Germany's chancellor goes to China to talk trade

Germany's Chancellor goes to China to talk trade. Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. I'm Liana Byrne, back for the next three days. Good morning. The German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz says there is a great opportunity to develop ties with China following a meeting with its leader Xi Jinping. Mertz is currently on his first visit to China, which is Germany's biggest trading partner, since becoming leader ten months ago. Before the trip, he said there needs to be a fair competition and jointly agreed rules between the two countries. The BBC's Alice Adderley has more. Chancellor Mertz's visit comes against a background of world trade complicated by President Trump's imposition of tariffs. He's the latest European leader seeking to reset relations with China after a year that's laid bare the fraying alliance with the US and exposed supply chain vulnerabilities. Germany is also facing intense competition from China's electric car makers. Away from trade, the German Chancellor aims to raise the conflict in Ukraine. He'll discuss Beijing's influence over Moscow with President Xi Jinping. Alice Adderley there. Now, let's see the numbers. The price of gold is on the rise again. It's been trading at over $5,200 an ounce on markets in Europe this morning. UK car maker Aston Martin says it's cutting 20% of its staff. The firm has been badly hit by US tariffs on overseas auto imports. And drinks giant Diageo has ruled out selling its share of brands Guinness and Moet Hennessy as it cut its outlook after a 2.8% drop in sales for the first half. Now British retailers say the theft of chocolate from grocery stores is out of control in parts of the country Some retailers now lock candy bars in transparent plastic boxes to make stealing them more difficult They say stolen confectionery is resold to raise money for organised crime. One grocery group in the English Midlands says chocolate theft cost nearly $340,000 last year, making it their most stolen product apart from alcohol. Now from today, almost all visitors to the UK will need to apply for an ETA, that's an electronic travel authorisation, before they enter the country. It costs £16 or $21 and follows similar schemes already in place in the US and Australia. The EU will also bring in its own compulsory entry visa later on in the year. The UK government says it prevents those who are a threat from getting into the country. but some travel groups say it's an unnecessary burden on tourists. The BBC's Rick Kelsey reports. I'm coming through airport passport security, a biometric scan and I'm through. From now on, people from outside the UK coming through these gates will need to have a UK ETA, an electronic travel authorisation. It costs £16, about US$20, and you'll need to apply three days before to guarantee you'll get it on time. Claire Irwin is travel editor for the Sunday Times in the UK. We hear week on week about people who have been unable to board flights, have wasted huge amounts of money, and they just haven understood fully the paperwork that they need to cross the border The European Union new entry and exit scheme will come in from October There are thousands of messages on travel forums you can read about people missing flights because frankly, they didn't know about these new visas. Just like video producer Owen Efram from South Wales. So when I checked into the flight in Toronto, they were like, you don't have an ASTAR, you need one to board the flight so I had to apply for one whilst in the queue to check in I was then like asked to sit at the sit on the side where I had to wait for the SSB approved it took about two hours luckily I was like three hours early for the flight and then once it got approved they let me through and then I was rushed to security they let me go through security with priority but then I got through to immigration and that was a huge queue. And there were other people in the queue like about to miss their flight. Owen, unlike many others, just made it. There's also the problem of fraud and businesses making large profits off the new arrangements. Almost all the visas ask that people book directly from the government or official site of the country that you're visiting. But this has not stopped companies charging sometimes hundreds of dollars for doing it for them. even masking as official partners, which is what happened to Jasmine Gallant from New Brunswick in Canada. We had paid our flight. This link appeared and said all travellers to the UK need a travelling visa. So I applied for it. They never mentioned any fees. I just assumed that it was going to be the same fees as before But I ended up paying pounds which the first time I had applied cost me Esther Fraud is frequent enough that US Customs and Borders Protection regularly warns travellers about these type of scams. Julia Lobusayad is from the Advantage Travel Partnership, a global group of independent travel businesses. So this is all about anyone that doesn't need a visa to travel to a country. how do we know who's in the country? How do we control security from that point of view? If you apply for a visa, if you're a country that needs to apply for a visa, then you've already had pre-authorisation. But up until now, we've not had that. Most of these new travel authorisations cost between $15 and $30 and they last for up to three years. But don't forget to do it before you head to the airport. I'm the BBC's Rick Kelsey for Marketplace. And if you want to read about the new rules and find out how this will affect dual nationals, just check out the BBC News website. In the UK, I'm Liana Byrne with the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. What if the most romantic thing you could do is plan for the worst case scenario? I think there's nothing more romantic than actually knowing and being prepared for the future. Why would you want to have a messy divorce? That's unromantic. I'm Rima Hades, and this week on This Is Uncomfortable, we're talking prenups, the myths that make them feel taboo, what they actually protect, and the bigger questions they bring up about love and power. Listen to This Is Uncomfortable wherever you get your podcasts.