this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the world is seeing the first movements towards a global trade war warns the head of the wto, but he says it can still be avoided. safety is the priority. google‘s waymo launches its new driverless car amid growing concern about the technology. and on the markets, this week is proving to be a roller coaster ride. today we are seeing sharp declines with a sell off in tech shares spooking investors. one of the most important men in international trade has told the bbc that the world is seeing the first movements towards a trade war. but the head of the world trade organisation, roberto azevedo,

also said it wasn't too late to avoid it. in the last week, the leader of the world's biggest economy, us president donald trump, announced tariffs on $60bn of imports from china. that came just a day before a 25% tariff on us steel imports from most countries came into force. there's also a 10% levy on aluminium. china, which is the world's second biggest economy, has drawn up plans tariffs on $3 billion worth of us imports in return. so my colleague stephen sackur asked mr azevedo if he was worried that unilateral actions, like those of the trump administration, could lead to a global trade war. isaid i said that, and there is no reason to ta ke i said that, and there is no reason to take it back. unilateral actions can take us in the direction. you characterise donald trump's actions

as unilateral actions? i do not characterise any one... they know what they are. you are not showing leadership. it does not matter. it does not matter whether you find that a measure is unilateral or not. the fact is when you announce certain types of measures and others deemed those measures are not in compliance and retaliate, that is a problem. the whole thing is a problem. the whole thing is a problem. it is a big problem. i have been saying it for quite some time. it isa been saying it for quite some time. it is a big problem. i do not think anyone believes this is something minor, even in the us administration. the reality is these are ongoing. they are ongoing precisely because people are beginning to understand, i hope, how serious this is, and the kind of impact this could have to be global economy. this is not any more about

the threat of a great global trade war, we are in a global trade war, and we? i do not think we there yet. but the first steps towards it. —— aren't we? what would it take for you to declare that? negotiations are still ongoing. there are announcements. that does not mean we should downplay that. we do not want to be in the war we want to avoid the war. everything that we can do to avoid being in that situation, thatis to avoid being in that situation, that is what we must you doing at this point. despite those ongoing tensions between the united states and china over trade the trump administration seems to have reached a new agreement with another important partner, south korea. our correspondent, laura bicker, is in seoul. do you think it's significant that south korea is the first country to reach a trade agreement with president trump? what can you tell us about this agreement? it looks like president trump's american first trade policy has claimed its first victory. it

seems, and we understand, that seoul has agreed to allow more car manufacturers, more american car manufacturers, more american car manufacturers, to bring their automobiles here to south korea to double that number to around 50,000 ca i’s double that number to around 50,000 cars now allowed to make their way into south korea. there have been limits for a number of years to be us manufacturer is have complained that while hyundai and kia have made inroads into the us, they have not done the same because of environmental safety standards. they will be allowed to bring those cars in. in return, seoul has agreed to limit the amount of steel it will export to the us. it will be about 70% of the average amount of steel exported over the last couple of yea rs. exported over the last couple of years. the limit of those steel exports, allowing cars, and the us secretary has called it a win—win

for both. is it significant south korea is the first to reach this agreement with president trump? sally, you and i are usually discussing politics on this peninsula. and, yes, it probably is significant south korea and the us wa nts significant south korea and the us wants this out of the way ahead of important summits at both the end of this month and potentially at the end of may. remember, south korea is agreeing to meet with kimjong—un by the end of april. and president trump says he will meet with kim jong—un at the end of may. they are looking for a deal on this peninsula, a big deal, on trying to get north korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons. so perhaps these kind of trade—offs, if you excuse the pun, are a way of getting this out of the way before this major political summit, summits, take place. thank you. you can watch more

of the interview with the director—general of the world trade organization on hardtalk. that programme is on ubc world news at the times you should see a new moment on your screen. if you are in the uk you can watch it in full. watch hardtalk on the bbc iplayer. there are growing concerns about the safety of self—driving cars in the united states. that led shares in the chipmaker, nvidia, whose technology is used in the cars to fall sharply in new york. meanwhile, tesla closed down more than 8% after safety regulators said they were investigating a fatal accident involving a tesla car in california last week. the ntsb says its unclear if it was in automated mode at the time. despite this and this month's fatal uber crash the united states is the world's third most prepared country for autonomous vehicles according to the consultancy kpmg. they found that singapore came in at number two and highlighted the readiness of the country's consumers to adopt new technology. but top of the list is the netherlands. it has more than 26,000 electric charging points and the government

is investing in traffic lights which will be able to communicate with cars. so there is still an appetite for technology. and in new york google's self—driving unit waymo has launched it's newjaguar which it's billed is the first self—styled "premium" autonomous car. waymo's chief executive has been telling our correspondent dave lee about his firm's priorities. our focus has always been on safety. it is how we found this project more than nine years ago. during that time we have driven over 5 million miles autonomously on public roads in the us testing it in 25 different cities. we have exercised that

softwa re cities. we have exercised that software on 5 billion miles of stimulations. are you worried about the perception in the wake of what happened to uber? i appreciate it is a different company. but what is driving. we will have to see. our job is to get out there and be as transparent as possible with technology. last fall we published a 40 technology. last fall we published a a0 page says report explaining how we think through aspects of safetyis the founding concept. there will be a transition period where there is a collision between human and autonomous drivers, causing accidents, and inevitably, more deaths. that is something the company understands. that is nothing we as humans should be proud of, what happens on the roads. i do not think we should be happy with that amount. we should say it is not good

enough. there could be more people that lose lives as a result of self driving technology. if you look at the cause of most crashes, 9a% of them are due to human error. what do you hope to achieve by the end of this year? by the end of this year we will have driverless transportation up and running in phoenix. that will be in the public? that is right. there will be no safety driver. how willing will people be to jump safety driver. how willing will people be tojump into safety driver. how willing will people be to jump into a safety driver. how willing will people be tojump into a car without a driver? our experience in phoenix, if that is any indication, a lot of people. more than we would be able to handle, quite frankly. that is what he is hoping. now let's brief you some other business stories. there's another problem for facebook over data privacy. this time its being sued in a california court by three users of the facebook messenger app. they claim their privacy was violated by the social media firm collecting logs of their phone calls and text messages. the three want damages

and class action status. facebook has admitted collecting the data from some users but said it only happened when they opted in. the trial of the man who used to run the chinese insurance and finance giant anbang has begun in shanghai. wu xiaohui was detained injune on charges of "economic crimes." more details of the allegatons are expected to emerge during the trial. anbang is known abroad for its aggressive international acquisitions including new york's landmark waldorf astoria hotel. the government took control of the company in february. a quick look at financial markets. the big losers, tech stocks, down heavily. a big loser is panasonic. it helps make batteries for it helps make tesla. shares in tokyo down almost 6%. the government has announced it wants to introduce a deposit scheme

on drinks containers in england. ministers hope the proposal, which could come into force by the end of the year, will cut plastic waste and increase recycling. a similar scheme is already running in norway. our environment analyst, roger harrabin, has all the details. here is a global problem, plastic everywhere in the oceans. the amount of floating garbage could triple if we do not hold the flow. here is the uk's answer. a deposit return scheme which makes people think twice before chucking the bottle or can in the gutter. in this return scheme we filmed filmed in norway, you take the empty bottle back to the shop, you the empty bottle back to the shop, y°u p0p the empty bottle back to the shop, you pop it into a machine that identifies it, then gives you a coupon to spend. we are absolutely committed to dealing with the tide of plastic in our oceans. the only

way to deal with it effectively is acting on many fronts. we should have a deposit return scheme to make sure bottles which contributes so much to what we litter, and in the countryside as well, is this effective deposit scheme. since they have put in a 5p charge on plastic bags, it has dropped significantly. full details of the scheme will be worked out later in the year. roger harrabin, bbc news. the high court will rule this morning on a legal challenge against the parole board's decision to grant the release of the serial sex offender, john worboys. their ruling follows a two—day hearing earlier this month during which lawyers for two women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, argued that the parole board's should have taken into account "critical evidence" of the "wider allegations" against worboys. police believe he committed 105 crimes against women before he was arrested in 2008. this is the briefing from bbc news.

the latest headlines: the north korean leader, kimjong—un, has met the chinese president, xijingping, in beijing. in remarks quoted by china's state news agency mr kim said pyongyang was committed to de—nuclearisation on the korean peninsula. the first funerals are taking place for those who lost their lives in the shopping centre fire in the russian city of kemerovo. officials say 6a people died in the fire on sunday, many of them children. a national memorial service in honour of the police commander who swapped places with a hostage during an attack by an islamist gunman in southern france last week will take place in paris in a few hours.

the head of the wto warns that the world is seeing the first movements towards a global trade war, but he says it can still be avoided. some of the stories in more detail. how is the media digesting some of the headlines? we begin with the front page of the financial times covering the story about kim jong—un travelling to beijing this week under a shroud of secrecy in his first foreign trip since succeeding his father as dictator six years ago. and onto the independent now, where a report has found that firefighters did not respond to the terrible attack in manchester for two hours forfear a gunman could be on the loose. the times looks at shoppers — they will be

charged every time they buy drinks cans and bottles in a bid to tackle litter and boost recyling. and an interesting piece in the new york times, which looks at — ever fancied living in a drainpipe? well it's being considered in hong kong to help solve the housing crisis. and finally the seattle times, where they're talking about a report by scientists who've discovered that rubber ducks are not the innocent toy they seem! all will be explained. with me is mark davies — ceo strategy consultancy, good to have you here.