and the war and ukraine is made, getting goods between europe and asia even more difficult will get a rail. ruth, it's still running for now. the lord, welcome to the show. i'm seeing busy in berlin. retail sales and factory output in china slumped a 2 year lows in april, while unemployment climb to to your highs. the new figures show the growing economic damage wrought by the countries ongoing coven, 19 locked downs. retail sales in china falling more than 11 percent for the month. that's year on year. a drop last seen at the outbreak of the pandemic. industrial production, meanwhile, fell about 3 percent. unemployment reached more than 6 percent in urban areas. dozens of chinese cities remain in tight lockdown, including the world's largest port city, shanghai. i my colleagues for tune and joins me in studio for more. clifford, how unexpected are expected were these numbers? well they're, they're certainly surprising and they're worse than the forecasts had predicted.

but at the same time, what's really surprising, i think, is just the extent, you know, the, the depth of the slow down. it was obviously partially because it is largely because of the lock down in the, in the major cities. but it's hit retail sales which were which the government has long relied on to to problem the economy. things like passenger car sales at around 47 percent. and then and that sort of feeds into other areas. for example, you know, the passengers, the car sales falling so much that accounts for so many jobs. so we have this problem with on employment as well. rising. and the figures are the worst and 2 years. but when you think about it 2 years ago was also pandemic relations. you know, so really, these are, these are the worst in, since they've been records in china, particularly because unemployment age is quite recent in china. so we're looking at all sectors of the economy struggling from this, and it's, it's prompting a lot of questions about the depth of the economy. one of the questions is prompting is what does it mean for western business? so many of them, you know, relying on cities like sion, gen, shanghai,

to either manufacturer to ship to both. i mean, what does it mean for them? are they reconsidering what they're doing in china? absolutely, i mean, i give an example. there's a lot of does a lot of foreign teachers in china for example, and one of the head masters of one of the most prominent of foreign schools in china. just left. but he didn't do that. what i'm saying, anything, because he didn't think you'd be able to get out to lockdown that had a huge impact on people. and it's caused quite a scandal in china, and it's not unusual. a lot of people, foreigners working in china and our worried because the level of micro management that's going on with the lock down is incredible. and it means that if you're trying to high higher foreigners and china still needs foreign talent to keep keep economic growth going. it's becoming a real challenge is the government's almost more inscrutable in some ways. you don't know what to lock down is coming. you know? no, if you're going to build a move around to do business. exactly, and it shows up. i mean, i think it, in some ways this is she's in pings churchill moment he's treating it like a, like

a war on coven standing ground. exactly. and which means you've been very, very rigid and the level of micro manager is incredible. people, you know, every 3 days get a knock on the door and you're forced to take a test, you know, and this is, this is proving a real problem. and what's the domestic support for that line? no, with in china. i mean, is there disagreement with this hard hard line? you're seeing economic numbers just plummet like this? well, i think this is going to be the factor. it's going to really hit support for the government because they're thinking because on the car isn't as bad as other variance. there's increasingly allowed to, to satisfaction about this. there's a lot of censorship on trying to stop it. is this a phase when we look at all micron and we know the pandemic isn't necessarily a phase, but this beijing see this, perhaps the phase wants to get through this. they'll just turn the economy back on . you know, this is, i think there is a feeling that you can turn it on and off. and this is going to be obviously a test of that. i think, to a certain extent, they can, you know, because foreign companies are still deeply embedded there. you know, with the supply chain and i'm going to be in vietnam or they,

these countries just don't have the infrastructure, the john house, they don't have the scale that china and india isn't there. yes. you know another possibility. so i think people are still going to be in china, but i think i think the thinking about china has changed even in germany where it, which is always, which is very, very involved, heavily invested in china, is also now looking at things like we saw volkswagen recently is looking at quite closely at the united states america. that's right. no. so people are thinking, it's less is less of a sort of a, a focus on china that to was so ultimately it, they will, the economy will come back, but maybe in a different way. all right, my colleague did businesses, clifford coon and thank you very much. and we go now to some of the other global business stories making headlines. we prices continue to rise after india impose to ban on exports, the world's 2nd largest weak producer after china had filled a gap in markets,

left by falling output from ukraine, but halted exports after domestic inflation search to its highest level in 8 years . on the back of rising food prices and rising prices have germans on edge. according to a new survey, high inflation is the main worry for consumers even topping the war in the ukraine and the pandemic. a 3rd of all survey respondents said they were afraid they'll have to adjust their lifestyles to save money. the european commission has lowered expectations for the blocks economy. it forecasts growth in the u and the euro's when at 2.7 percent this year. that's down from the previously anticipated 4 percent. inflation, meanwhile, is expected to hit above 6 percent this year. that's driven largely by energy costs for falling next year to under 3 percent. brussels and washington will set up an early warning system to detect semiconductor shortages. that decision coming out of the 2nd e u, u. s. trade and technology council summit in paris. it began yesterday. the 2 sides

also agreed to encourage companies a to set up ship production of both economies. the coordinate activities and track state subsidies that could till the competitive balance. officials are also planning joint measures against cyber attacks, especially from russia and china. the u. s. and e. you created the counsel at the advent of the, by the administration, seeing it, seeing it as a kind of vehicle for closer cooperation after especially devise a period under u. s. president. trump, of the warrant crane has made it even more important a correspond in paris when you found a car caught up with you competition commissioner margaret for stocker at the summit was what she said. commission of a sam, thank you for joining us. the eel us tweet and technology council is meeting for the 2nd time. it comes almost 3 months off to the russian invasion of ukraine. how has the war changed the councils? by oddities, the war has changed europe, but it is also changed the world. ah,

now we have the food food i a crisis i, in many countries, people see food in very short supply. so every one is also realizing that these are global matters. so the trade and technology council, of course, focuses on supply change on a how information is being used, a weaponized around the planet. what can we do together? even more having seen the russian aggression in what areas does the trade in technology council plan to target russian creed and technology? well, i think what we have done in the sanctions ah, are very effective, are on ground to both when he comes to the entities use for many population f, a propaganda likes with megan russia to day. and also when it comes to disabling, ah, the delivery of spare parts, ah, ah, i p protected i thames on that the sanctions i fictive. and then of course,

for ourselves to be better at the work we do on a semi conductors to fully support understand, why did we have the shortage to work together for the future to make sure that we remain strong? because i think that's a main task in the do politics of to day. that like minded partners, that we work much closer together than what we have done before. many of the initiatives of the trade and technology counseling were initially directed at china is the trade and technology council targeting china. i don't, i don't think it should be an antique china counsel. ah, we try to push quite a i think a nuanced ah, relationship with china is a systemic rival because we are strong. democracies is an economic competitor. but is also a partner. for instance, in fighting climate change. we cannot fight climate change without having china on board. and i think it's important to,

to respect these different sides of the relationship. while at the same time taking the opportunity to make europe stronger. and we can be much stronger in particular when we partner up with like minded or 80 dobies pairs correspondence on your phone, a car, they're interviewing the e. you competition kamisha, margaret for stagger russia's war in ukraine. is there a massive ranch into the movements and goods of goods and supplies around the world from bombarded ports to close airspace? the hurdles facing logistics companies are significant. one roof, it still seems to be working, is a rail route connecting europe and china. at the moment cargo ships are having to make long detours brush and ports are being shunned as our russian airports. western cargo planes are having to cover much longer stretches to avoid russian air space. here, things can still be transported directly related to. so groat is still in operation

the route between europe's biggest inland port induce book and china's economic centers is part of china's belt and road initiative. the new silk road. it's 11000 kilometer railroad carries some, 200000 containers annually and partially crosses through russian territory for china and the e. u. it's an important project and for that reason has been largely spared from sanctions. you also shall bomb it in law by russian railroads have been put under sanctions to the extent that no one in europe can buy a trade. russian state owned rail bonds, 1001. what using russian rail filling, existing transferred contracts is not prohibited or under sanctions. of been the commission has made it clear that there were land root between china in europe is also in european interests. of course that could change at any time. here, everything has already changed. the ukrainian port of mario paul has been

completely destroyed before the war. it was an important export hub. ukraine originally had 3 big ports. the crimean city of sylvester boy was annexed in 2014 by russia. mar, you poor has been devastated in the latest invasion. and odessa is under russian bombardment. the ports are vital for transporting grain. before the invasion, ukraine supplied food for 400000000 people. 10 times the number of its own population production has dropped because of the warm and exporting grain has become more difficult. what was once transported by ship now has to be moved by rail. the problem there obviously is finding enough box cars or great knowledge are both haulage ability to take the, the volumes that used to go out by share the cost on at

least double weather in the cargo shipping air or train sectors. the war is presenting logistics companies with challenges. ultimately it's consumers worldwide, who will pay as our show check us out on youtube or under the dw news channel, we have a new special on oil and rising prices. i've seen beers like thanks for watching. ah ah ah ah ah hello,

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ah, this is b, w live from berlin. russia agrees to a deal to evacuate as of south hundreds of ukrainian soldiers a hold up beneath the steel plans in mario bold with supplies running low elsewhere . ukraine is mounting a fierce counter attack. pushing russian troops away from the city of clark, if all the way to the russian border also on the program risking his life to rescue civilians. we meet a former club owner from the besieged city of mario paul who is.