this morning, the headline says, "Brexit: It's Time." Of course 11:00 p.m. this evening will
be the moment when the U.K. leaves the E.U. No bang of course, we've got Big Ben but no bang because it's under repairs at the moment which is, yes,
saying something. I'm not going to call it further on that.
And "The Guardian" as well, "Small Island. After 47 years, Britain leaves the E.U. at 11:00 p.m. tonight, the biggest gamble in a generation." And
there you have it the White Cliffs of Dover.
Lots of different sides of people celebrating and commiserating. It is the end of Britain's membership of the E.U., but what does this mean ultimately
for businesses going forward?
We're now joined by the Vice President of the Confederation of British Industry, Lord Karan Bilimoria. He is also the founder of Cobra Beer. Lord
Bilimoria, fantastic to have you on the show.
Can I just ask what this day means to you personally, both as a representative of the business and British industry but also as an
entrepreneur and the founder of a big business here in the U.K., too?
KARAN BILIMORIA, VICE PRESIDENT, CONFEDERATION OF BRITISH INDUSTRY: The CBI represents 190,000 businesses employing seven million people in the
United Kingdom and business now for almost four years, we've got to remember the referendum was announced in February 2016, so almost four
years that it has been taken up by Brexit and all the uncertainty that it has caused.
Now, we are, at the stroke of 11 o'clock this evening, we're leaving the European Union. So there is that certainty and what business never wanted
was a cliff edge, or a no-deal Brexit and that was removed, potentially happening on the 31st of December 2019.
Now, we've got to look ahead, and we've got to work with government, and help government to have the best possible trade deal, a deal on all aspects
of our relationship with the European Union in this coming year in 2020, which has to be done by the 31st of December.
So that's our objective. It is to support government to make sure we get the best possible deal for business, for our economy, and for our citizens.
CHATTERLEY: Is that how you are operating now, and that's what you're saying to those businesses that you represent? They have to now operate
under the assumption that as of December 30, 2020, the transition period will not continue and there will be some form of alternative arrangements
in place, because to your point, the hope was to remove some of the uncertainty but for many people looking at this, actually, there's still
plenty of uncertainty between then and now.
BILIMORIA: Well, there is no running away from the fact that that uncertainty still exists, and we have got this year in which to form this
agreement with the European Union.
The government has said that it wants to get it down by the end of this year, and we're in a very good starting point because we are already
completely aligned with the European Union in this transition period as a starting point, and government has said that they want a close working
relationship with the European Union, it makes up 50 percent of our trade.
Our biggest single trading partner is the United States of America with 18 percent of our trade, and then the rest of the world and the Commonwealth
makes up about 10 percent of our trade, including countries like India.
So we want to be able to maintain the 50 percent of our trade with the European Union and all the other relationship we have. People talk about
trade, but it's also education, the research collaborations, the students that come from the European Union.
There are 130,000 students at British universities from the European Union, and then of course, Medicine, security, space -- every aspect of our lives
has been so intertwined for almost 50 years now. We've got to ensure that we have this close relationship going forward, but also with Britain being
able to do what it wants to on the global stage, operating as the government wants it to in the future.
So I think, we've got a job to do and government is there with business supporting it.
[09:35:17]
CHATTERLEY: You make a great point and the services sector is the lion's share of the economy in this country --
BILIMORIA: Eighty percent.
CHATTERLEY: And I am not sure enough time is dedicated to it -- yes, exactly -- dedicated to talking about it, quite frankly.
But I just wanted to get your view on the bold decision, I think from the government to continue to work with China's Huawei over 5G.
Do you worry that that in any way prejudiced reaching some kind of trade agreement or relationship with the United States in the coming months, too?
Because to your point, it is our single largest trading partner, if we're talking about one country individually. Has the relationship been damaged
in your mind or not?
BILIMORIA: So one has to look at these things in the whole. The government made an on balance decision, weighing up the pros and cons about Huawei,
and said that it wanted to go ahead, given very strict conditions, in how Huawei would operate in the 5G space here in the U.K.
And remember, there are two other international companies involved in it as well from around the world. It's not just Huawei.
And in terms of the relationship with the United States, we have a really, really close, special relationship. This is not just platitudes. It's real.
The United States and the U.K. are hugely close partners. One deal like this is not going to influence the whole relationship that we have between
our two countries, which goes back a long way and has a huge future ahead of us.
So I don't think it's going to jeopardize things. I think it's been made very clear by the U.S. government, they want a good trade deal with the
United Kingdom as do we.
CHATTERLEY: An optimistic view point there from Lord Karan Bilimoria. Sir, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for that.
We're going to take a quick break here on FIRST MOVE. But coming up, of course, the U.K. leaves the E.U., Prime Minister Boris Johnson promises to
unite the country. The question is, can he?
We will get some insights from his father, the former MEP, Stanley Johnson joins us next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:12]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to the show when the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson leads the U.K. out of the E.U. this evening, he will complete his
promise of getting Brexit done.
But his next task may be infinitely harder as he aims to unite a fractured country. Brexit has split Britain right down the dinner table as families
have been divided between remain and leave, including the family of Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself.
Joining me now is someone with perhaps just a little insight into what that feels like, Stanley Johnson is a former Member of the European Parliament
and father of the U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Stanley, fantastic to have you on the show. Great to speak with you once again. Can I just ask if you've spoken to the Prime Minister today? I just
wonder what today feels like for him, if you can give us some insight, I would appreciate it.
STANLEY JOHNSON, FORMER MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Well, I haven't spoken to him, I sent him a message. Yes, it is a day, isn't it? I was just
saying to myself, well, this is the day where I am tinged with a certain regret. I've spent years and years and years in Brussels, both in the
European Commission and in the European Parliament.
But it is, of course, tinged with optimism, too, because I, you know, supported Boris once we got the vote, and I absolutely supported him as he
campaigned in these last weeks and months and I was thrilled that he got a clear mandate last December.
So yes, it's optimism with a little, little bit of, you know, hindsight. I did think it was a good thing to have done. I enjoyed doing it. But we've
got to move on and we are moving on in the Conservative Party.
We've got the big -- the big issues to tackle now. Forget about Brexit. You've got climate change et cetera. You've got biodiversity to tackle.
Things I've been working on for years and years and years.
CHATTERLEY: You know, it's interesting, I speak to the business community here and they say that they want to be part of the negotiation going
forward with the E.U. Does the Prime Minister listen to people? Is he a good listener, and will he take on board their advice? How do you see him
approaching and tackling what's going to be a tough negotiation over the coming months?
JOHNSON: Well, I wonder how tough it really is. I mean, as your last speaker, the brilliant, Lord Bilimoria said, you know, we do have already
an alignment almost important in all important areas.
Yes, of course, we have to have the freedom to divert. There's no point in having sovereignty if you don't have the freedom to diverge, but what is
the reason to diverge? The reason to diverge is if you feel you must have different standards, whether these are product standards, operations
standards, or whatever.
I would never put trade above -- over environment for example. I wouldn't do that. So yes, if we have to say we want to have something which will
mean a barrier to trade, well, so be it.
So I think -- but I didn't think it was going to happen very often, it might happen in one or two cases. But I don't honestly think this
negotiation over the next 10 months, 11 months is going to be that difficult.
CHATTERLEY: Do you think without doubt that the U.K. will come out of this negotiation in 10 months with some form of deal with the E.U.? You're
confident of that.
JOHNSON: I absolutely do, and what will that deal be? It will be, you know, no tariffs, no craters, 100 sure that that is where we will come out,
and if there is a divergence, then of course, there may be some need for checks on the borders.
But on the whole, I think we would be knocked far -- in 10 months' time, we are really not far from where we are today.
CHATTERLEY: You know, Stanley, I made the point earlier and you've made it, you didn't simply or didn't want to talk about Brexit over the
Christmas dinner table this year. The Prime Minister has promised to unite the country.
First question, how was that Christmas dinner by the way? And did you talk about Brexit? And the second thing is, is making a success of Brexit
ultimately the only way to bring the remainers and the leavers together in your mind?
JOHNSON: Yes, well, Christmas dinner is always good. I mean as I said it once on another occasion, but the most important issue at Christmas dinner
is do you have breasts or do you have thigh? But leaving that aside -- leaving that aside, I think it's absolutely clear that people of all
natures, of every camp do want to get Brexit behind them.
Brexit is behind us. In reality, it is behind it. I've spent my time nowadays not thinking about Brexit. I spend my time thinking about key
issues which confront us, for example, I am sorry to say this, I am sorry to come back on this, you know, here we are faced with global warming.
Britain -- the U.K. is going to be chairing the vital conference in Glasgow in November this year. We need to get an agreement on how to tackle it.
Look at Australia going up in flames. You can't put that all down to global warming. But believe me, we are in a real, real trouble, and I think the
leadership which Boris has shown in actually dealing with the Brexit issue will be multiplied many times as he tackles and helps the world tackle the
climate issue, and I put the nature protection issue on that as well.
CHATTERLEY: You know, you raised such a great point here.
I mean, there's plenty of people here who look at the numbers simply and say, actually, the Prime Minister could be empowered for 10 years here.
Whatever policy he decides to choose, and let's do something that's close to your heart, I know and that's climate change and sustainability. He
could fundamentally reshape the nation and our energy use and renewables over that time period.
If that's a priority for him? Are you personally pushing for that? Because that'd be something where the U.K. could lead going forward.
JOHNSON: You know, Julia, it's lovely to hear you -- lovely to hear you asking that question. Lovely to hear you tilting this conversation in that
direction.
Yes, I think that Britain can do a huge amount there. For example, what is really going to change the issue here? It's when the City of London, when
the CBI, and you've just had the President of the CBI on, when they really get together and say well, we can do it and the way we can do it is by
mobilizing the financial and industrial and engineering and technical innovation capacity of this country and many other countries, so they do,
do what needs to be done on climate change and nature protection.
It is doable, yes. That's why I think Boris is so good, because he can not only speak optimism, but he can drive optimism, so it becomes a sort of
dominant motive of the way our country does things.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I do hope the Prime Minister is listening. Final question, and just a very quick one. Can I ask what the best advice is that
you've ever given the Prime Minister?
JOHNSON: Yes, I think the best advice I would give to the Prime Minister is above all, do other things. Above all, concentrate on music. Concentrate
on painting. Concentrate on literature.
Keep your mind absolutely full of the things which really count. Politics is a regrettable necessity. But the real priorities in life lie elsewhere.
CHATTERLEY: Be balanced. Sir, a pleasure. Thank you so much. Stanley Johnson there, former Member of the European Parliament and father at the
U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. Thank you, sir, once again for joining us.
All right, I'm going to take you now from Number 10 Downing Street to Western Africa. Yes, where Janngo, a female-led venture capital firm is
pledging $66 million to support technology startups.
I spoke with the CEO, Fatoumata Ba at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: You're a young global leader, what does that mean? And what does that bring you in terms of benefits for the platform that you present?
FATOUMATA BA, CEO AND FOUNDER, JANNGO: Well, it means a lot because I think beyond having a track record of achievement professionally, what
young global leaders truly share in common is to be committed for the betterment of society.
CHATTERLEY: You're winning awards and accolades left, right and center. It's a hugely inspiring story. Where does that come from? Where does this
come from and your desire to do good and your initial investment in energy and technology innovation?
BA: You know, I'm Senegalese. I grew up and I had some breakthroughs in my life. One of them being having access to education myself. So actually, one
of the teachers told my mom, she loves school. You should have put her in a good school.
And I keep having excellent scholarships that get me through, you know, great business schools in Europe. And then technology also created so many
tremendous opportunities for myself, that I'm also very excited to use it to create opportunities for the many.
Because honestly, I believe talent is very equally distributed, especially in Africa. But opportunities aren't -- especially access to capital.
CHATTERLEY: Talk to me about being an angel investor. Talk to me about the work that you're doing looking for investment opportunities here and
fostering technology for good. It is so important.
BA: So you know, my journey started actually, as a tech entrepreneur. I decided, I was, you know, done with advising listed companies in Europe,
and I needed to do something for my continent.
So first, I really wanted to build platforms, and then I realized that so many other entrepreneurs are building amazing platforms that are even more
essential than the e-commerce marketplace.
So I decided to help backing them. So I started angel investing in 2016. Then I raised the First Fund and now we're up to the Second Fund, which
where we will commit 16 million euros to backing African entrepreneurs across Africa, across stages, so from seed to growth from 50,000 euros to
five million euros with a very strong focus on particularly women.
We are committing to invest 50 percent of our proceeds in startups, founded, co-founded or benefiting women.
CHATTERLEY: Where are you going to be in 10 years' time?
BA: Well, in 10 years' time, I hope we will have funded you know, dozens of startups. That we would have created thousands of jobs, but more
excitedly, providing all the services that I mentioned that will not come if we continue at the current trends.
So good schools, could healthcare systems, global access to market for SMEs and global access to finance with so many jobs created for young people and
women and then I can even retire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[09:50:09]
CHATTERLEY: Fatoumata Ba there. Fantastic conversation. You're watching FIRST MOVE. We'll be right back.
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FRIST MOVE with a look at our Global Movers today.
Shares of Aston Martin are soaring in London trading. The luxury car maker getting a more than $650 million bailout from Formula One, billionaire
Lawrence Stroll.
IBM shares also higher in the session. The CEO Ginni Rometty stepping down in April after eight years at the helm.
Amazon shares also higher by over eight percent of reporting more than $3 billion worth of profits for the fourth quarter. Revenues soared some 21
percent. Amazon's market cap in fact has once again surpassed $1 trillion.
Clare Sebastian joins us now and has been following through the numbers here. The fruits of much speedier shipping here, Clare, I think coming
through in these numbers.
Never mind anything else. Strength across the board. Talk us through it.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, particularly impressive that they managed to grow revenue and profits, Julia. Don't ever get, three
months ago, we were talking about a decline in profits because of all the spending, because don't be fooled, they continue to spend big on shipping.
Take a look at the evolution of their shipping costs over the past three years. We're now up at $12.9 billion in this current quarter. That's a
significant jump over the previous quarter, and especially if you look back three years.
But they are growing revenue around that and that is really what investors are looking at. Plus the fact that they are actually keeping control on
these costs. They said they were going to have a one and a half billion dollar penalty in this holiday quarter for one day shipping.
They said they actually came in a little underneath that. So it's looking like they're building some efficiency into this one day shipping project
which is not even a year old, don't forget that, although they do expect to spend a billion dollars in the current quarter.
But this is really a behemoth, Julia. The fact that they can add this kind of market cap gain, when they're already this big is extraordinary.
AWS is the other side of the business. Don't forget, that's the majority of profits, about 67 percent of profits, while only about 12 percent of sales.
That saw growth of 34 percent, which came in above estimates and Prime which is recurring revenue, the subscription service, which has all of
those benefits, including one day delivery.
They now say they have 150 million members. This is the first update we've had in a while and it just shows that the loyalty to Amazon continues to
increase.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, they are the only blot from the horizon here. Of course Whole Foods, bricks and mortar, not quite so going well for these guys.
But I do want to ask you, Clare, about coronavirus. Did they say anything about this given that they're shipping things all over the world and
clearly have operations all over the place?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, no, Julia, this didn't actually come up on the call and this is somewhat rare given what we've seen from other companies this week.
[09:55:04]
SEBASTIAN: Amazon is perhaps not so impacted because it's not such a big deliverer to that region, but we've seen the likes of Apple which has
pretty much a double whammy effect. They not only see China as 15 percent of their revenue, but they're also -- they do a lot of their manufacturing
there.
They said that they've closed one store. They're doing deep cleaning in other stores. They are really watching this to see how far this will go.
A similar double whammy actually, for Tesla. They just opened their Shanghai factory. They are now having to close it they say for about a week
or a week and a half that could hit their profitability.
China is also Tesla's biggest market outside of the U.S. and we see a lot of store closures across the board -- McDonald's, the likes of Pizza Hut,
IKEA. This is a watch item even, Julia, for Boeing which is the U.S.'s biggest manufacturing exporter.
It still remains to be seen how much these companies will see their profits hurt by this. That will depend on the macro impact.
Goldman Sachs came out today and said that China's GDP will be hit over the course of the year and that could spill over, even to U.S. GDP.
CHATTERLEY: Clare Sebastian, thank you for that. And, of course in Washington, U.S. senators are gearing up for that key vote in the
impeachment trial. Our coverage will continue, but for now, you've been watching FIRST MOVE, time to go make yours. See you next hour.
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