this is d. w. he was a line from berlin steel producers sharpen their rhetoric in donald trump's brewing trade war the i.m.f. says his proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are bad for the world economy and for the u.s. where stocks are sinking we'll get the latest on the fallout also coming up germany's social democrats decide whether to team up again with chancellor anglo-american conservatives accounting for under way after thousands of party members cast their votes with the results due tomorrow so will germany finally get

a government or could this be the start of a political crisis. and in the business league snowy weekend of action it's two clubs on the rise from the bottom of the league and two clubs trying to cling to spot near the top. hello and welcome to the program i'm mary in evanston it's good to have you with us the international monetary fund has joined the chorus of criticism aimed at u.s. president donald trump's plan to impose painful new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports the i.m.f. said trump risks not only harming global economies but the u.s. economy itself canada brazil and japan have all threatened economic reprisals but that hasn't stopped the president from ramping up his rhetoric. its donald against

the world at a meeting with american steel companies the us president defied global concerns deciding to impose punitive tariffs on imported steel and aluminum propping up his own country's industry. very unfairly treated by bad policy by bad trade deals by other countries horribly treated by countries trump is confident he could win a trade war he defended the tariffs citing national security european union leaders have been taken aback by the move you can't treat as as. that's a threat to national security when we have allies we cooperate in nato and the problem on the steel is related to the production in other countries than in the u. . europe is concerned that cheap chinese steel will no longer be sold to the u.s. and could increasingly flood the european market that's why brussels is thinking

about countermeasures. because of. jobs in europe will be lost due to the american measures and you cannot simply look on without doing anything we need to take measures from house size this is all highly regrettable we never set out to stacia tried wards. of the e.u. is expected to hit america where it hurts there could possibly be tariffs on harley davidsons from wisconsin whiskey from tennessee and bourbon from kentucky all three states are home to influential republican politicians and trump supporters. all right for more on all this i'm joined now by lars halter from business ag good to see you lars so tell us why has donald trump decided to impose these tariffs now or course is why has he decided to do that at all it has been of course a big topic for him from the first day of his campaign that he feels that the u.s.

is treated unfairly by other countries in global trade it's been an appalls line for people who are if you want to say that honestly do not think things through because obviously it isn't a problem as lying to say we want to make our industry stronger we want to help our steel industry but the matters more complicated the question why is he doing this now well i would say the white house is in crisis as a lot of things going wrong for donald trump right now and i guess this is a good way for him to just throw in a new topic gain some momentum get ahead of the news cycle so that's probably the only thing that is behind the timing right now i'll tell me you mention it sounds like a good idea and is there is support in the u.s. for these measures not all the only support he has right now is really literally from the steel and the aluminum industry of course they like it those companies of course are being helped with this but they're relatively small companies if you

compare them to the size of the entire economy now you're helping the steel companies and the movement of companies that have a ball maybe eighty thousand employees but you're hurting the automotive sector which is way bigger you're hurting the beverage sector the plain make us look at beverages the beer companies alone the breweries alone are facing higher costs for only the aluminum in their cans of both three hundred fifty million dollars throw in the coke companies that all these things there's a lot of cost added to other companies and of course they're not supporting this but aside from the. the business side of course he also has no support on the political side a lot of people in the republican party have urged the president to reconsider and not follow through with that and pretty much every economist has said the same we're also hearing of course a lot of condemnation from some of the united states' main trading partners and now in many of these countries have threatened some countermeasures we measure and

mention in our report the e.u. saying it may slap tariffs on american jeans our harley davidson motorcycles what kind of an economic impact would that have are we going to see a global trade war was this two questions really the impact of conversations against the let's say harley davidsons and jack daniels whiskey is so we're talking about a considerable amount of money here there's about two hundred thousand harley davidson motorcycles in germany there's maybe a million in the e.u. so yes we are talking about a lot of money i don't know a whole much bourbon is a drunk by europeans i like it personally. we're talking about money here but these countermeasures are actually not about money they are purely political it was said in the report harley davidson is from milwaukee wisconsin which is the home state of paul ryan the house speaker of course and bourbon from kentucky that is the home state of senate majority leader mitch mcconnell so this is targeted specifically politically to the states of two very influential politicians who the e.u.

of course hopes will convince president trump to reconsider these measures trump himself tweeted that he thinks trade wars are good and easy for the u.s. to win is he right you know that's nonsense of course a trade war is never good and no economist says they are they make things more expensive of course that's the easiest thing to see but of course donald trump is not taking into account how intertwined global supply chains are what costs are involved there how complicated this matter is. as holder from do business thank you so much welcome. now to some of the other stories making news around the world and telly and political parties have been making their final appeals to voters with the country set to vote in general elections on sunday comedian populous five star movement and the far right. who are among those holding final rallies campaigns been dominated by the debate over immigration the world's biggest investment firm

is adding to the pressure on us gun makers following the parklane school shooting black rock wants weapons manufacturers to say if they require retailers to do background checks on gun buyers it's the largest shareholder in some of america's biggest gun makers and has not been active on the issue in the past at least eight people are confirmed dead after a twin attack in burkina faso as capital ouagadougou islamic extremists targeted the french embassy and the military headquarters with gunfire and explosives the government is calling the attack an act of terrorism. the u.s. east coast has been battered by hurricane strength storm leaving five people dead high winds and rain brought down trees while heavy snow hit areas further north the u.s. weather service says the storm system is now weakening and conditions are set to improve. now five months since elections in germany it's

almost time for the moment of truth members of the center left social democrats have voted on whether or not to enter a new grand coalition with on the americans conservatives and the result is due tomorrow it's a decision that pits the party's old guard who wants to belittle against its strong youth wing who are calling for change if s.p.d. members block the coalition deal miracle could run out of options and germans could be heading back to the polls. a tense calm hangs over by lynn's governmental district. germany is waiting to learn whether the social democrat party base will agree to another ground coalition with anglo-american in the chancellor e. . if b.s.p. dean says yes this weekend could simply pass without any grave consequences to germany's political setup but if it says no this has the potential to send the

country into political freefall and along with it german chancellor angela merkel. macko has certainly done her bit to avoid that outcome she convinced her c.d.u. parties to back the coalition despite the feeling that she gave away too many key ministries to save for a second attempt at forming a government. if you. can. we all fought hard and we're all disappointed and yes i too feel the pain of losing the finance ministry it's not. that disappointment has dented macro's authority as party leader mended for now by allowing in the party critics more of a say germany's political future right now lies in the hands of mac also opponents the vote count at the s.p.d.

headquarters in berlin is expected to be close after all party members are being asked to vote for the very option ruled out on the night of election defeat another coalition with the s.p. diaz angola macros junior partner that promise now haunts the woman destined to take over at the helm of the p.d. and they are now less sums up the hours that lie ahead. you know followed by noon or yes we feel the suspense and i would say we're about to reintroduce stability you have you don't noise debilitated. most lawmakers are also struggling to find the word to sum up the i mean. when he decided to say one word of optimistic it's up to the s.p.d. and if it fails and we all have to be brave. the sun will set one

more time behind balanced chance rebuilding before germany finds out whether this weekend will simply pass or whether the country faces a brave new era of ongoing political uncertainty. and some soccer news now and match day twenty five for the bundesliga kicked off on friday night with two clubs on the upswing braman visiting a snowy mentioned and the hosts stormed to a first half lead then there's the car yo with the opener on the way to a two male bloodbath lead braman fast all the way back to your instant equaliser left a two two draw. now a major decision for the future of soccer is expected today from the sport's rule makers the international football association board will determine whether to

approve the use of video technology the instant replays that help referees make key rulings. some believe it makes things fairer others but it's killing the flow of the game. i football's policy makers are deciding whether video assistant refereeing is a technology worth sticking with whichever way it rules the i.f.a.b. decision is set to have a fundamental effect on the beautiful game if positive russia twenty eight team will become the first world cup to use v.a.r. and some of football's biggest figures believe it's time to bring football into a new era i think it is absolutely normal that in two thousand and eighteen we can explore and see how we can help the referee and the team to take the right decision the correct decision. but correct decisions haven't always been straightforward even with the technology i honestly get trials have been a mixed bag with

a number of decisions questioned by players and clubs out the to. come for me there wasn't a goal the fall wasn't given and secondly you're already blown his whistle before the ball had crossed the line. despite a lack of transparency evidence suggests v.a.r. helps to lower the number of incorrect decisions but with officials from troy league still struggling with the technology the i.f.a.b. has a big decision to make before the world cup kicks off in june. if it chooses to back v.a.r. fans will need reassurance that match flow and integrity will be protected. there's a new athlete laying claim to the title world's fastest woman mariella who are a of the ivory coast the thirty year old blasted out of her blocks at the world indoor athletics championship in england and lead a one to finish for her country in the sixty meter sprint olympic gold medal

sprinter elaine thompson of jamaica finished fourth. thank you up to date now on d w news will be back again at the top of the hour i'm mary in evanston from all of us here in berlin and thanks for watching. we make up oh but we watch as all of the end of the two types we are several services. being one to shape the continent's future to be part of it and join the dumpster's as they share their stories their dreams and their challenges of the seventy seven percent platform for chart.