this is. from berlin tonight the opening salvos in a transatlantic trade more u.s. president donald trump announces punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum imports triggering a promise from europe to respond in kind the move has sent stock markets. also coming off a cyber attack on germany's most sensitive secrets reports say that russian backed

hackers have been stealing data from the defense and foreign ministries since december and that it's still going on. it's good to have you with us tonight a trade war in the offing us president donald trump has announced new tariffs against steel and element imports which he says will be made official next week the plan is to levy a twenty five percent charge on steel and ten percent charge on aluminum a protectionist measures in the dell jones plummeting and drew an immediate response from the european union which said that it will respond with tariffs of its own. steel made in china. athol an internal trump side for months he's threatened to increase tariffs against chinese imports against

european ones too but now the time for talk is over at the end of a meeting with steel and aluminum producers he announced the planned levies we have with us the. biggest steel companies in the united states they used to go bigger. but they got to be a lot bigger again. we have big companies in the united states fairly treated by policy. trade deals by other countries they've been horribly treated by the countries trumps primary target is china due to its massive overproduction of steel and aluminum which drives down global prices flooding markets with cheap products this would affect german metals exporters their industry association calling for the e.u. to strike back with counter measures. and for more on this now i'm joined by our correspondent in washington alexander for a nominee good evening to you alexandra so keeping

a political campaign promise year the european union already announcing retaliatory measures could this lead to a trade war. well absolutely that's what many experts here and even republican senators are warning about warn of and we have to say that of course we can expect countries affected by these measures to fight back not only the european union and china has also already threatens to retaliate and we've seen it in the past for example in the bush era that tariffs. that many countries targets you ask projects you ask experts however we have to say that we don't know yet whether there are not going to be some exemptions for you as allies for example for canada and we are hearing that mexico and that

brazil are trying to negotiate. the granted such exceptions that we know there's been a lot of criticism internationally what about domestically there in the you were what the reaction has been so far. well when we talk about the representatives from the steel and aluminum industries that were invited to dates to the white house though we have to say that they seem to be very happy about the decision hoping that it's going to lead to an increase in domestic production and more jobs but the president is also facing a lot of criticism even from his own party from lawmakers in his own party one senator said for example that he would expect such measures from a leftist administration so a very tough words and the president is also facing a lot of criticism from businesses who use steel because they fear that the

measures the tariffs are going to lead. are going to raise prices in their industries and cost jobs it's interesting i would use the word left is when you're describing a republican president begs the question how easy will it be then for us president wrong to implement these here. while the trauma demonstration says that the president has the authority to impose these chariots. traipse law and the officials are invoking here rarely use and controversial provision of this law that grants to president discretion to restrict imports it's a question of national security and officials are arguing that it's important for the united states to have enough supply for its tanks and warships so that it is a question of national security are watching correspondent alexander phenomenon the

story to alexander thank you. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world catalonia has ousted leader carlist which tomorrow has dropped his bid to again be appointed regional president speaking from brussels he said the move was needed to break a political deadlock between separatist parties in catalonia which demond you may remember is in self-imposed exile in belgium and is wanted in spain for his role in catalonia has failed secession bid supporters of italy's far right party have rallied in rome ahead of national elections on sunday now their leader is similar that is stefano called for the country to abandon the euro and to leave the e.u. anti-fascist protesters staged a counter protest nearby a series of violent clashes between the two groups this past month have put the country on in. european council president has held talks in london with british

prime minister theresa may and wisdom a rejected in the you plan to allow northern ireland to stay in the e.u. customs union after britain leaves the european union is now challenging britain to come up with its own plan to prevent a hard border in ireland after a break. we are learning more tonight about a cyber attack on german government computers lawmakers confirmed today that the attack is not over and go waiting and believe to be in the defense and foreign ministries security agencies reportedly detected the breach back in december and allowed it to continue in a controlled manner while they monitored it but lawmakers were not informed about that until this week a group of links to the russian government is suspected of carrying out the attack . the german government's communication network has been breached by hackers the parliament's secret supervisory body has been informed by the chancellor and

security services and they say it's not over this is an. actual cyber attack on the government's information network and it's ongoing the government has known about this since december it's spent weeks observing the cyber attack to learn more about the hackers activities not even the agency responsible for intelligence services was informed delegates are angry about being left out of the loop. we would all understand if the chancellor's office said it needs to observe a critical issue a little longer. but the fact that no one said anything at all on the contrary means we are once again in a position to learn about such incidents from the media which i think is absurd. parliamentarians agreed the situation is dire. that is not true. this is a large of course although cyber attacks have been around for

a long time the government and i t security in this country aren't geared up toward them off the federal government must act on this now because it's a serious threat. the extent of the hackers infiltration of the german data network is still under investigation classified information does not appear to have been stolen. it's clear what we need to clarify now is whether documents were stolen or did not assume that sensitive documents have really been leaked because it concerns the federal information network it's all about communication there's no sensitive data on any server it's not that simple. there's still speculation about the origin of the attack and how it was carried out some analysts point to indications of russian activities while others warn against premature accusations. of just one attack on germany's integrity is one too many and i don't care where it comes from if it's from russia there's as much to criticize as if it had originated from the

national security agency. lawmakers now want to discuss the details in a moving up the parliament's supervisory body on intelligence over russian president vladimir putin says that his country has tested a new missile that could reach anywhere in the world putin showcased a range of new weapons a short while ago during his annual state of the nation address delivered to top russian lawmakers now he said the united states has abandoned nuclear arms reduction agreements and that russia has been developing the weapons in response and also outlined domestic goals pledging to cut poverty in half over the next six years and to strengthen what he called the country's democratic institution. in poland a new law that makes it a crime to blame the country for aiding in the holocaust has taken effect that's led to a major diplomatic standoff with israel polish and israeli officials met thursday

in jerusalem to discuss a wall it imposes joelson is of up to three years first adjusting polish complicity in nazi crimes the wall has been widely condemned abroad especially in israel where many say it is meant to repress debate and the risks are. for more on this now we want to go to read by marvin here he is head of the simon visa told center in los angeles rabbi here is good to have you on the show tell me what do you think about this law taking effect today. well first of all we are critics of the law and with critics the way they are interpret ing. the second world war history was you may know the simon wiesenthal center just. presented we had in our archive a state department docket written by the state department one nine hundred forty

six state the pa document clearly tells the world why jews are so disappointed in what recently out because that document state that bought and six and the senate is was travelling in poland before the law during the war and after the war it has nothing to do with communism nobody the jewish community says that the concentration camps were polish concentration camps they were nazi concentration camps in poland all right but nobody believes that and the semitism as the polish leaders now present it was a small problem in poland on the contrary it was a prolific problem rabbi here if i could have got that in the documentary talking about my been looking through it and there's been once written about the documents

the jerusalem post for example says that the report says that polish jews were so worried by the post war in time simitis and in poland that many were even fleeing to germany now that says a lot right there do you think the wall that was passed in with into effect today is it an attempt by the polish government to read write history yes i believe so because all they have to say was as follows. we object to anyone calling auschwitz and the other camps polish camps when they were nazi germany's keps that is a very fair criticism i would agree with that but then when they said well of course there were a few poles that were bad just as there were a few jews to a bat that is preposterous that is a lot what it was is

a prevalent and the senate is in all segments of polish society the for the second world war during the second world war and after the second world war yes it was a polish righteous risto lives to save jews we honor them every day you know that doesn't mean you the right history. rabbi here we want to talk more with your unfortunately we're out of time but we certainly appreciate you sharing your time and valuable insights into this new law that has taken place has taken effect today in poland rabbi marvin here joining us tonight from los angeles thank you you thank . and here's a reminder of the top stories that we're following for you u.s. president has announced punitive on imports of steel and aluminum the production has moved in immediate threat from europe to respond in kind it's in the jones.

you're watching news live from berlin for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company will be back at the top of the hour with more world news. they make a commitment. they find solutions. and stronger.