the subject i'm now joined by frank for to laurie the newly appointed president of the american chambre of commerce here in germany joining us from cologne mr sports larry if i understand correctly you just got appointed this weekend so i assume i can say congratulations first of all and thank you very much for joining us for being with us today yes that's correct i got elected on friday at a gala dinner friday evening and saturday the work started because there's obviously been a lot of interest in what's going on right now with trade between the u.s. and germany and i'm sure everyone is asking you the same questions now it's our turn what are you telling companies and representatives do you expect this service to take place do you expect a trade war what are you telling the counterparts. well first the first thing we want to tell anyone as that the tariffs of this type and of this nature make no sense for anyone if this erupts into more than just a minor skirmish and into a full fledged trade war there are no winners in anything like that. i must say we're still a little bit cautiously optimistic

american skills initiative for example the program is trying to introduce germany's well established system of dual education to the united states the concept combines classroom learning with hands on vocational training the german american chambres of commerce started the cooperation with the u.s. and german governments three years ago and as our correspondent reports from the southern us state of georgia the initiative is becoming increasingly popular. it's seven in the morning and colin mckeon is already at work the seventeen year old is training as an industrial mechanic at each cio it's an american tech from in union you had led to producing components for household appliances coats three year apprenticeship is based on the german educational model and he even gets paid enough in the u.s. where apprenticeships are often unpaid provide only basic training and have a bad reputation but cold believes this program is a gateway to success this definitely gives me a jump start you know getting ahead of the ball and everybody else because i'll be having an associate degree the same time as people just have a high school diploma e.g. o. is only one of twenty eight businesses and join john that have joined forces to create their own pool of high