Bill Gates: 'Trump is open-minded'

As the Gates Foundation launches its report on progress in the fight against poverty, the philanthropist talks to Polly Toynbee about the challenges ahead. Gates discusses the US president's approach to foreign aid, sharing his hopes for Trump ‘as a human being who cares about other human beings’

Have you've paid more tax than anybody Has ever paid in history of the world Which is admirable and you advocate Higher taxes and yet a kind of tax Phobia seems to have gripped the world At the moment how do you reverse that? State of mind that says taxis are bad in General a lot of taxes are too low in my View for example the estate tax you know I'm a huge fan of that because it it Creates a certain dynamism where you Don’t just get an Eric Radek type view You know the person has died if they Have a huge amount of money which it's Amazing that you know we allow people to Have gigantic amounts of money then the State should take some of that and ya Know it but if that is of all my tax Misunderstandings the fact that people Don’t aren't for an estate tax is is Kind of mind-blowing to me I mean even In China this is a communist country They are hesitating to put in a a Vigorous estate tax weirdly this is the One area where even though the US estate Tax is way too low it's actually a Higher estate tax than most other Countries you'll report this year on Global goals and what progress we're Making on poverty and disease what Strikes you most about this year's Report although the number of children Being born has leveled off the places Where those children are being born is More and more in poor countries it's More difficult to make sure that kids Get the vaccines they get the nutrition The education the things that will allow This younger generation to contribute And drive welfare and economic growth And amazingly almost all of those young Children will be born in Africa what do We do to persuade the rich world to stay Engaged what works best is it hope or is It fear the best way of motivating People is if you can get them to go you Know meet that people see the problems Then you're engaged

Human-level you can point out that the Stability of Africa will make a huge Difference in the entire world the idea Of could point 7 percent of GDP be Devoted to helping those extremely poor People which there are very large Numbers some very small amounts of money Goes a long way but even maintaining Current levels you know it's often Challenged so very much challenged in Britain constantly at under attack by Our conservative press saying why are we Spending all this money abroad and it is Right at the bottom of people's Priorities and quite hard for a Government to hold on to how do you Persuade people that this is money When well spent when they prefer to Spend it at home if you're saving lives For very small amounts of money and if You’re really uplifting countries that Over time will graduate from receiving Aid people should feel very good about That the data about the impact is pretty Amazing oh you're a very influential man Do you have a chance to speak to?

President Trump and perhaps to persuade Him that there is value in these things Now we need to work with Trump himself And the whole administration on what is Your vision for Africa and as a human Being who cares about other human beings As a country who doesn't want to have to Go fright Foreign Wars or deal with Pandemics that are out of control Isn’t it possible that the U.S. which Spends less than a third of a percent on Forename this president come persuadable Yes I think actually he doesn't one of The things that you could say is a plus Or a minus is in very few areas does he Have a fixed ideology if there's Something where he feels he can look Smart particularly if it's doing it in a Different way than it was done before And yes I think he's open-minded Improvement in the world is something People should be excited about and the Fact that when they read about Africa It’s always you know sort of the latest Problem there which there are huge Problems unless people get into their Framework that Africa has improved Immensely

And that innovation all over the world Can do a lot more and that this Generosity there's no need to be cynical About it you know it's its great people Doing their best so I wish people could Go and see more of the great work going On!