it was a week dominated by trade and the relationships that go with this in europe officials try to quell fears of a brewing trade war with the united states i think there are good reasons which both sides. we'll at the end of the day accept that we don't need we don't want a trade war instead we should concentrate on improving trading conditions between the two trading folks like minded continents for years the u.s. and the e.u. have been trading goods with relatively little discussion taking place about the fairness of the rules governing the relationship that change with the arrival of donald trump and his decision to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports claiming that existing trade agreements were unfairly stacked against the u.s.

so does he have a case let's take a look at the numbers about a quarter of the goods the u.s. exports to the e.u. are tax free but it's a different story in the other direction with almost half of the e.u. products sent to the u.s. tax free. on average the e.u. levies just over five percent on american goods the u.s. on the other hand levies just three point five percent iva officials say they accept trump's concerns but say the focus must remain on dialogue and the president's. view of. tolerance between the e.u. will do us. i can understand if. we are. that is the reason why if you go we start the trade negotiations this is we should go back to the talks not. make trace this the president.

despite the conciliatory tone the european commission is a ready preparing a stash of countermeasure as it's called on industry insiders to comment on a list of u.s. products that could be subjected to tariffs in response. to. all this talk of tariffs is causing a lot of concern in the southwestern german town of dealing in which has a three hundred year history with steel over five thousand people work at the steel mill and now many of them are worried about their jobs trumps tyrus would have real world consequences here the mills parent company delivers many components to money factories in the u.s. . from school software or trumps tariffs are a big mistake. exports a lot to the u.s. he's going to have second thoughts about all of this being. more about going. in what it's not ok you can't make any progress with him diplomatically address took measures are needed you have to do to him what he's doing to us then we'll get

a better deal. business leaders employee representatives and some politicians are among those calling for economic reprisals but the european commission vice president france to months says such measures should only be considered as a last resort. on the food we want to make sure tariffs are put in place we want things to stay as they are there's no reason to introduce tariffs that's our position. for the people of dealing in this is not simply a war of words they fear the ongoing dispute over steel tariffs could put their livelihoods are risk. and staying with the issue of trade the united states is said to be considering imposing import tariffs worth tens of billions of dollars on a range of chinese goods the move is part of trump's attempt to reduce his country's trade deficit with the world's second largest economy u.s.

officials have long accused beijing of promoting overcapacity in the metal sector and forcing foreign companies to surrender proprietary technology as a condition of operating in the country china has voted to retaliate in the event of a trade war. for expiring had reason to celebrate this week after the news that net profits had more than doubled in twenty seventeen compared to the year before. that in spite of the fallout from the diesel emissions scandal the world's largest car maker is hoping to divert some of its more than an eleven billion euro profit into a large scale investment in electro mobility it's aiming to produce electric cars at sixteen factories by twenty twenty two at present v.w. operates only three production sites of this kind. germany's energy sector could be in for a shake up with r w e planning a massive swap with its rival eon under the proposal young will take over

a large stake in r. w. e's renewable energy subsidiary in okey the deal which still needs regulatory approval is the latest step in germany's transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables siemens has raised four point two billion euros with the debut of its health technology business on the frankfurt stock exchange the market launch was one of germany's biggest in recent years but still fell short of expectations the flotation is part of the company's attempt to become more flexible as market conditions change. oh this week also saw some three hundred shepherds come to the german capital to try to save their century's old way of life. they're demanding subsidies but shepherds in other european union countries are already guess the labor union representing germany's thousand art shepherd says the country's total flock has declined by

a third since twenty ten to just over a million sheep. he's the new man in charge man. during his time as finance minister sure but became known for his fierce fiscal discipline his ability to save billions of euros and balance germany's budget for the first time since nine hundred sixty nine but his thrifty policies also attracted a wealth of criticism and sparked tension within the coalition government choice as hardline stance on the stairs teacher in the eurozone financial crisis was heavily criticized especially in greece but years later the greek economy does appear to be recovering and schauble is taking the credit for us to buy stuff you know this is over we're going to hear just after this you will this is proof that our policy to stabilize the euro has been a success. and that we've managed after eight years of crisis in the eurozone and

despite some doubts to keep the euro stable so it's quite a good conclusion for me here and. now it's all of shorts as turn one thing he's already revealed is that he'd like to keep that balanced budget by his predecessor. now to a look at russia's economy on the part military spending plays in this this engine production plant in the russian city of specializes in military machinery among its most important customers is the russian government and it has the money the economy grew by one point five percent last year. russia's economic growth is mostly down to the recovery in the global economy and the associated recovery in the price of commodities like oil and natural gas russia is heavily reliant on income from oil and gas forty to fifty percent of that flows directly into russian government coffers it earns

a lot more from the sale of commodities than it does from tax. some of that money is spent on military hardware over the past few years russian military spending has climbed significantly but experts say that moscow's intervention in syria's civil war doesn't account for much of the total expenditure . if you look at the amount of fuel consumed to estimate the cost of stuff and the cost of aircraft carrier deployment we come to around three billion euros that's about two percent of the defense budget over the last three years and it's a pretty that's. when russian president vladimir putin visited the plant back in january he encouraged companies to diversify their products not present the military hardware is not just for forces but also being exported to china and latin america and also outlined plans to make more nonmilitary products such as power station turbines. at some stage defense orders will have peaked and will have to

ensure that these companies remain busy and that these modern plants are used to their full capacity. economists say the country has recovered from the sanctions imposed after the annexation of crimea and a two percent inflation is at its lowest point since the collapse of the soviet union. finally we head to south paolo which played host to the world economic forum on latin america this week but the swish looking high rises can't conceal an uglier reality in the past four years brazil has experienced its worst economic crisis since world war two one in four families have been affected by unemployment and rising inequality has left many people behind campaigners say the government needs to act to protect those up the bottom. we need much deeper investments

in education in our health system in public security we need the reform of the state so we need of these are. the ones that are exploded today. unsurprisingly brazil's economic and political situation was high on the agenda. at the world economic forum on latin america. the country's president michel the mayor maintains his country is on the right track. the brazilian government is taking all the necessary measures to ensure the country returns to solid growth. the economy has in fact been on an upward trend over the past few months at fox logon to brazil bosses have been increasing the number of shifts on offer in january and february of this year the company sold thirty seven percent more cars than in the same period last year

inflation has come down and it's become easier to get loans. skyrocketing it's when you look at the graphic it's like a b because she came sharply down over the last couple years and no sharply coming up a new field in the traffic in the showrooms. is planning to invest one point seven billion euros in brazil by twenty twenty it's the biggest investment in v.w. to brazil sixty five year history and other companies are following suit this year the economy is expected to grow by around two percent but experts say that if that growth is to be sustainable it needs to be felt by everyone not just those at the top and that wraps up this week's business update join us again next time.

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