Business Daily

Jacob Rothman moved from California to China and helped build a manufacturing business supplying some of the world's biggest retailers. We meet the co-founder of Velong Enterprises to hear how he built the company across Asia and how an unlikely career path took him to the heart of global manufacturing. He also reflects on entrepreneurship, manufacturing in China and how global trade is changing.
Producer: Bisi Adebayo
You can email the team: businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
(Picture: Jacob Rothman)

Most toys sold in America are made in China. But cheap labour is no longer the main reason manufacturers stay there. As the US toy industry presses for tariffs on toys to be removed, we follow the journey of a $30 toy from a factory in Guangdong, through shipping and the US border, to the shelves of American retailers. Along the way, we find out how much the factory gets, what shipping costs add to the price, how much of the final price stays in America, and the impact of President Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports.
Presenter: Sam Fenwick
Producer: David Cann
(Picture: Employees of Shaoguan Guanghua Plastic and Hardware Products Co Ltd work to assemble toy parts in the factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, China, 9 May, 2025. Credit: Go Nakamura/Reuters)

With Presidents Xi and Trump expected to meet in the United States this week, Will Bain looks back on the history of trade between the two great nations.
It's always been fraught with controversy but there's also been a need or desire to get along.
President Nixon was the first to visit China in 1972 and spoke with passion about the possibilities for the future between them.
Trade then grew quickly but it became very one sided as China developed as an industrial nation.
There have been several attempts to curb its dominance but cheaper production also meant cheaper goods for consumers.
Chad Bown, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute joins Will to assess how they have attempted to strike the right balance
Thanks to the Presidential Libraries of President Nixon and President Reagan for archive material.
(Photo: A staff member wearing a face mask walks past US and Chinese flags set up before a meeting between US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, 08 July 2023. Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Justin Bones

AI: Existential threat or billion-dollar opportunity? The increasingly loud and often stark warnings from inside the tech industry - about the dangers AI might already be posing.
Plus we dig into the interest rate rises facing US and European consumers. And ask whether an ABBA singalong of Mamma Mia was enough to swing the Swedish election.
Taking Stock looks back at the week in business, economic and geopolitical news with a panel that stretches across timezones. This week Rema Rahman the White House and Politics Editor from Bloomberg Government joins us from Washington DC and Katrine Kielos, author and columnist for Swedish financial broadcaster EFN, is with us in London.
Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Josh Martin

Xbox is 25 years old and faces some of its biggest challenges yet. As cloud gaming grows and the AI boom reshapes the technology industry, even Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has acknowledged that the business "hasn't been healthy" in recent years. So does Xbox have a future? Will Bain speaks to former Xbox executive Peter Moore and BBC technology reporter Laura Cress about whether Microsoft's gaming brand can reinvent itself.
Producer: Gideon Long
You can email the team: businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
(Picture: Visitors play Stalker 2 in front of monitors at the Microsoft Xbox boot during the Gamescom gaming convention in Cologne, Germany, 23 August 2023. Credit: FRIEDEMANN VOGEL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)