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Business Matters: How Japan Views the US Election

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How Japan Views the US Election

02/11/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Matters, How Japan Views the US Election

Japan's view of Trump's 'freeloader' comments; Florida housing; the latest Saudi shake-up

Watching the U.S. presidential election from Japan, home to tens of thousands of American soldiers; housing as an issue for Florida voters; Saudi Arabia fires its finance minister

Japanese citizens are following the US presidential campaign closely - but their perspective is informed by the massive presence of the American military. Tens of thousands of US personnel have been based in Japan since World War Two - and it's the only country outside the US that's home to a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It's become a campaign issue because Donald Trump thinks it's a waste of money. The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports.

The Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia has been fired. Ibrahim Abd-al-Aziz al-'Asaf had been in post for twenty years. The appointment of Muhammad al-Jadaan - Chairman of the Saudi capital markets regulator - is part of King Salman's modernisation of the economy - and his effort to wean the country off its reliance on oil. Because prices have been so low, public expenditure has been cut dramatically. Prince Muhammad, the 31-year-old son of the king, is in charge of the reform process - including cutting energy subsidies and reducing benefits for state employees. Richard Thompson, Editorial Director at the Middle East Economic Digest, based in Dubai, discusses the issue with the BBC's Susannah Streeter. 

And we will focus attention on one state and one issue in the US presidential election, to see what they tell us about the bigger picture. The state of Florida is tightly contested - but trying to win over voters who feel poorer than they did a decade ago will be a challenge. A lot of that anxiety began when the property market crashed, and we have a report from the BBC's Michelle Fleury.

Throughout the hour Fergus Nichol is joined by Mitchell Hartman of Marketplace, in Portland, Oregon, and David Kuo of the Motley Fool is in Singapore.

(Photo Credit: A Japanese national flag is seen in front of a monitor displaying first U.S. presidential debate between U.S. Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at a foreign exchange trading company in Tokyo, Japan, September 27, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai)

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