Nick Marsh (2:30)

To be honest, this was always the argument made by trade experts and by the Chinese government itself. China is such a manufacturing powerhouse, few can compete with the scale of its workforce, the efficiency of its supply chains, just how much can be produced at a certain standard for a certain price, even though you know it would be potentially losing an incredible consumer market like the United States. There are other markets that are very, very happy to step in and buy Chinese goods. Southeast Asia, you're talking about 500 million people. You've of course got Europe. It's not great from the point of view of the domestic manufacturers, if a big flood of very cheap Chinese goods that might have been destined for the US are now coming to this part of the world. But it does mean that there is the chance of buying lots of cheap Chinese goods. And China has clearly managed to plug that hol left by the drop in US orders with other regions.

William Lee Adams (3:27)

Nick, thanks for joining us on Marketplace.

Nick Marsh (3:29)

Thanks, William. My pleasure.

William Lee Adams (3:30)

Okay, let's do the numbers. Shares in Popmart were down more than 8%, its biggest drop in over six weeks. The Labubu makers stock has fallen around 40% since its August high. Elsewhere, shares in the Indian airline IndiGo slumped 8% as flights continued to be disrupted. The airline has now lost more than $4 billion in value since the onset of last week's new mass flight cancellations. Sticking with airlines, Air Transat, one of Canada's largest carriers, said it will gradually suspend some flights from Monday ahead of a planned strike. On Wednesday, the union representing the airline's pilots said they would stop showing up to work if a contract agreement was not reached in time.

William Lee Adams (4:16)

Lawmakers in France's divided parliament have been at odds for weeks over the country's budget, with even the government opposing its own proposals in a recent vote there. There was some progress on Friday with new tax policies finding agreement. But at the heart of the disagreement are economic reforms designed to cut government spending. And the nature of the current coalition is making it difficult to reach a consensus. The BBC's Hugh Schofield reports.

Hugh Schofield (4:46)

Essentially, what's happening is that the beleaguered Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu has made a deal with the Socialists. They've then inserted amendments into the budget, like the suspension of Macron's famous pension reform, which the centre and right then find that they can't stomach. Another item on the left's wish list is a wealth tax.

Gabriel Zucman (5:07)

I'm Gabriel Zucman. I'm an economist and I'm the director.

Hugh Schofield (5:11)

The tax the left would like is named after this man, the Zucman Tax, very popular in the country. It would impose a minimum of 2% of on people with wealth of more than 100 million euros to stop the Very rich, simply moving abroad. France would continue to claim tax on them extraterritorially. A bit like the way the United States taxes its citizens wherever they live in the world.

Gabriel Zucman (5:36)

This is the solution. This is a very simple idea. This is just saying if you have an enormous amount of wealth, you have to pay a minimum.

Hugh Schofield (5:46)

Alain Mank has advised French presidents since Francois Mitterrand.

Gabriel Zucman (5:51)

We are protected by the euro and it changed everything.

Hugh Schofield (5:55)

He says being in the euro has been a mixed blessing because the shield it provides has exempted France from making the necessary economic reforms. And what he fears now is the arrival of the populists, the hard right, Marine Le Pen.

Gabriel Zucman (6:10)

I think that when they are with their back against the wall and when they are obliged to take very difficult, difficult economic measures, they will take their revenge internally and they will attack the pillars of the rule of law.

Hugh Schofield (6:28)

And the people who would suffer in that would be who? All of us in the National Assembly. The Anglophile Arald Uart also fears that the sorry spectacle his fellow MPs have been offering the country will merely reinforce a growing conviction that that French democracy is rotten.

Arald Uart (6:46)

I read the polls, I listen to my fellow countrymen, and I see that each day there are more and more French citizens convinced that a French leader, a boss, somebody who could clear the political scene and bring order in this chaos is the best solution. So you are right, I'm preoccupied. Just like British diplomats would say in Paris.

Hugh Schofield (7:12)

I'm the BBC's Hugh Schofield for Marketplace.

William Lee Adams (7:15)

And finally, a costume worn by Will Ferrell in the film Elf has sold for more than $310,000 at an auction in the UK. The Green and yellow outfit was worn by Farrell's character Buddy the Elf, in a scene where he presses every button in a New York lift. Meanwhile, a fedora used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom sold in the Same auction for 435.

William Lee Adams (7:39)

In the UK. I'm William Lee Adams with the Marketplace morning report from the BBC World Service.

Million Bazillion Narrator (7:51)

Sometimes kids ask questions that reveal just how much adults still need to learn. Like, can you explain what causes an economic bubble? And why are things so expensive at the airport? Or how much national debt is might be too much. Fear not. Million Bazillion is back with a new season to help you and your kids become pros at understanding how money shapes the answers to all those questions and more. Listen to the latest season of Million Bazillion on your favorite podcast. Apparently.