the u.s. sparks anger among its closest allies is the threat of a trade war news. hello i'm adrian finnegan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up in montreal is now planning to travel to washington to deliver a personal letter from chairman kim jong il a senior advisor to north korea's leader should be able to meet with donald trump place on friday. pakistanis to swear in a caretaker government ahead of july's elections. as it is in zinni dins of the steps down to the manager of real madrid just days after the champions league

victory. the trumpet ministration is imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the european union canada and mexico u.s. trade partners are threatening to retaliate with tariffs of their own as fears grow of a global trade war kimberly how could reports from washington. u.s. commerce secretary wilbur ross made the announcement from paris where he was attending an annual trade forum. tariffs of twenty five percent on steel and ten percent on aluminum imports into the united states from canada mexico and the european union all go into effect friday the move potentially sets in motion a trade war with some of the united states most important allies a claim the u.s. commerce secretary brushed off everybody has every known again very firmly

does that every country does with others who is nothing weird about that i think everybody will get over this in due course in brussels the head of the european commission called it a bad day for world. promising counter measures that could include retaliatory tariffs u.s. goods into the e.u. on everything from blue jeans to motorcycles what they can do we are able to do exactly. the same it's totally up to the it come to be seen because you are through measures when it comes to. the great francis jr trade minister promised a similar response suggesting the u.s. president may be misinformed. no more forgotten issue that comes a point when one needs to look at the figures and i'm surprised that maybe president trump stuff haven't shown him how much those european companies have invested in the united states created jobs that to assemble and produce that now

those u.s. jobs could be at risk just as president donald trump seeks to fulfill one of his top campaign promises to protect the jobs of his supporters in america's steel and aluminum manufacturing sectors it's not just international partners criticizing donald trump's decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on top u.s. allies domestically members of president trump's own republican party are also criticizing him fear of the effects of a global trade war despite white house efforts to downplay those concerns kimberly help hit al-jazeera at the white house. well u.s. trade partners in europe are denouncing the new tariffs france's president of money called the american action illegal and his foreign minister said that america first is becoming america alone germany's finance minister olof scholtz said the tariffs

may violate international law he added that it wasn't a good day for transatlantic relations and a statement by the british government expressed deep disappointment in the decision it said the u.k. and other u.s. allies should get a permanent exemption and reaction to the u.s. move has been particularly strong in canada and mexico america's partner in the nafta trade agreement john holdren reports now from mexico city. after the u.s. put the squeeze on neighbors and trading allies mix going canada imposing steel and dollar minium tariffs retaliation quickly followed both amounts dollar for dollar surcharges on u.s. imports these tariffs are totally unacceptable canadian prime minister just in through though and his foreign minister chrystia freeland denounced the u.s. actions this is sixteen point six billion dollars every tell you. that this is the strongest trade action canada has taken in the post-war era

first of all mexico's economic minister called this the worst case scenario and said the country would put tariffs on some u.s. steel products apple's grapes pull in cheese today that we take action at the moment to compensate sadly it without measure for mexican exports on this. but this dispute was the last thing either country wanted with a powerful and until recently mostly friendly neighbor the kind of the terrorists will hit particularly hard about ninety percent of its head south of the border it's the us is biggest supplier but mexico also is one of the top exporters of steel to the united states despite that both it's going canada insist trade flow still works in the u.s. is favor for them the decision by the troubled ministration just doesn't make sense michel to kick us in economic is no economic justification at the end of the day

you see that mexico has a deficit with the u.s. in any lineaments deal that we can see more from them than we're more over in sectors that are essential for their company but there's another element to this washington's insistence the three countries of renegotiating the nafta free trade agreement the u.s. wants to see more concessions from mexico and canada they both emphasized that they still came to talk but added that their italian three measures will remain in place as long as the u.s. terrorists do join homan al jazeera mexico city. the u.s. secretary of state says that he's made great progress in his talks with one of north korean leader kim jong un's closest aides mike compare has met with kim yong cho in new york for a second day the talks are supposed to smooth the way for a summit between donald trump and kim jong il and in less than two weeks but pompei a refused to confirm whether it will actually happen diplomatic editor james bay is reports. a second day of intense diplomacy between the u.s.

secretary of state and the north korean envoy who met for almost two and a half hour as reporters watch the comings and goings at the apartment block where the u.s. government owns a residence on the thirty ninth floor state department officials were very cautious in what they said but one man was not as restrained the u.s. president he spoke as the meeting was still under way revealing for the first time that general kim will now head to the white house good morning i just want to tell you we're doing very well with north korea our secretary of state has had very good meetings he's meeting again today i believe they'll be coming down to washington on friday and a letter is going to be delivered to me from him john. the president said the summit in singapore if it takes place could be the first of perhaps two or three meetings between him and kim jong later secretary pump aoe sidestepped questions

about whether the two sides have the same definition of denuclearization and seemed well aware of the scale of the challenge ahead this is going to be a process that will take days and weeks to work our way through there will be tough moments there will be difficult times i've had some difficult conversations with them as well. they've given right back to me to reporters had been led to believe that these crucial negotiations would only be taking place here at this apartment block in new york but now there is another phase and an unpredictable element president trump himself at the white house general kim is carrying a letter which he will open there from his leader kim james bios al-jazeera new york both north and south korea have agreed to set up a new joint liaison office following high level talks at the demilitarized zone

when hey reports from seoul. while all the attention is on whether the summit between u.s. president donald trump and north korean leader kim jong un will take place on june the twelfth in singapore the flurry of diplomatic activity continues on the korean peninsula on friday there was a high level meeting taking place between representatives of north and south korea that meeting taking place in the divinity tried zone it's a meeting that was supposed to happen just over two weeks ago but north korea with in protest because of military exercises that were taking place at the time between south korea and the united states according to the south korean unification minister who's involved in those discussions these are focused on ensuring i can degrade upon in the two into korean summits will be implemented seamlessly and quickly and all indications are that the discussions have been positive and that the two sides are in agreement on most issues two of the things that they have

highlighted so far that they want to set up a joint liaison office in the case on industrial park in north korea which has been closed for some time and they also want to stage an event a celebration to mark the anniversary of the first into korean summit which took place in the year two thousand that anniversary is coming up on the fifteenth of june and north korea wants that celebration that event to take place in south korea evan resnick is the u.s. foreign policy expert at s. rajaratnam school of international studies at nanyang technological university he says that the thing groundbreaking will come out of the singapore summit even if it goes ahead. the big sticking point is north korea's nuclear arsenal and that arsenal happens to be the sole insurance policy that the kim regime has against a regime change war led by the united states to topple president kim from power so

the likelihood that he is going to give up those weapons under any circumstances irrespective whether he agrees to or not as he has before isis. father grandfather had before not to give them up and so this is going to be largely a p.r. stunt it may lead to negotiations that's good it's better to be talking than to be fighting but the likelihood that there will be real sort of verifiable irreversible nuclear disarmament on the part of north korea's at sea will get a weather update next here on al-jazeera that the u.n. warns of a lack of funding means that it must tell programs to help syrian refugees. and months of emotional debate in argentina head for a climax as the country considers whether to legalize abortion. to phone. to whether sponsored by qatar airways.

hello hail showers hit damascus wednesday and i think briefly thursday as well you can see him disappearing there through syria up into the southern coaxes discreet little cells he's going to carry on going and the back half the systems brought them will tuck down through turkey back due to cyprus i think to the coast of lebanon and syria once more that's probably the next couple of days to be honest in land in iraq in particular is up to forty or forty one rather high degrees is hot where the help and pleasant but thirty one is with thunderstorms in northern iraq particularly in terms run so obviously gap between the two areas of themselves where the hot dry weather isn't extends all the way down through the arabian peninsula which is expected to do we haven't yet got the far east back in somalia there's no signs of tropical depressions the moment is just generally speaking dry and increasingly hot forty two hundred forty seven inland in oman it's

a bit above where it should be to be honest at this time of the year. now there's a big downpours recently in south africa and on its way through the western cape it doesn't look especially wet today every now and again it will kick up a decent shower otherwise it's big open skies the weather sponsored by cattle always. unpack it for us what were you here and what were you saying whether on line horrendous things humans will disturb as i was looking for doubt about that or if you join us on the sacked lot of the major countries in the commonwealth how far bigger fish to fry and chips to eat bass is a dialogue talk to us about some of this success if perhaps everyone has a voice what happens when the robots themselves are making the decisions join the colobus conversation amount is iraq.

again the top stories this hour on al-jazeera the trumpet ministration as opposing tariffs on steel a penny many of imports from the european union canada and mexico u.s. trade partners are threatening to retaliate with tariffs of the road stoking fears of a global trade. the u.s. secretary of state says that he's made great progress in his talks with kim yong troll one of the north korean leaders closest aides it comes as high level meetings between north and south korea resumed in the demilitarized zone. u.n. agencies of war that they'll have to curtail a relief program the syrian refugees unless there's a significant funding boost seven years of war in syria has created the world's

largest refugee crisis it was in the heart of reports was these syrians are some of the millions forced from their homes by war who receive meals from local charities during the holy month of ramadan there are tens of thousands who arrived in the opposition controlled province of idlib in recent weeks with nothing they don't have homes or jobs they are among the seven million syrians who are refugees in their own country and who the united nations says are vulnerable to areas still burning there are pockets of fighting throughout the country seven million people live their homes and they remain displaced the borders are closed people are trapped inside their situation is dire there are millions of syrian children who are not going to school there are people without shelter without water sanitation health coverage food they're fetching for themselves people are moving from one place to another u.n. agencies responsible for humanitarian action in syria are warning of consequences

if they don't receive the funds they need so far the international community has donated less than one third of the five point six billion. dollars required the lack of funding. will have a direct impact on the nutritional status of the people mainly women and children but not only that we've seen the result of food cuts. has an impact on the education which is something is extremely important in this region and we don't want to end up with an all last generation the seventy year war has been particularly hard on our children thousands have been killed tens of thousands disabled some of the displaced attend school in tents many others don't go to school at all and about half of the five point five million refugees in neighboring countries are children. in seven years. close to five hundred fifty thousand. syrian children have been born.

in those countries hosting them past refugee and those host nations countries like jordan and lebanon for example i dealing with their own economic problems and many cases refugees coming and settling in locations that are already poor and impoverished and one of the examples for for lebanon particularly there are two hundred fifty one most affected municipalities that they have identified for the last four or five years without adequate funding for livelihoods and social cohesion sector our ability is the only cover twenty four of those two hundred fifty municipalities the fighting has subsided across the country but the humanitarian crisis remains millions depend on aid to survive and their situation is worsening in the absence of a political solution that. beirut pakistan is swearing in a caretaker government head of elections in late july

a former judge will run the country until after the vote the three main political parties are looking to convince voters that they can improve the economy and create jobs. com takes a look at the contenders. election time in pakistan and the country's big players are preparing for votes and. the last government led by the wash is in disarray as he was forced out of office in july two thousand and seventeen by the anti corruption court who accused him of not disclosing foreign investments he said it was a coup against his government despite that his party is confident of a strong showing the pakistan muslim league n. wants to do well in the province of punjab traditionally its stronghold another big player is the pakistan people's party led by twenty nine year old bhutto he inherited the party leadership after his mother and former prime minister benazir bhutto was assassinated in two thousand and seven the party's popular in the southern sindh province and he hopes a good result there will give his party

a say. stage. then there's imran khan the former cricketer turned politician his party held mass rallies during the government's last term accusing it of corruption and electoral fraud some pundits suggest as pakistan movement for justice party could be in line for a big win this time around. but behind all of this is pakistan's deep state institution the armed forces it is said that without all the support no party can form a government but the army says its role is simply security and stability and given the region bug son is a nuclear test and mentors are all has always been at the stabiliser and to be honest we can say that they have helpful do facilitate create conducive environment peaceful environment for any type of event. for the electorate there are other concerns including the economy jobs and

a young population with few career prospects but those issues affect the urban population in rural areas by far the biggest voting bloc it's often village elders who dictate the float the value of theatre to show these sayings up there diable eldred's these all are the things which matters a lot in bucks county elections and our common water definitely despite what about a promise is given by any political leader in a public good no doubt in a public speech rights all of that may not matter they think the saying off is. but there is another block with increasing influence over the last ten years the religious groups through networks of religious schools those parties can mobilize votes for any political party that they choose given this election is wide open it may well be their support that swings the final result but there are concerns religious parties are intolerant of other minorities and women's rights i want to see pakistan governed by religious law rather than civil war imran khan al-jazeera

. the newly elected. malaysian government to set up a crowd funding accounts to help it repay more than two hundred seventy billion dollars of debts prime minister mahathir mohamad has also outlined a new sales tax to try to help balance the budget that's despite that we just haven't followed through on a key campaign promise to scrap another tax that many voters blamed for a sharp rise in the cost of living the pollen reports now from kuala lumpur. election campaign promises to abolish the deeply unpopular consumer tax are thought to have been an important factor which swayed voters towards the new government and now it's delivering on that promise it would actually be the best thing for the nation if they need people tory speak a day can claim and it just illustrates you find if i look i cannot the g.s.t. was introduced three years ago to offset falls in the price of a major revenue earner oil and gas many businesses were affected every company

would do some mining best will also know they're going to have we saw some of these more software but ultimately. a lot of resources this chinese medicine chain managed to absorb the additional costs but tens of thousands of smaller businesses closed down as the cost of raw materials shot up g.s.t. revenue significantly contributed to the state's coffers the leaders of the new government have a new dilemma how to cut the two hundred seventy two billion dollar national debt which is more than eighty percent of g.d.p. the government set up a fund of into members of the public who are willing to contribute towards the national debt it's a call to action that's being circulated in social media by the government even provided a bank account number so people can donate directly to what's being called fund analysts say more concrete measures are needed to fund the government we have pressed to actually said before you go and you'll be quite challenging for the

government to find. a broader tax system like the g.s.t. because it's a value added tax or a consumption tax so what's very important for the government to actually control its spending while the government is putting in place its own us territory measures to tackle the debt it hopes the current zero tax rate on goods and services will encourage consumer spending to boost the economy street food sellers are promising to pass on the savings to customers who do a good deal i can drop the price of my chicken before we can just be the stock cost more so i try but what's being called a tax honeymoon may be short lived the government's planning and new tax in september. kuala lumpur. nationwide protests in argentina calling for the decriminalization of abortion. for months of nationally broadcast hearing on whether to allow women to terminate a pregnancy within the first fourteen weeks

a congressional committee is to vote on the bill which would then still have to pass both houses of parliament to raise a bow reports now from one of stars. it's the last day of the abortion hearings in argentina and those who want to legalize it demonstrated in congress will ring as always the color green that's become a symbol of the national campaign for free legal and safe abortions a minute. and yet we have been fighting for many years for something like this to happen to separate the state from the church and to the side based on what's better for the country in the past decade we have seen a few reasons for aggressive reform in argentina like gay marriage and sexual education policies but until now abortion has been off the table mainly because of the pressure by the catholic church in the past two months we have seen over seven hundred people coming here to congress to express their views for and against abortion the debate has polarized the country abortion in argentina is legal only

in case of rape or if our woman's life is had risk but it is estimated that four hundred thousand planned the stine abortions are performed every year many women have died most of them are poor the outcome of any vote is by no means certain sure. i have to defend the right to life that is in our constitution and i cannot go against the right to life since conception but if you ask me if you want a woman to go to prison because of an abortion i say no i think we can protect them in a different way if. this public debate has promoted the visibility of a problem and the consequence that has it helps the health ministry and also she'll sectors. to begin talking about sexual education educate about contraception and prevent abortions precedent. is against a change in the law but he allowed the debate defying the pressure from the catholic church. some bishops have been very aggressive with lawmakers where they

have the right those who are planning to vote in favor they generate fear they remain authoritarian but it's because they know they will lose. over the past fifteen years the campaign to legalize abortion has presented six bills on six different locations but no one made it to congress many hope it will be different this time. the issue of land redistribution is a controversial one in south africa the ruling a.n.c. promised twenty two years ago to give black people land that was owned by white farmers but nearly twenty thousand south africans are still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled malcolm webb reports on their fight to right the wrongs of apartheid. he was born here one hundred four years ago his parents worked without pay for a white farmer who grabbed this land near pietermaritzburg in south africa

a few decades before he was born. these stones mark where he buried them in exchange for their labor they were allowed to live here and grow their own food he lived the same way now the current landowners want him to leave. my father was born here i was born here he married my mother here where will i go if they want me to move from this place i'd rather they take a gun and shoot me so at least i can be with my ancestors and die on this land. a nine hundred ninety six law backed by nelson mandela intitled and others like him known as labor tends to own the small plots of land they occupy he applied twenty years ago he still doesn't have to title. lives in this shack he lets in the rain so the land rights organization tried to build him a new home from concrete blocks and the landowners didn't allow it his grandson lives just here on the same plot but if no title is issued before the dies he won't

be able to inherit the land there are tens of thousands of people in similar predicaments waiting since the one nine hundred ninety s. for titles to be issued siyabonga sit while he works for a rights group that's representing nine hundred thousand of their claims for land the whole process is about the liberty that using the portion of land they've always been using so they'd land currently is not useful to land owners anyway so what we are pushing for processing of the clean so did these people can all. the descendants of the white farmers do have titles many owners are reluctant to give up the small plots where the claimants live and many claimants say the government lacks the political will to address the past injustice it's actually not a matter of political will we are now processing their pick asians they are pulled out of the department in the past was that rather than subjecting the people to all of all of that let us rather use alternative ways of securing their tenure if the

outstanding applications are ever processed it may take years. will be around for many more his ancestors shed this land communally all he wants before he dies is to own a tiny part of it malcolm webb al-jazeera near pietermaritzburg south africa rail madrid manager dan has quit the european champions after winning an unprecedented third straight champions league title the frenchman call a surprise news conference on thursday ending a three year managerial career with a spanish club sedan says it felt like the right time to make a change. look at piers. this club needs to keep winning and for that it needs a change after three years it needs a different voice a different working method and that's why i made this decision because i really love the club and also the president who gave me the chance to come as

a player to real madrid the scrape club and for that i'll be forever grateful i mean. i would have liked to have convinced him but i know his character and the only thing that i can do is to offer my love support and recognition and remember although he knows it at this club will always be his family. it is good to have you with us adrian from going here in doha the top stories and i was there the trumpet ministrations imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the european union canada and mexico the u.s. trade partners are threatening to retaliate with tariffs of their own stoking fears of a global trade war. the u.s. secretary of state says that he's made great progress in his talks with kim yong one of the north korean leaders closest aides it comes as both north and south korea agreed to set up a new joint liaison office following high level talks at the demilitarized zone on

friday. our two countries face a pivotal moment in our relationship in which it could be nothing short of tragic to let this opportunity go to waste. in my conversations with chairman kim jong un to be on young and today with vice chairman kim young troll i've been very clear the president trump in the united states objective is very consistent and well known to complete her flyable irreversible denuclearization of the korean peninsula pakistan his swearing in a caretaker government ahead of elections in late july former judge nice little mulk will run the country until after the votes the three main political parties are looking to convince voters that they can grow the economy and create jobs the newly elected malaysian government to set up a crowdfunding account to help it repay more than two hundred seventy billion dollars worth of debt prime minister mahathir mohamad is also outlined a new sales tax to try to help rebalance the budget that's despite only having just

followed through on a key campaign promise to scrap another tax that many voters have blamed for a sharp rise in the cost of living that the nationwide protests in argentina are calling for the decriminalization of abortion and for months of nationally broadcast hearings on whether to allow women to terminate pregnancy within the first forty weeks of aggression or committee is to use those on the bill and rail the dread manager then it in the dan has quit the european champions of the winning and unprecedented third straight champions league title sudan says that it felt like the right time to make a change there's the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera right after the stream next. as the pressure grows we find out what life is like.

the people of gaza talk to. me ok and you're in the street and i'm really could be today we're diving into three stories that are buzzing online beginning in gaza where the largest flare up of violence between hamas and israel since the twenty fourteen puzzled war appears to be over people on social media have been talking about the news using. under attack on wednesday hamas announced that all groups in the gaza strip how did agree to a cease fire with israel the news followed a night of air attacks on choose day by several hamas and islamic jihad positions joining us to talk about face we have how four cities a senior correspondent with al-jazeera english is covering the story for our network. is a student a social media activist in gaza having for raw it's good to have you here.