berlin. tonight in the trade terror of standoff b between chi a and the u.s., who will blink first -- in the trade tarriff standoff. u.s. president donald trump ups the presessure as his deadline looms. either china reaches a trade deal with the u.s. . or china starts paying new tariffs. china is threatening to retaliate, tariffs of 25% on 200

billion dollars of chinese goods takes effect at midnight washington time. european union leaders reject tehran's threat to partly pull out of the nuclear deal. the islamic republic is contemplating harsh new sanctions against it as the u.s. decreases the pressure. and pope francis moves against sex abuse in the catholic church. in the future, priests and nuns around the world will be obliged to inform the church if they suspect that abuse is taking place. i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all around the world, welcome. we start tonight in washington, d.c., where president trump is threatening to impose tariffs on

$200 billion 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 in beijing is threatening to retaliate if the tariffs oh ahead. trump appears to be playing it cool as the deadline looms. he says that he received "a beautiful letter" today from the chinese president saying "let's work together." tonight, he renewed his complaint that china has been taking advantage of the u.s. >> we are the piggy bank that everybody steals from, including china. we've been paying china $500 billion a year for many years. china rebuilt their country because of us. they couldn't have done what they are doing. they are building a ship every three weeks. they are 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 to happen. what i'm doing now with china should have happened many years ago. not just obama, long before obama. brent: that was the u.s. president speaking earlier today. oliver, let me start with you. what is trump's strategy? can we lay that out as we move closer to that midnight deadline? oliver: donald trump wants to raise the pressure on chinese negotiators. he wants to have this deal done and of his table and he's desperately looking for some good news back home because he's under a lot of pressure domestically, mostly calls why the follow of the mueller report here -- the fallout of the mueller report here.

he's mostly pointing to the good economic data in the united states, which is in fact good. the economy is growing, unemployment is lower at this point, but that is all at stake. he wants to finish that as quick as possible and what he is doing is essentially saying if we don't have a deal by midnight washington time, tariffs will be raised just as he threatened, and that will very likely be the case. brent: what does that mean for the chinese economy and also for the global economy? >> this is far from an ideal situation for anybody. we're talking about the world's two biggest economies. if we see a sustained slowdown in either or both, that means mostly you weaken key markets for the rest of the world exports. the rest of the world also wants to sell things, but of course, china stands to be the most affected. it said it will retaliate that

not how. it could respond with its own tariffs, but the chinese export more than the americans do, so it might not be a threatening enough lever for them. it could also encourage chinese consumers to boycott american-made goods. this is a 1.3 billion population country, so that's a really big market. on the other hand, that might backfire by affecting chinese workers who work in american assembly like an iphones. there will be knock on effects for the rest of the world definitely. brent: if china stands to suffer the most, that means the u.s. has the leverage going toward this deadline. >> tariffs will go up in a couple of hours from now, so there's a lot of pressure mounting on the negotiating team , but the hopes are not that the u.s. president will back off but rather that chinese negotiators will offer major concessions and

go back to where they once were, at the beginning where major progress was made within a short amount of time. also hardly anyone here in the united states want these tariffs . the head of the national retail federation expressed clear criticism that these tariffs would harm the american economy, but they would also not be very great for consumers as many important goods from china would become more expensive. above all, consumer electronics. the negotiations are going on. there's a lot of pressure. american businesses and consumers are bracing for the midnight deadline. it's unlikely there will be a happy end unless china gives in. brent: this is a global story, not just about the u.s. and china. what does this mean for europe the upper >> indeed, oliver talked about pressure, and that's all across

the board. european markets have had one of their worst days of the year. there are a lot of export heavy businesses in europe that ran to be affected by escalation in the u.s.-china trade conflict. if china were to respond, for example, and, say, return tariffs on american-made cars, there are quite a few the of w's and mercedes-benz is made in the u.s., so it's easy to see how that could affect the german auto industry, for example. europe is in a strange position. it wants more access to the chinese market. it wants better protection for intellectual property. it's just that the u.s. has decided to go at it on its own and use and very ever serial approach, one that is also being used on europe -- use a very adversarial approach. a lot of people say this could be a bellwether for eu-u.s. trade talks when the time comes. >> my colleague here at the big

table. and my correspondent. to both of you, a big thank you. u.s. trade sanctions have that on the minds of european union leaders, but this time, sanctions against iran. eu leaders have urged the islamic republic to stand by the nuclear deal which was agreed upon with other countries back in 2015. the u.s. withdrew from the deal a year ago. iran has threatened to abandon it unless the other signatories provide quick relief from u.s. sanctions. >> it was supposed to be the post for exit summit, shaping the eu's future without britain. while the u.k. may not yet be out, it did not attend the talks. a welcome respite from brexit deadlock, but another topic overshadowed the proceedings --- iran's s threat to abandon the nuclear deal signed with world hours in 2015.

eu leaders urged tehran to think again. it is now even more important that europe shows a united front. 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. being united on all fronts was exactly what the eu leaders wanted to convey. they swiftly signed a 10-point blueprint for the block's future, vowing to work together through thick and thin -- for the bloc's future. >> i can state one thing with complete confidence -- the leaders have categorically demonstrated that they want to take full political responsibility, not only for

single events or challenges, but for the european union as a whole. >> at sign ambitions in deed, but no concrete decisions can be taken until after the upcoming european elections, and they may well highlight a europe risen by division over what his future should look like. -- riven by division over what it's future should look like. >> it is clear that we will have less europe and we will be weaker for being disunited. >> as the eu prepares to wave goodbye to its current parliament, member states are more divided than the smile's convey. up next is a tussle over new picks for the eu's top officials at the end of may. brent: joining me now from that summit, we know that eu leaders

arrived for the summit to talk about the future of the eu may be post-brexit. what are the biggest challenges that they are facing? >> i tell you what, leaders today were a challenge short, and that's the torturous topic of brexit, that it has been dragging its heels on many summits, so they really had time today to look into the future. it took them a mere one minute to sign the so-called cbo declaration, a list of 10 commitments that eu leaders want to convey the ideas, the admiration's how the eu should be run. angela merkel cited up quite neatly when she said the eu should be more innovative and they should work closely together, be more united, work stronger. when you give it the reality check, there's a lot of things

where solidarity is lacking. for instance, the migration crisis, the environment, eurozone reform, the monetary union of the european union that desperately needs reform. it is macron, the french leader pressing for change, who has a vision of how things should change, but he is just lacking the support. brent: the european union saying it remains committed to the iran nuclear deal. how much power does the eu have to keep that deal live? >> the move by the iranians clearly exposes 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 seeing that they are facing fierce sanctions from the u.s. if they do so and the mechanism the u.s. developed only applies to food supplies

and food trade with iran. it's just not enough. that is white you leaders are focusing on so-called de-escalation strategy. both angela merkel and the french president emphasized they do not want to escalate things, so diplomacy is the way forward, but nothing more they can offer. >> thank you. here are some of the other stories now making headlines around the world. north korea has launched treat of short range missiles into the ocean. it is their second weapons test in a week. kim jong-un defended the actions as a regular military exercise. hours after the second missile firing, the u.s. sees a north korean cargo ship, saying it was transporting coal, a violations of sanctions against north korea -- the u.s. seized a north korean cargo ship. an arrest came after a court

reversed an earlier judgment that had set him free. more than 150 people have been convicted and hundreds more charged in the corruption scandal known as operation carwash. a new york court has sentenced a german woman to four years in prison for posing as an heiress in order to swindle huge amounts of money. the court found the woman seen here in file footagege had posed as a socialite to convince banks, hotels, and friends with power to part hundreds of thousands of dollars. -- part with hundreds of thousands of dollars. pope francis has issued a groundbreaking new law requiring catholic priest and nuns to report lyrical sexual abuse and coverups. the decree covers of use of children and adults and sets of systems for reporting abuse and protecting whistleblowers -- the decree covers abuse of children and adults. >> they are required to report

abuse and alert church authorities if they suspect abuse, one of the steps pope francis is implementing in his attempt to combat the problem. >> it is important to have unified and universal standards for the church. in the past, countries have taken different approroaches. procedures h have been set, time limits have beenen set. it is i important that, the first but not the last -- i it s an important sp. >> the d decree requires diocess around t world have a system in place by 2020. all types of abuse must be prosecuted, victims protected, and investigations completed within 90 days. -- w within 90 days. while victims groups support the law, many feel it does not go far enough. >> the pope's law does not make it obligatory to report to or work with the authorities. at the least here in germany,

police and state prosecutors are responsible for investigating and solving such crimes. >> following the vatican's abuse conferencece in februauary, cris demanded a hard line against abuse in the catholic church. the new law comes into effect on june 1 but only runs for three years. brent: for more on this, i'm joined here at the big table by someone in the report that we just saw. it's good to see you. you have been on the show before. you are a survivor of sexual abuse that happened at jesuit college. you helped bring cases like yours to the public's attention, hoping you could affect change -- effect change. how do you feel about the news coming out of the vatican today? is it enough? >> it is, i think, a big story for the church, but looking to it from outside, it is a small step. a necessary step, but a small step.

i feel proud that with all the pressure survivors have put on the vatican and the pope in the last month, they had to come up with something, but it is still a first step. brent: a first step, but it does not go far enough? >> no, because it is a dealing only in-house with the problem. the quesestion is -- will they make it mandatory to report to civil authorities? brent: you and i talked about this months ago. it has been part of the story for a long time. why do you think it is so hard for the pope to take that step and to oblige people in the clergy to go to local authorities if they suspect that a crime is taking place? >> i think there is a lot of resistance within the high ranks of the church. that is why it is so important to put pressure on them from outside as we did in the last

month. what they are arguing is we cannot make it mandatory in all countries of the world because there are some countries where it is difficult cousin there is no justice system working in place, but, i mean, this is a minority of cases. in the vast majority of countries, you have just this authorities which are dealing with these cases, so make the general rule and may be exceptions for certain situations where, say, it is not safe to report. brent: there was resistance by parts of the church. i remember during the pope's conference earlier this year, talking about sexual abuse, there was a lot of resistance from africa and asia. that's what was reported. african clergy members saying they do not have this problem. this is an american and a european problem. >> there were survivors from the

elite 30 countries coming together in rome, and of course, there were people from asia and africa as well. it is not a european or north american problem. it is a geneneral problem of the church everywhere in the world. that is why it is so important to have general rules from the vatican, from the headquarters which apply to all countries all around the world. brent: we are running out of timeme. what about what the church is doing for people who have been abused, the legacy created? are you satisfied? >> of course not. we are still in the process of clarification, inquiry, and we will have to talk about compensation in the future. >> as always, it's good to have you on the show. we appreciate your insights. thank you very much. now to our series looking at what germans consider to be the big issues today. my colleague travels to the countryside where a major

concern, especially among younger people, is climate change. germany once seemed to be leading the fight against global warming, but it has fallen back on its commitments. people have been telling kate the government now faces a stark choice. kate: to end my germany, -- to end my journey across germany, and traveling to berlin where the german government is feeling the heat of climate change. caught between its love of cars, a nuclear power phaseout, germany is struggling to meet climate goals. in recent weeks, that very issue has been quite literally knocking on the government's front door. inspired by the swedish climate activist for the past four months, hundreds of thousands of german schoolkids have in skipping school every friday demanding action against climate change. a university student has become

the face of the fridays for future movement in germany, which is now back by more than 26,000 scientists. >> we need our government to act now, and i don't see that right now. we keep burning fossil fuels, know that they are destroying the environment and disturbing our climate to an extent that we are struggling -- we will be struggling to stay alive in the long-term and species are dying every day. >> once deemed a world champion in environmental protection, it seems germany is realizing this more to the fight against climate change than meticulously separating brothers. last year's heatwave alone brought home the realities of climate change. cargo ships brought to a standstill, dry crops, forest fires, and damage to infrastructure. having missed its 2020 climate goals, the german government is looking ahead to 2050, with the

aim of phasing out coal powered energy. students want to see the end of that by 2030 at the latest. demonstrators have vowed to continue striking until they see more action from the goverernme. >> event 20 years time, your children or your grandchildren are the children of the neighbors will ask you what did you do back then when we could still change things, when we could still make a difference? we will judge this government harshly because we will look back at them and see that they were amongst the last ones who could actually change something and change the path we are on, and knowing the consequences of what is happening, they did not do that. brent: to south africa now. with 65% of the votes counted in

yesterday's election, the ruling african national congress is in the lead. the vote is the first test of public sentiment since the president replace the scandal hit jacob zuma last year.. our reporter covering the election joins us from johannesburg. there's a lot to talk about here. the anc apparently is going to retain power, but at the r riskf its worst perfoformance in 25 years. what are the reactions today? krisis: that's right, brent. we heard a senior official today talking about the fact that they are quite happy with the decision they made in 20. they say that if that -- if that had not happened, they could potentially be looking at worst. whatever the outcome would be, the anc obviously hoping for

more said it potentially could have been worse. friend: we know there have then complaints about how this look was carried out. -- brent: we know there have been complaints about how this vote was carried out. hahas there been a f free and fr election? >> the indndependent electctoral commission h has taken pains to ensure s south a africans t thas has bebeen a free d fafair election. there have beeeen isolateded incidents including thingsgs lie electoral officials seen holding andd handling ballot papers unsupervised.. for examplple, this thee issue f the e smaller oppoposition parts today forming a coalilition and saying that the e election h n t been free e and fair, c citing isolated incidenents a across te country, but the majoror stickig point habebeen the issssue of te indedelible ink that some people were a ae to remove and supposedly cast two votes.

anan audit was already called fr ththe results as a a result of . we havave heard frfrom the eleln commisission that they will be auditing certainin samples after about 20 people have been arrested foror trying toto vote twice. ththat has realllly put a cloudr castst a shadowver the credibibility of this s election a way that t the electoral commission are going to pains to say it's s not enougho o say th this election has nonot been a d fair, but there are c certainly sosome people s scrabbling about that. the dedemocratic alliance is i alluded d to did s say they wile chalallenging thatat result as . here is the leader of the party speaking on that. >> there are possible concerns about the electoral process and how some issues have been handled. i'm concerned that maybe some south africans were able to vote twice.

we think that needs to be interrogated. brent: that's really disconcerting if true thahat people were able to vote twice. what about the final results? when can we expect them? looks like we've lost our signal there. we apologize for that. that was our correspondent with the latest on the -- those election results from south africa. apparently we lost the signal. all right, some sports news now. after guaranteeing their bundesliga status last week, shelter have secured a new coach for next season -- schalke have secured a new coach for next season. he has been without a club since early this year. the 47-year-old has signed a

contract until the year 2022. tennessee is now, world number one novak djokovic has eased into the quarterfinanals of the mamadrid open. djokokovic beat jeremy s shardi- jeremy c chardy in ststight set. he has not been ththe frenchman and all of f their 13 meeeetings without havi droropped 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 week. you are watching "dw news" from berlin. after a short rake, i will be back to take you through the day -- after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." stick around for that. ♪

. hi i'm jim screen thanks for watching france twenty four we start to the bulletin in south africa where the african national congress party is heading for victory with that over half of the votes in about maybe 60% at this stage in the evening the anc currently stand. at about 57% that means it is almost certain to hold on to power a year after jacob zuma was forced to resigngn amid corruption scandals this election is seen as a chance. for the ruling party to turn over a new leaf under the leadership