, david westin. welcome to "balance of power." kevin cirilli will be here on the german automakers meeting with president trump. sarah mcgregor on the china trade truce. and therese raphael on europe, telling britain it is not too late to change its mind. we will start in washington. sara, thank you for being here. explain what is going on. we that we came away from the dinner knowing what happened, but it is getting murkier. sarah: we have had officials sort of blanketing the airwaves and speaking to journalists nonstop over the past couple days, and rather than clarifying details, they are really selling more confusion. we saw larry kudlow say today that actually the announcement yesterday, or on sunday over twitter that china had agreed to lower auto tariffs, that has not been signed, sealed and delivered. so they are already backtracking on promises. and we had donald tweeting today that unless the talks are

extended, they expect commitments from china to come through in these 90 days. but on sunday we were given the impression that the 90 days was a firm timeline from the u.s. side, now it looks like donald trump is willing to extend that. david: and looking from the chinese side, they have talked about what has been done and they did not make a mention of the 90 days, so i am not sure how firm that is. sarah: all the official statements we have right now from the chinese is what we got from this saturday night dinner. president xi on tour right now and he is not going to be back in china into later this week, so we have not heard much more compared to the donald trump's administration. so i think that once we hear, there is usually a thursday briefing from the commerce so oncent in beijing, it we hear more from the chinese we will have more clarification on their side of the story. david: think you very much. now the kevin cirilli for more talk on trade. this is from germany and autos. andn: yes, president trump officials at the white house

going to be greeting the heads of three german automakers, daimler global trigon, and -- vw, and bmw. they will meet individually. what is top on the agenda -- jobs and tariffs. the german automakers do not want to see the administration follow-through on 25% increases on tariffs for german auto parts, and they do not want to see that trade deficit lower, from the administration perspective. that would be billions of thears in cars as part of $65 billion trade deficit the u.s. has with europe as a whole. meanwhile, jobs domestically also very much on the administration's mind, particularly as german automakers are threatening to open plants in china. look no further than tennessee, as well as south carolina, home to bmw's largest auto manufacturing plant operations. that is a key political battleground state.

domestically, this comes at a time in which the president is facing criticism from ceos and auto sector leaders. the company's saying that the trade policy as a whole is costing them upwards of $1 billion. david: thank you. now over to london and therese raphael. we had the announcement this morning that the eu court is saying, you can pull out or stay in. what is the likelihood of that? >> the court was asked to rule on whether the u.k. could move out unilaterally. let's be clear, the issue is pretty academic at the moment, but the government and opposition, the labour party has pledged for a long time that they will on her the 2060 referendum. they have no intention -- of the referendum. they have no intention of pulling out, but the court has opened the door. there will be in important vote on the withdrawal agreement that prime minister has agreed with with the european union.

i think of conservatives in her own party believe that there is now potential to actually cancel brexit, they may be a little more inclined to vote for her agreement, which is widely expected at the moment to fail, and failed by a large margin. david: we know the vote has been scheduled for the 11th of december, but any chance it may not happen? i heard there was a motion to hold her in contempt of the parliament because of a legal opinion, could that delay the process? >> it is an extraordinary story that i have been watching. i have been watching the debates over this motion of contempt. and just briefly, what the government is doing is refusing to give parliament the full legal advice, giving them a summary of it. what failed a few moments ago was an amendment to the motion. the government was trying to kick the issue down the road until after the vote. there will be a vote now on the motion of contempt. i do not think it will delay the

december 11 vote on the withdrawal agreement. i do not think that there is a set just and that will happen. but it plays into the broader question of who is really, who is really controlling the agenda? i think what we see is parliament trying to take that control and asserting its authority. these are the executives here. we are getting down to the endgame of at least the government's the brexit agenda. david: and does theresa may have the votes or not -- that is the question. we will see next week. thank you. now a check of the markets. we will turn to emma chandra. >> what a difference a day makes. we are looking at the u.s. indexes in the red. this is with the investors' hopes about possible deals between the u.s. and china at that meeting in argentina, we are seeing hopes it evaporates as both sides are unable to tell

us what came out of the meeting. and we are seeing dow jones it down over 1%. boeing and apple pulling them down. s&p 500 and nasdaq both falling more than a percentage point today. and take a look at the transport stocks come also falling. down 3.5%, having their worst day since october. and this after ups and fedex got a downgrade from morgan stanley, saying that there is increasing competition from amazon air. airlines falling on shaky traffic outlooks for the delta. the other story today is of course in the treasury market, the 10 year, a five-day chart of the 10 year with yields pushing ever lower. and what we see here is the three-year yields, we saw them above the five-year yields yesterday, contents now that the 10 years could do similar. now they are falling below the 200 and moving average. and that is not helping financials. we can see how the banks are

performing. bank of america and wells fargo falling today, also regional banks falling as well. the financials of the worst performing sector in the s&p 500. and obviously the treasury market is impacted there, but also news out of the home builders today. we saw the toll brothers reporting their first drop since 2014. and take a look at apple, not having a good day either, down almost 3% today with more concerns over iphones. and we hear that they have to divert some of their marketing spending to those orders for the iphones. and take a look at the apple supplier here, also down today. the latest report a reduced outlook. david: coming up, we will discuss the life and legacy of george herbert walker bush, including his work across the aisle with george mitchell. that is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

david: breaking news. the bidders parliament has found the government in contempt. we were just picking with our reporter about this possibility. parliament has voted to find theresa may in contempt. the pound is falling off. she had the support of every single one of her tories, but she lost the dup alliance and they found her in contempt. this is the only time in recent history that this has happened. we will see what this may mean, or may not mean, for the ultimate vote next week on the package to leave the european union. we will turn out the mark crumpton for first word news. mark: president trump's top economic advisers is the white house does not have a deal with china yet to reduce tariffs on american made cars. speaking to reporters at the white house today, larry kudlow said that he believes an

agreement is coming. >> the president expects that they will take their car tariffs 15%, then, they were they were up to 40% as a retaliatory move, and i think you will see pretty soon that they will be back down to 0%. that is my guess. jolted theresident stocks by an on sunday that a deal had been reached following his dinner with the chinese president on saturday at the g20 summit. today, president trump tweeted that trade talks with china "have already started." the special counsel in the russia investigation is set to give their first public insight into how much information the president's former national security advisor has shared with prosecutors. robert mueller's team is expected to lay out at least some details of michael flynn's cooperation since he pleaded guilty last year to lying to the fbi about his contact with russia in the weeks before mr.

trump took office. the italian prime minister has indicated that the populist government is about to back down in a budget standoff. he says he will make an offer to the european commission, which rejected the budget because of the size of the deficit. he insists the proposal will not jeopardize planned reforms. crowds streaming into the capital today to say goodbye to george herbert walker bush. he will lie in state until tomorrow morning, when services will be held at washington national cathedral. the 41st president will be buried on thursday on the grounds of his presidential mibrary and museum at texas a& university. in a few moments, we will hear from george mitchell who served under george bush. global news 24 hours a day, online and at tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg.

david: thank you. president george herbert walker bush was placed yesterday in the capitol rotunda and there was a ceremony. the current majority leader recalled something the late president said at his yunnan duration. >> 30 years ago, on the west front of this capital, george herbert walker bush addressed the nation for the first time as our president. meet on democracies front porch. a good place to talk as neighbors." >> we meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and his friends, for this is a day when our nation is made whole. when our differences are suspended. david: welcome now the man who served as senate majority leader during the term of george bush.

welcome. sen. mitchell: thank you for having me. david: you heard what that president said, to talk as neighbors. sometimes you disagree with neighbors, but you can still be friendly. what was it like working with president bush? sen. mitchell: we had an immediate bond, our love for the state of maine. i was born and raised there. my family still lives there. president bush's family has a home, as you know, in kennebunkport. so we had that common bond. and for the first two years of his tenure, we had a very good working relationship. we got a lot done in a bipartisan way. it got more difficult as we got closer to election time in the last two years. i recall many instances the americans with disabilities act, a huge budget act, but mostly i recall the clean air act. for about a decade i was one of

a small group of bipartisan senators who wanted action on clean air. we could not get any progress, because president reagan was opposed, as were many large industries. after president bush took office, oh must immediately he gave a speech saying he favored clean air, reversing the policies of the reagan administration. and suddenly the question was not, will there ever be a clean air bill, but what will be in bill?ean air then followed along complex negotiations, but in the end we got major legislation. and then 20 years later, the council wanted to put in -- that the epa is responsible for saving 2 million americans from premature deaths. all made possible by president bush's courageous decision to reverse the policies of his predecessor and move forward.

david: you make an important point that we may forget. so much time has passed. we had a republican president in george h.w. bush working with a democratic congress, both houses. and yet, you got major legislation through, like the clean air act, as you described. was that a matter of the man, the leadership in the congress as well, being different, or were the times different? right now it is unimaginable something like that could happen. sen. mitchell: it is a matter of all those factors. the times were different. the people were different. it seems quite now -- quaint now. this year, the deficit will approach $1 trillion. but when we assembled in 1990, there was a congressional budget committee that projected a budget that could reach $150 billion and we were alarmed. we met together, democrats and republicans. bob dole, the republican leader,

was and is a close friend of mine. disagreedwe -- we disagreed often, but never once did a harsh word come between us. we said, we have to do something. we has strong disagreements on what should be done. the result was a lengthy negotiations that resulted in a budget package that had pain for everyone, some tax increases, some spending cuts, but it laid the foundation followed three years later by president clinton's budget, which produced balanced budgets in this country. david: in retrospect, it really set up a wonderful time economically for this country in the 1990's, but at the time it was not an easy path for president bush. and will remember the voodoo economic criticism of the reagan approach. taxes, readno new my lips. but at the end he said we have a problem with the budget, and

that may have cost him the presidency. sen. mitchell: it may have. his initial statement at the convention when he accepted the nomination of no new taxes was good politics with bad policy. and i think he recognized that as we moved forward and we had an alarming projection of the budget deficit. so it was painful negotiations, very tough and it took months and months. we finally did reach an agreement, it had to go to the congress a couple of times because the initial package was rejected. we came back with another. but to his great credit, whatever the political applications, it passed and enabled us, eventually, to have a balanced budget and a successful economy in our country for over a decade. david: i think at this point most people think of president george h w bush in terms of a foreign policy. for the reasons you described, this was important, he made important steps forward.

but he is really known for foreign policy, and you spent a lot of time on foreign policy. tell us about him as a foreign-policy president. sen. mitchell: he clearly was deeply engaged in foreign-policy. when we met on foreign-policy issues, he was fully engaged and asking the questions and making the statements and controlling the conversation. and look what happened during his tenure. while he may not have caused all of it, he was there to manage the end of the berlin wall, the taking down of the wall, the collapse of the soviet union, and i think he handled it in a good way. again, we had disagreements on some issues, but i think that the best thing that can be said about him is that politics has always been rough and tumble, there whenever -- there never was a time when it was sweetness and light. it brings out the best and worst in people's characters. but he was a man of character.

he was honorable, decent, and we had a mini, many disagreements -- many, many disagreements, but he was never disagreeable. and i think that most americans look back on that with some nostalgia. david: finally, talk about his multilateral approach. that seems almost quaint today, but when he decided to address the issue with iraq and kuwait, he did not go it alone. sen. mitchell: he believed strongly in the institutions and policies adopted by the u.s. in the aftermath of the second world war, in which the united states took the lead in creating a series of political, economical alliances to encourage trade and prosperity. and to extend freedom around the world. he had been a fighter pilot as a young man in the pacific. he knew what war was like, and he knew the role of the united

dates, first -- states, first in terms of intervening in the world wars, and he was a principled man who held firmly to the view that the united dates -- states had a critical role in defending and extending freedom, economic prosperity, and an end to conflict around the world. david: senator, thank you very much for coming in today. that is former senator george mitchell who served as the majority leader when george herbert walker bush was president. and we will have full coverage of the funeral of george herbert walker bush tomorrow. this is bloomberg. ♪

david: you are watching "balance of power." i'm david westin. president george h.w. bush enoch or ration came to enter years

after george washington took his oath of office. he used the occasion for a national call to service. >> i have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread it like stars throughout the nation doing good. we will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. the old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless -- duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in. david: that idea of a thousand points of light grew into the largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. for more we welcome the chairman of points of light, his son, neil bush. please know that our thoughts are with you and your family. we -- our hearts go out to you,

thank you some much for all you have done for our country. neil: thank you for that kind of sentiment, and thanks to bloomberg for paying tribute to my amazing dad. david: he deserves certainly no less. tell us where the organization is now, take us from where it was to where it is now. the: my dad recognized government cannot solve all of our problems. that all over the nation, whatever the problem our country was facing was being solved by some group powered by volunteers. so he used the metaphor of a thousand points of light to refer to those millions of people. back when he talked about it, there were 32 million americans volunteering, now 64 million americans volunteer every year. they are volunteering more hours and with more impact, more corporations, more youth, more face -- faith based organizations are pushing their folks into the cities to make

those communities better. so we have a thriving, a volunteer service movement in the united states, powered by this organization that data founded almost 30 years ago. it is being led by natalie, our ceo, based in atlanta where the largest -- where we are the largest recognizer, doing everything we can to equip and mobilize people to realize their potential to lift others. i will share with youand -- and i will share with you one of my dad gratis -- deadad's greatest strengths, he led by lifting others. he sought to bring up the best of others. one thing he always is that any definition of a successful life must include service to others. so i'm hoping that his passing will be a call to arms for people to get involved in their community, help lift people out of poverty, to find is someone who needs a helping

hand, do whatever you can. everyone can do something. i'm hoping we reunify the country around the theme that we can take democracy into our own hands and lift our fellow citizens. i'm really proud of his legacy. david: you were an a cobbler's businessman as well as leading this foundation. we all talk about business, how do you grow a business -- so how do you grow this business, as it were? neil: i think you do it organically. speaking of business, there are more corporations today developing workplace volunteer programs that understand that if you establish a culture of service within your company, that you will be able to attract, retain and get more productivity out of your employees, especially the millennials. so the bottom line is -- the volunteer service movement from a corporate perspective is benefiting from the fact that it helps to grow the bottom line and build loyalty to the company

and brand. so essentially that is it. one of the things we do that is important is we have recognition. we have a daily point of light award that recognizes amazing work being done by ordinary individuals to do extraordinary things, to help their community or lift others in a special way. we have the largest convening of voluntary service people, and we go from city to city every year, but we bring in speakers and it is inspiring. and people share best practices, so we can continue to grow the movement. so practical things that we are doing -- a lot of practical things we are doing, and then there is the national -- the natural, bill in reasons we see these volunteers. david: your mother has a foundation as well that you run. at this time, you have an extraordinary, large family with a great legacy from a great man that will continue in all sorts

of ways, but how do you take this event, as sad as it is for all of us, how do you take this event and reinforced that legacy, whether it is thousand points of light or others, to really reenergized that movement? neil: first of all, i am not sad and. i -- sad. i will miss my dad. i think about him every day. living across the street from him i was able to be near his aside a lot, but he lived such an amazing life. you mentioned my mom. for 92 years she had the most foring life with this guy, 73 years, so it is hard to feel sad. i hope that we are able through the stories -- that was great that you had senator george mitchell, by the way, a democrat who fought hard against my dad, but you talked about the stability of working with him --

stability of working with him as well. friends, they family are coming from people from all walks of life, so i hope we are able to unify our nation around of this concept that we can aspire to live a life of service to others. possiblee my dad remarkable example of his military services, service to community before he became a public servant. he did all these things leading up to the presidency, and he was a brilliant point of light help lift people in so many different ways. i hope we are inspired and unified as a nation around this notion. we had deep challenges in communities all over america. , my mom believed that if you cannot read at an age-appropriate level, you cannot possibly realize your fullest potential. mobilizing armies of

volunteers the help of those organizations that are helping people realize their full potential through literacy. need to be of works done all over the nation. we need to double down to make our country solid, stable, and great. we need to have people jump in and exercise their democratic right to lift others. david: i cannot thank you enough for taking time. neil bush, the son of president george h.w. bush. thank you. >> thank you. david: first word news with mark crumpton. mark: secretary of state mike pompeo defending president trump's worldview during a speech in brussels today. pompeo says the trump administration is boldly reasserting the kind of u.s. leadership that we have not had in recent years. bad actors have" used the lack of leadership for their own gain." >> we welcome china into the

liberal order but we will never police this behavior. china has routinely exploited loopholes in the rules and imposed market restrictions, technology transfers, and stolen intellectual property. secretary pompeo also spoke harshly of iran and called brexit a wake-up call. gina haspel briefed a group of senators about the killing of the saudi journalis jamal khashoggi. they have concluded that the crown prince of must have known about the plot. senators from both parties were angry that haspel did not attend a closed-door session about demolishes zhou -- khashoggi's killings. announced theon suspension of the fuel tax hikes

that led to violent demonstrations in paris, but did not give in on the supplemental increase on the minimum wage that protesters demanded. was state football coaches suspended for three games for his handling of domestic allegations against the now fired assistant is retiring. university said he will leave his job after the buckeyes play in the rose bowl. school for at the seven years and has won three national football championships, two with florida, before heading to ohio state. global news, 24 hours a day on air and on @tiktok on twitter powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am mark crumpton, this is bloomberg. david: thank you. president trump called his meeting with chinese president xi extraordinary and tweeted that china had agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars, but his aides seem to be dialing that back a bit.

larry kudlow will remain optimistic. >> the president expects they will take car tariffs down to zero. they were knocked up to 40% as a retaliatory move, and i think you will see pretty soon they'll be knocked down to zero. david: we welcome now someone who has been a staunch advocate for the president's progrowth he is now a senior fellow at the heritage foundation and he found the time to write a book. he joins us from washington, great to have you with us. >> great to be with you. we can put up a comparison of a side-by-side of what the united states have been saying and what the chinese say, and they may not directly conflict with each other, but i will give you an example. the u.s. said, if we do not get

a deal, the 25% tariffs are going to come in, that is a 90 days. the chinese do not refer to that 90 day deadline at all. do we have a deal or not? >> we have a deal for 90 days, what is going to happen beyond that is everyone is trying to figure out. this was a victory for trump in the short term while avoiding an escalation of the trade war. were supposediffs to kick in this week if they had not had a preliminary handshake deal. but you are right. both the sides have different interpretations of what was agreed to. at some point when there is ideal is china, you have to go back to the old reagan doctrine of trust but verify. make sure there are enforcement measures that china will carry forward. david: let's talk about what turns on this. i cannot interpret the markets

and i cannot tell you why it is doing what it is doing, but all the major stock indexes are down over 2%. a lot of people are thinking maybe it was not as firm a deal. if we do not come to terms with china, what are the effects? on the growth that you have sponsored >> that is a good question. nobody wants to see along them -- a long and escalated trade war. going tod trump is not back down when it comes to getting a new trade arrangement with china. you just heard what secretary of state pompeo said. they do not honor their agreements and they become a problem, and that is absolutely true. -- and love to see investors feel the same way -- we would love to see the deal --re we get the tea tariffs down to zero, but i cannot tell you that that is going to happen in 90 days.

if he does not happen, it will have a negative effect on the market. if it does happen, the economy is going to skyrocket. david: that was one of my questions. is that the next arrow in the quiver with the first one being the tax-cut? great point. i totally reject the idea that the economy is on a sugar high. the tax cuts are just kicking in, and they last for the next five years. you are right. thisyou talk about arrows, would be gigantic if you can get this trade deal done with china where they basically expand their markets to u.s. goods and stop cheating. news on your screen that they are going to enforce better the intellectual property stop and that would be a good first step. there is also a lot of confusion about what is going to happen with nafta.

mexico a u.s. canada trade agreement that was agreed to a couple of months ago, but now donald trump has said he is going to pull america out of nafta entirely and up the stakes for getting something done in a matter of the next few months or else there is no trade agreement at all with those two countries. david: let's tie some things together. one of the basic issues about the growth is productivity. youassumption is that either get more people in to work or by increasing capital investment. capital investment did go up, but now, it is starting to trail off. is that in part the uncertainty created by these issues with china and maybe even with nafta? >> maybe, a little bit. i was disappointed by the last quarter of capital investment, but year over we are up to about 7%. capital investment this year has been very strong. the manufacturing numbers are

really good, construction numbers are good, so i would like to see capital investment higher. that was one of the major intentions of our bill, and we -- companies ait complete right off in the first year of their capital expenditures and that is a huge inducement for companies to invest. and a trade tariffs war are hanging over the economy and that is why trump needs to get this done. if he is going to get reelected, he means a strong economy going into 2020, and he does not want a trade war to last. david: thank you for joining us. senior fellow at the heritage foundation. more on the markets that are down coming up next. live from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ david: you are watching "balance of power." i am david westin. we are turning to emma chandra. emma: we are looking at red across the screen. it is much worse than when i updated you. the dow, s&p 500, and the nasdaq falling by more than 2%. the nasdaq down by 2.5%. rally that we have seen iter has fizzled out and seems that investors are questioning whether any truce between the u.s. and china exists. helped by the differing interpretations of what happened between the two sides in the meeting between president xi and president trump over the weekend. this is the intraday chart of the s&p 500. it was risk off all through the day but took the big leg lower.

the s&p 500 down just over 2% of off the lows a little bit. every sector in the s&p 500 bar the utilities is now in the red. , down over 3%. downanking index that is over 5% which is falling the most edited since march last year. we heard from toll brothers earlier this year saying that they reported their first drop in orders since 2014. want to update you with the pound. ,he pound is also falling today down some 3/10, 4/10 of a percent and this is after the u.k. government failed in parliament and they were defeated and the contempt -- in the contempt to vote and that makes it all the more difficult for theresa may. david: one of president trump's priorities and coming to office was addressing bank regulation which he has done by appointing

the vice chair for supervision and having his treasury come up for a plan of deregulation. now robin nichols, he is the american bankers association ceo. welcome back. >> thanks, david. the financials are getting hit, regionals are getting hit particularly hard. why is that? is it a possible inversion of the yield curve? >> i think that can be part of it, but there is a lot of headline news not just within our own borders but overseas, and the market reacts to that. i actually agree with one of your earlier guests, the underlying fundamentals are strong. we are seeing some good things and i think the fact that interest rates are improving and going back to normal is great. the tax bill was good for financial banks, and we had a bipartisan victory in the bill last year which provided a modernization and meaningful

legislative relief that things in the sector by got a little bit of a ride. you cannot control everything that affects the markets, but let's talk about what you do have influence over. through and are a been a lot of replacements of regulators and more inclined to be more reasonable. what is left to be done? >> the modernization of the community reinvestment act, the lead on that and the other regulators will obviously work very close to allow banks to better serve low and moderate income communities. amlbsa rules. our data, but the system can be improved. david: money-laundering? >> absolutely. it can be more efficient and effective, so we are also working on that. and tailoring.

you talked about the new regulators and you know what they are doing -- moving away from the artificial asset andshold set in dodd-frank, instead, looking at banks and supervising them based on activities, business model, and risk profile. that is ideal framework and the new vice chair of the fed is the point on that one. david: speaking of him, he was out saying they are paying a lot of attention to leverage loans. a lot of concern about that. we had robert tipp earlier on today and i asked him about this and banksd, frankly, were issuing leverage loans, the fed could have more of an effect. it is harder because it comes outside of regulated banks. how bigger problem is that? >> this is the next area of systemic potential risk. andink u.s. regulators industry working together have done a very good job to look at and identified risks.

a report put out saying they estimate that $10 trillion in a shadow banking system in china. the financial blurb just today talked about the issue. our regulators are working with the global counterparts and need to be very vigilant. improving safeness, soundness, and stability, we have major maddock and improvements in the last 10 years. dramatic improvements in the last 10 years. david: finally, tomorrow is the funeral for george h.w. bush. you served. >> i had a very unique perspective, i worked in the west wing in my early 20's. all these amazing public policy servants and i was the young guy that major they had coffee and copies. i will tell you what i love about the 41st president.

every morning, he would walk by and say, how are you doing? his sense of humor and grace, it was not lost on me. i am holding the sharpie because he was always holding a sharpie to send a thank you. it is a habit i carry with me. david: it sounds like a wayerful time, but a good to conduct yourself -- is there any way to get back to that? it does not feel at what we are doing today in washington. >> i sure hope so. i think this new congress, anything we do will be bipartisan because you republican senate and a democratic house, so that is an opportunity for bipartisanship, but i sure hope so. the former president, his background of being in military service, the head of the cia, and ambassador, a member of congress that she was arguably the most qualified person to

ever be the president of the united states. he did so with dignity, grace, emotion, and humor. he invited dana carvey over. david: remarkable man and we will have all day tomorrow to remember him as the national day of mourning. robin nichols, the ceo of american bankers association. as we head to the break, the markets are all down over 2%. they seem to be holding flat, but it has been a tough day for the markets. live from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ david: this is "balance of power." president george herbert walker bush is often remembered for his work as the u.s. envoy to china, but is not the only country that claims a large part of his legacy. the president helped usher in the arena vacation of germany. >> the author of a new book "bushyour father wrote,

as much as anyone else and any other foreigner can lay claim to being the father of modern germany." >> yeah, i think the germans would tell you that. my friend angela merkel told me that and the reason why is because he quietly worked to unify germany, without calling attention to himself. the europeans were very nervous about a unified germany. house, georgee the father was one of the fathers of reunification and we will never forget that. david: you heard the from chancellor merkel herself, and for more, we welcome our german reporter in berlin. give us the perspective of president george herbert walker bush's role in the reunification of germany. >> i think right now, of course,

everybody has donald trump in mind. reminded germans are that there have been all their u.s. presidents and other presidents do have done more good for germany than maybe trump. david: it is now attempting in retrospect to think it was inevitable to do the reunification, but there was a lot of dispute about it as i recall. >> even in germany, there was a lot of this be. i remember the social democrats were against it, so of course, george bush was seen as somebody who was extremely helpful, especially because he remained very calm. he always had the feeling was very much in charge of the situation, not overreacting, and also moderating. --id:, support did he get

how much support did he get for the chancellor at the time, and he really pushed that this through? >> absolutely. it was a very good relation back then between the white house and the capitol. the chancellor and george bush had a very good personal relationship which was extremely important that that moment. -- at that moment. he really helped the chancellor and talks with gorbachev and the british and the french were very critical. david: how is this being covered in the press in germany? you have pointed out the tension that president trump has taken a different position from the former president george herbert walker bush. how is it being covered? covered in a nostalgic way.

when you read articles about it here or, it is like , yeah, these were the good old days when the u.s. was an allied -- ally to germany. have also because now you donald trump as the counterexample that suddenly, george bush appeared positively. david: thank you so much. we will have a special coverage for the funeral for president george herbert walker bush tomorrow starting at 10:00 in the morning, eastern time. live from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ i am mark crumpton with bloomberg's first word news. kremlin says that russian president vladimir putin was not insulted by president trump's

refusal to meet with him on the sidelines of the g20 summit. the president canceled the plan meeting following russia's seizure of three ukrainian enable vessels. the kremlin says that president putin does feel there are numerous issues that the sides need to discuss. nato has decided that russia is in violation of a treaty with the united states. they were persuading moscow from destabilizing ukraine and encouraging it to respect the cold war era treaty. they believe that the moscow is an alleged violation of the 1987 nuclear forces treaty. appoi --hat the the deployment of the new