willem marx is live in london. what can wie expect today? >> this will be a formality this vote.he prime minister is seeking approval from her own party and the labour party to hold this election on june 8th it seems the labour party led by jeremy corbyn approving that move. theresa may laying down the gauntlet for her political opponents about the criticism of the way she's been landaling brexi handling brexit. >> let's put forward our plans for brexit and alternative programs for government and then let the people decide. and the decision facing the country will be all about leadership. it will be a choice between strong and stable leadership in the national interest, with me as your prime minister. or weak and unstable coalition government led by jeremy corbyn. >> so the prime minister there talking about the need for leadership. this is not just leadership over the uk. this is also leadership over the conservative party, her own party. one concern theresa may what was the very slim parliamentary majority. she has 17 mps over the halfway line. she's worried that some pro brexi

. >>> coming up on "street signs," we'll pass you over to willem marx for a preview of what to expect from the g-7 meeting. >> coming up, g-7 foreign minute strers meeting f ministers are meeting for a second day. [ engine revs ] [ screams ] [ shouting ] brace yourself! this is crazy! [ tires screeching ] whoo! boom baby! rated pg-13. [ screams ] >>> good morning. welcome back. you're still watching "street signs." within the last half hour, a spokesperson for angela merkel revealed that she spoke to the president of the u.s. last night to discuss north korea and syria. merkel told trump that the political process over syria must be placed over u.n. auspices and the goal should be a stable syria without assad at the helm. the u.s. is working to rally international support for its revised stand on syria ahead of the secretary of state's first diplomatic trip to moscow. rex tillerson is in italy at the g-7 meeting where political leaders are working to produce a cohesive message on syria. willem joins us now. they're up against quite a bit, the g-7 leaders, if they're looking to produce

. >> willem marx thanks for the update from westminster with the surprise announcement of the morning>>> headlines out of the imf releasing world economic outlook. the big headline they upgrade global economic growth for 2017. that goes against the trend of recent imf world economic outlook lately. we're saying expect 3.5% growth globally, economic growth, that is higher than the 3.4% they last predicted back in january. the 2018 economic growth forecast from the imf is unchanged, 3.6% growth expected there. the quote here that i picked out of this report and it is a big one, more than 200 pages, the economic upswing that we have expected for some time seems to be materializing, according to the economist at the imf. they do say there's a salient threat and that is a turn toward protectionism leading to trade warfare, that goes along with some of the warnings we've been hearing lately from imf managing director christine lagarde about trade wars and protectionism. commodity prices as far as the u.s. outlook still expecting 2.3% growth this year, but they do say that the outlook has im

willem marx is with us. em, that move in the pound based on this announcement that theresa may will make. we don't know about what yet. >> a bit of a mystery. she will be making an announcement outside number so downing street. you can see the impact this is having on sterling. off 0.5% against the dollar, half a percent against the swiss franc. dramatic moves for the currency. there are some options for what she may be talking about. over the weekend we saw positive news about her party, the conservatives, their lead over the opposition party, labour, up 20 points at least against that opposition party. it's the most commanding lead her party has held since the 1980s, the era of margaret thatcher. many people say she's inherited her mantle. so theresa may calling this announcement, she could, in theory, call a snap general election. it would require a two-thirds vote from the commons to approve that without her having to change legislation around the elections. it would also require her to vote against her o

willem marx is in westminster.e are less than 24 hours from the surprise announcement coming from the prime minister. what is the reaction? >> you heard there from theresa may laying down the gauntlet for her political opponents behind me. we're joined by joan hoey. what else might be behind this decision? >> i think the public reasons for calling this election may not be the most important ones. there's also the reasons we could surmise, temptation was too great. i think the thing that is really on theresa may's mind is her own party rather than the opposition or the country, because we para minister who is in a powerful position, she has triggered and taken control of the process and triggered article 50. what she wants is a free hand in terms of her own party. the big question is a free hand to do what? >> the free hand is presumably softer brexit, harder brexit, not making concessions with european counterparts, not thinking that people will pounce on her for whatever decision she makes. >> free hand for a soft

our own willem marx joins us from there. what's the latest?> it's the second day of meetings here in lucca. these foreign ministers gathering this morning trying to hash out a con census on syria in particular ahead of rex tillerson's travel to moscow today. boris johnson trying to explain what's at stake for mr. rex tillerson as he travels onwards. >> we're trying to give rex tillerson the clearest possible mandate for us as the west, the uk, all our allies here, to say to the russians this is your choice. stick with that guy, stick with that tyrant or work with us to find a better solution. >> now, the travel of mr. tillerson this afternoon, he will be meeting with sergey lavrov in moscow later today. the message from clearly a lot of these people is they need to separate russia from assad, from the syria regime. the turkish foreign minister here this morning, he has been talking about turkish intelligence that indicate there's are still chemical weapons stockpiled in syria. he's been joined by representatives from qatar, jordan, uae and sau

. >> willem marx from london, thank you. >>> the wall street bull seems to be intimidated by the fearlessim. the artist behind the famed bull believes the new statue turned the bull's message of freedom, peace, power, strepg and love into something negative. the girl was replaced in front of the bull last month for international women's day in celebration of women in the workplace. new york city mayor bill deblasio responded to the artist's request for her removal adding men who don't like women taking up space are exactly why we need the fearless girl. the statue became so popular that city officials are allowing her to stay through february of 2018. the attorney for the artist behind the bull noted he hoped the dispute could be resolved amicably but added we never dismissed the possibility of litigation. that's unfortunate. just let it go. a beautiful statue. it adds to the downtown allure of the city. >> i agree. >>> up next on "morning joe," nato secretary general stoltenberg will discuss her meeting with president trump. former u.s. ambassador to nato nicholas burns joins the convers

will willem marx joins us right now. >> this has been a big surprise for a lot of people in westminstersking why decide to do this now. theresa may gave some answers to that earlier. >> i have only recently and reluctantly come to this conclusion. since i became prime minister i have said that there should be no election until 2020. but now i have concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and stability for the years ahead is to hold this election and seek your support for the decisions i must take. >> now the prime minister and members of her party saying this is a good time for her to seek potentially a stronger mandate when it comes to negotiating through brexit over the years ahead. there is a bit of fiscal opportunism, her party riding very high in some polls over the weekend. she's more than 20% ahead of the labor opposition here. they've, however, welcomed this election. they hope that they can fight against the conservatives led by theresa may in this election. the third party here in the uk, the liberal democrats, essentially the anti-brexit party they're talking about