sarah: this is "dw news," live from berlin. u.s. president donald trump locks horns with the european union. his trade foe, as he calls it. as both sides gear up for a trade war, he meets with eu commission president jean-claude juncker, hopefully we can work something out, he says. also coming up, they are counting the votes in pakistan after a violent election campaign. voting in most areas was peaceful, but a deadlyly suicide bombing cast a shadow over t the

day. we will go live e to islamabad. plus -- >> stand together, be brave, and above all, to show solidarity. sarah: greece's prime minister alexis tsipras consoles a grieving nation after wildfires kill at least 80 people. rescue workers are now going door-to-door searching for survivors. ♪ sarah: i'm sarah kelly. welcome to the program. european commission president jean-claude juncker has met with u.s. president trump in washington dc to diffuse eu/u.s. trade tensions. 10 days ago trump declared that the eu was quote, a foe, in an interview. the u.s. imposed punitive duties on steel and aluminum imports from the eu, which responded

with tariffs of its own on u.s. products. both sides have filed complaints with the world trade organization. the meeting between them was aimed at averting an all-out trade war. for more let's bring in dw correspondent alexandra von nahmen. when you look at these two men, they both pride themselves on being dealmakers with a personal touch. you were absolute -- actually in the room before they met. was it a warm welcome? alexandra: well, i would not say a warm welcome. i would say it was a very friendly atmosphere. in the oval office, at one point president trump even put his hand on juncker's leg, clearly demonstrating that they know each other, respect each other

and get along well. but at the same time, both leaders seemed tense, with the u.s. president stressing once again the u.s. is losing money, and the commissioner sitting to lecturing the u.s. by stressing the european union and the u.s. are close partners and not enemies. sarah: a lot of lecturing and a lot of name-calling between the two. we know yesterday juncker said it could be that trump has something to offer us. does it seem as if the atmosphere is ripe for that something to materialize today? alexandra: if you ask me about that half an hour ago i would say no, we don't have any indication there really is going to be progress on trade.

however, now we are expecting those leaders to hold a joint press conference, that is something we do not really know if they're going to get remarks or older press conference. that is something i would say is a good sign, because they would not do that without having something to tell. sarah: the european commission for its part has said this trip was part of quote, a dialogue designed to de-dramatize the situation. was that code for don't expect too much erhere? what are the hopes on the eu side? >> the eu commission president said before i entered the white house, i do not have much expectation this will materialize any substantial. -- anything substantial. but he wanted to mend fences and create a personal relationship with donald trump because he

thinks this is a way to get through to him. juncker is counting on his ability to have a personal relationship with trump, to reach something like that. but we donon't know exaxactly if there is an n ofr on thehe tabl. but maybe they can somehow come to terms tonight. sarah: we know there is so much at stake especially because u.s. president trump has escalated the rhetoric, saying he could hit the eu. the eu is said to be drawing up a list of $20 billion in u.s. products to be targeted for retaliation if this trip were to fail and the trade war escalates further. what could we see here? bernd: the eu is also suing the

u.s. before the wto. the eu is also trying to get other partners involved like japan, china and other asian countries, to show the americans that they are isolating themselves. if there is a real trade war, then the eu could come up with other tariffs they could retaliate against, let's say, the american service i industry like apple, amazon or google. this is also likely, but of course the eu wants to avoid that. sarah: alexandra, i want to talk about the mood in the u.s. we know american farmers and businesses are taking a hit from this harsh trade policy in the trump administration announced tuesday he will provide up to 12 ilya dollars in aid to farmers -- billion dollars in aid to pharmasset by these tariffs. --

alexandra: you're right that at the moment he is feeling a lot of pressure in criticism from manufacturers here, from farmers, as you said, and also within his own republican party. especially talking about farmers, they say they are already really suffering to the measures imposed by u.s. trade partners in response to u.s. tariffs. they say they have lost about 13 alien -- $13 billion u.s. so far. the trump administration has announced aid up to $12 billion in emergency help. however, many farmer organizations are complaining is not enough. deal not be enough to help the farmers to survive, to continue

to run their bususinesses. sarah: thank you so much to both of you. as we mentioned, those two leaders will be holding a press conference a short while from now. we are monitoring developments and we will bring you that conference live as we get it. in the meantime, the white house announced it will propose the -- delay the proposed meeting with vladimir putin until 2019. trump and putin met in mid-july. shortly thereafter trump invited putin to the white house for a second meeting originally scheduled for this coming fall. the reason for the delay is ongoing investigation in rushes interference meet with exceeding election. -- in the 2016 election. the leading parties are said to be an.

-- reporter: this is the aftermath of a bomb blast that killed dozezens in southwhwest pakists. the so-called islamic state -- it set a grim tone for the elections. across more than 80,000 voting stations, pakistanis streamed to the polls in what could be a historic elelection for the country. and the stakes a a high.h. >> there are so many problems, like basic problems likeke elelectrity andd water, , whiche do not get. they don't even g get clean wat. >> against corruption.

i wanted to vote for someone honest. that is why i voted for the right person. reporter: these two candidates are the front runners to become the right person. imran khan has taken a popular stance against corruption. he said it is time to defeat partners which have kept the country hostage for years. his target and main opponent, shahbaz sharif. he is the brother of the former prime minister, who was ousted from power last year and jailed for corruption. sharif accuses khan of colluding with the military. pakistan's history has been flagged with a number of military coups. cricket star, or sharif dynasty. the election is expected to be close, with the results thursday. sarah: dw's naomi conrad joins

us now. naomi, this is a historic election for the country. walk us through why it is so important. naomi: yes, it is, indeed. it is a very important election because it might see a shift away from usual pattern of pakistani politics, which is dynastic. basically, here politics are a family affair and politics are passed from family member to family member. interspersed with military rule. nonow we are possibly seeing a shift away from ththe dynastic policies -- politics to o imran khan's politics. people here think that he may be a change, he is completely different from the c corrupt dynastic p parties.. hehe is controroversial, though. he has views that many peoplplen the west are concerned about. he has made overtures to the taliban, he says he wants to establish an islamist welfare state, and a lot of people say he is also cozying up to

pakistan's generals. so these are very important, interesting elections and we are looking forward to the results. sarah: according to some initial polls, this is been a head-to-head race between the two front runners. walk us through what they have been promising the voters. naomi: yes. so, imran khan basically ran on an anticorruption platform, but he has been very vague in terms of what he actually wants to do. he has made promises about an islamist welfare state, he has been very vocally anti-western, anti-america, and he has talked a lot about creating peace talks with the taliban, pulling them into the state. shahbaz sharif and another have basically been running on a platform of demanding democracy, which in a way is ironic because they are very corrupt and it is also a family affair. but they kind of position themselves as a victim in this

stand-off between the military. the military has dropped the party, there seems to be a rift between the military and sharif's party. these are the basic two main issues they're running on. sidelined are the concerns of the voters. voters are very much for bread-and-butter issues. they want the economy to improve, they want clean water, they want electricity. but no one is really talking about these big problems that pakistani voters want to have solved. sarah: with the campaign so contentious, so polarizing, what if none of them gets an outright majority? what does that mean for the stability of the country? nanaomi: indeeeed, and also the stability of the r region. an unstable pakistan is incredibly dangerous. pakistan plays a very important role in the region comes to india, and relations with china is very important. and if no party wins outright, which is quite possible, then we are going into uncharted territory.

that means coalition forming is going to happen, so we are looking at a p possibly very unstable future for pakistan. sarah: dw's naomi conrad with the very latest from pakistan. thank you. now let's get a quick check of some other stories that have been making news around the world. at least 200 people have been killed in a string of coordinated suicide attacks targeting syria's southern city of sweida. the syrian observatory for human rights says it was the deadliest attack by so-called islamic state in months. the death toll in laos has climbed to at least h has floodd atat least seven all, to work tr

towards zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods. thank you. thank you. thank you. we will also work to reduce barriers and increased trade and services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products, as well as soybeans. soybeans is a big deal. and the european union is going to start almost immediately to buy a lot of soybeans. they are a tremendous market. buy a lot of soybeans from our farmers in the midwest, primarily. so, i thank you for that. this will open markets for farmers and workers, increase investment, and lead to greater prosperity for both united states and the european union.

it will also make trade fair er and more reciprocal, my favorite word, reciprocal. second, we agreed to strengthen and strengthening of our ststrategic cooperation with respect to energy. the european union wants to import more liquefied natural gas, lng, from the united states, and they are going to be a very, very big buyer. we are going to make it much easier for them, but they are going to be a massive higher of lng, so they will be able to diversify their energy supply, which they very much want to do. and we have plenty of it. thirdly, we agreed today to launch a close dialogue on standards in order to ease trade, reduce bureaucratic obstacles, and slash costs dramatically. fourthly, we agreed to join

forces to protect american and european countries from better, and really better than ever -- we have never done like we are doing, we have never done this well, but we're going to do a lot at or after we do this deal, and other deals that we are currently working on. likewise, the european union is going to do better. stronger, bigger. we will therefore work closely together with like-minded partners to reform the wto and to address unfair trade practices, including intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, industrial subsidies, distortions created by state owned enterprises, and overcapacity. we decided to set up immediately an executive working group of very intelligent people, on both sides, to be our closest advisers.

and they're are going to carry out this joint agenda. in addition, it will identify short-term measures to facilitate commercial exchanges and assess existing tariff measures and what we can do about that to the betterment of both. while we're working on this, we will not go against the spirit of this agreement unless either party terminates the negotiation. so, we are starting to negotiation right now. sarah: you have been watching u.s. president down trump and european commission president jean-claude juncker speaking outside the white house, that is following a meeting where the two discussed trade. for more let's bring in alexandra von nominal was standing by outside the white house. weird trump saying they were agreeing to a number of things. i would like to ask you, is this

a breakthrough? alexandra: well, it seems like it could be a breakthrough. of course we have to say it is just the beginning because both sides are announcing that are going to talk about the issues that are important to them on trade. but at the moment it is a breakthrough because it will mean that we are not going to see anymore tariffs imposed on products from europe, and that is of course. important for europeans. -- course very important for europeans. sarah: jean-claude juncker is speaking right now. what do you think he is likely to make of what trump has been announced -- announcing? alexandra: i think that he is going to stress what it means for the europeans, because after what president trump said, it sounded like he is getting a lot

of concessions from the europeans that they are agreeing to lower their tariffs of industrial goods, that they are agreeing to import more soybeans, that is very important to trump's base. and that the europeans are going to work on the imports of liquefied natural gas. so, that sounded like a huge success for donald trump. and i think the eu commission president is going to stress this also as a success for the european union. sarah: alexandra von phnom and putting this meeting into perspective for us. thank you so much. thanks for watching. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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