this is. from berlin tonight in the tree terror standoff between china and the west who will blink first now with a piggy bank that everybody steals from including china we've been paying china five hundred billion dollars a year for the trump ratcheted up the rhetoric as his deadline looms for china to reach a trade deal or face new tariffs trying to threatens to retaliate if that happens tariff of twenty five percent on two hundred billion dollars of chinese goods take effect tonight at midnight in washington time also coming up international tensions

surges over the nuclear deal as u.s. leaders or rather reject tehran's threat partly pull out of the deal and the islamic republic contemplates harsh new sanctions against it as the u.s. increases the pressure. i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us tonight in washington they are looking over the cliff edge u.s. president donald trump is threatening to impose tariffs on two hundred billion dollars worth of chinese goods beginning at midnight tonight washington time china has a delegation in washington talking with the u.s. trade team but the chinese government back home in beijing is threatening to retaliate if the tariffs go ahead trump is playing it cool he says that he received to be. uta full letter from the chinese president today saying point let's work

together i'll probably speak to him by phone he says but tonight he renewed his complaint that china has been taking advantage of the u.s. in a way the piggy bank that everybody steals from including china we've been paying china five hundred billion dollars a year for many many years china rebuilt their country because of us they couldn't have done what they're doing they're building a ship every three weeks to building aircraft like you've never seen fighter jets i respect it i don't blame them i blame our past leadership for allowing this static what i'm doing now with china should have happened many years ago not just obama long before obama or the president speaking bear earlier today for more on this story i'm joined now here at the big table by my colleague damali on she's from

d.w. business desk and from washington our correspondent sal it's all over let me start with you what is donald trump's strategy as we move closer to this midnight deadline. well donald trump is certainly trying to raise the pressure on the chinese negotiators at this point he wants these negotiations finished and he needs a success story right now you have to understand that donald trump is under a lot of pressure domestically right now mostly because of the fall of the malo reports his attorney general was just held contempt yesterday by the judiciary committee there is still this overarching question of struction of justice and so what he is usually doing is he's pointing out to the good economic data of the u.s. economy which is good in fact but it's also at stake at this point and that is basically caused by this ongoing uncertainty because of the ongoing negotiations with china and by the way this also has

a negative impact on the global economy and so he said look if there is no negotiation if there's no agreement until midnight friday we're going to raise these already existing tariffs to twenty five percent and affecting goods worth two hundred billion dollars and at the moment this is very likely to happen it's probably going to happen what does that mean didn't for china and for the global economy well it doesn't mean anything good when the world's two biggest economies are engaged in a protracted trade conflict if one or both of these economies as he sustained slow down then what you have is a weakened a key market for the rest of the world to exports but of course china will bear the brunt of these negative effects it said it will retaliate but not how it's the problem is that its options are limited and they all have the potential to backfire now it could respond with retaliatory tariffs but china of course exports more than the us so it might not be a big enough threat to leverage alternative turned of lee or additionally it could

encourage chinese consumers to boycott american products but that could just and up hurting chinese workers who for example assemble american i phones or make american cars but you know china stands to suffer the most but if china catches a cold. the world economy catches a cold. it's a cliche but it's unfortunately true is true you do you was at this point definitely does have the leverage in these niggas you go is there any chance that you will back off well a terrorist would go off. on those just a couple hours from now and so the big question is not of the whole trump will back all the hopes are in fact that the chinese negotiators would offer some major concessions to the american sides because hardly anyone here in the united states want these terrorism fact there's been a lot of criticism many say that these tariffs would harm american businesses the

head of the national retail federation for instance has expressed clear criticism over the tariffs but they would also affect consumers the prices of consumer electronic us genelle mention would go up as a result of these terrorist also other goods like luggage and seafood will become more expensive so american businesses and consumers are bracing for these tariffs and it's very unlikely that the u.s. administration will back off from this plan unless there will be major concessions from the chinese side or the respond in washington over salads if you were in berlin you know. the you. well u.s. trade sanctions are also on the minds of european union leaders but this time it's u.s. sanctions against iran e.u. leaders have urged the islamic republic to stand by its commitments under the nuclear deal which was agreed with world powers back in twenty fifteen the u.s.

withdrew from the deal a year ago and iran is now threatening to abandon it unless the other signatories of the european signatories provide quick relief from u.s. sanctions. it was supposed to be the post breaks it summit shaping the e.u. future without britain well the u.k. may not yet be out it did not attend the talks a welcome respite from bracks it deadlocked but another topic overshadowed the proceedings iran's threat to have banned and the nuclear deal signed with world powers in twenty fifteen e.u. leaders of tehran to think again for the ones that will be he got us here it's now even more important that europe shows a united front. we do not want an escalation but we want to keep using diplomatic tools. we know our limitations but we all agree that the more united europe is the better the chance we have of using dialogue to find possible solutions for. the

sagal so that it is. being united on all fronts was exactly what the e.u. leaders wanted to convey they swiftly signed a ten point blueprint for the blocks future vowing to work together through thick and thin i can state one thing with concrete. their leaders have got to go directly demonstrate that that they want to take full political with both ability not only for fingal event challenges but for the european union as a whole. fine i'm bishan is indeed but no concrete decisions can be taken until after the upcoming european elections and they may well highlight a europe riven by division over what its future should look like. yeah see if there is victory for those who want less europe if in tomorrow's european

parliament no majority is possible with the nationalists and extremists then it is clear that we will have less syrup and we will be weaker for being disunited as the e.u. prepares to wave goodbye to its current parliament its member states are more divided than the smiles convey up next is a tussle over new picks for the e.u.'s top officials at a special summit at the end of may. are joining me now from that summit in romania is our very own georg mata's can even say you're gay or good so we know that e.u. leaders they are right for this summit to talk about the future of the e.u. maybe post bright what are the biggest challenges that they're facing. i tell you what brand leaders today were a challenge short and that is the torture is topic off brags that that it has been tracking its heels of here if you want here on many summits and so today they really had time to look into the future it took them

a mere one minutes to sign the so-called cvo declaration a list of ten commitments that either leaders. one stuka can convey to you that ideas and aspirations of how do you should be run by michael summed it up quite neatly when she said the e.u. should be more inoperative they should work closer together they should be more united and they should be stronger now fair words that all leaders basically signed up to but when you give it the reality check there is a lot of things where the solidarity is lacking for instance the migration crisis the environment eurozone reform the monetary union of the european union that is that desperately needs reform and it is my call the french leader who is pressing for change who who has a vision of how things should change but he is just lacking the support of the european union also saying that it remains committed to the iran nuclear deal how

much power does the e.u. have right now there to keep that deal alive. well the move by the iranians clearly expose us that the lack of power here on the european side because the dilemma they face is they would like to encourage business to continue with iran but it is businesses across europe that are afraid to trade with iran and seeing that they are facing fear sanctions from the u.s. if they do so in the mechanism that the u.s. develops only applies to a food supplies and food trade with with iran it's just not enough and so that is why e.u. leaders are focusing on a so-called deescalation strategy both angle america and the french president emphasized they do not want to escalate things so diplomacy is the way forward but nothing more they can offer are other gail martis at that you summit in romania get your thank you. well here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines

around the world north korea has fired two suspected short range missiles into the sea their second weapons launch in a week north korean leader kim jong un defended the actions which happened earlier this week as a regular military exercise hours after the second missile firing the u.s. seized a north korean cargo ship it said was used to transport coal in violation of sanctions on the country brazil's former president michel has surrendered to the country's federal police on charges that he led a high level embezzlement and money laundering scam well that came after a court reversed an earlier judgment that had set him free more than one hundred fifty people have been convicted and hundreds more charged in the corruption scandal known as operation car wash. francis has issued a groundbreaking new law requiring all catholic priests and nuns to report clerical sexual abuse and cover ups the papal degree covers abuse of children in adults and

it sets up systems for reporting abuse and protecting whistleblowers. but every now and then each priest are no obligated to report sexual abuse and they're required to inform church authorities if they suspect abuse this is but one of many steps pope francis is planning to implement in his attempt to combat this problem. it's very important to now have unified and universal standards for the church in the past countries have taken different approaches now it said procedures have been set time limits have been set it's an important step not the first but also not the last the new church law requires that all dioceses around the world have a system in place for victims to report abuse by two thousand and twenty all types of abuse must be prosecuted in the protected and investigations completed within ninety days while victims groups support the law many feel it doesn't go far enough for. one question remains. namely how reports of abuse will be passed on to

prosecute says the pope's law does not make its obligatory to report to all work with the oath or it is and at least here in germany is the police and for state prosecutors who are responsible for investigating and soviet such crimes and he sent. the following the vatican's abuse conference in february critics demanded a hard line against abuse in the catholic church the new church law comes into effect on june first but it only runs for three years acts of arson tuesdays now world number one the fact djokovic has eased into the quarter finals of the madrid open djokovic beat jeremy chardy in straight sets six one seven six he's now beating the frenchman in all thirteen of their meetings without having dropped a set djokovic is stepping up his preparations on clay as he bids to win a fourth grand slam title in a row at the french open later this month and joining djokovic in the last eight is roger federer the swiss survived two match points to beat france's gilman feels

despite the wobble federer stood his ground and dominated the deciding tie break to seal a six no four six seven six victory. you're watching news live from berlin up next a special program face the voters members of the european parliament answer questions put to them directly by you the voter stick around for the. shifting powers the old order is history the world is real uniting itself and the media's role is keep the topic in focus of the global media forum twenty nine teams today one out of two people is online who are we following who do we trust to beijing and shape the future at the touch of a global media for twenty five change. how a well can do this especially.