example to have to fight with overcapacity over capacities and shrinking margins conrad who isn't joining us there from frankfurt thank you conrad loud diesel guzzling polluting trucks are a common sight on german roads and the numbers are only increasing but a solution might be in sight germany has just opened its first electric highway for hybrid trucks testing the technology on both sides of a five kilometer stretch south of frankfurt the highway allows trucks to draw electric power from overhead cables it's the first such tests on a public road in germany and will run until twenty twenty two. and here's a look at the new hybrid trucks that are operating along that test route. for andreas patterson electric trucks are nothing new he works for the swedish manufacturer scania which has been developing in building electric trucks for a number of years this new model gets its power from overhead contact lines using a pantograph. the silence there is a difference. when you turn off the internal combustion engine or go electric. you still have a little noise from the tires of course but you have no way of brazen an

and therefore is in frankfurt thank you conrad. google apple amazon and other tech firms are facing facing harsh criticism for their low tax bills the companies are making full use of loopholes and tax law and picking lower tax locations for their headquarters the european commission has ordered apple and amazon to pay back back taxes that is in the past but the e.u. has yet to agree on a block wide digital tax on average companies in traditional sectors in the european union such as carmakers pharmaceuticals and chemical companies corporate tax of about twenty three percent of tech companies however like facebook or google pay only about nine and a half percent on average in the e.u. and more more countries including france and italy have suggested that going it alone on a special digital tax is the way to go i spoke earlier with clinton's first of the institute here in germany who opposes such a tax. the digital tax proposal is the unilateral introduction of a tax on turn over it is totally incompetent but with the international

let's talk more about this with our financial correspondent conrad who joins us now from frankfurt conrad at the center of this is cartel law which could be sort of complicated can you explain how is it being applied to german carmakers like b.m.w. well stephen the e.u. commission the n.t. trust watchdogs of the european commission saying that the comic has formed a cartel by discussing industry standards for diesel and petrol engines and that they that way agreed on what kind of industry standards they want to promote that's way the card the cartel authorities a say the comic has prevented innovation and that's how they formed a cartel now margaret vest the competition commission off the european union herself admits that this is kind of stretching it that this of course does not fit the traditional perception of a price cartel still best doctor is convinced that this was a cartel and that's why the car makers b.m.d. b.m.w. among them have to pay those significant fines so a cartel to prevent innovation is an interesting idea and of course we have to ask how are investors reacting to all

kathryn young an analyst with fidelity international in hong kong and our financial correspondent frankfurt conrad who isn't welcome to you both catherine let me start with you the u.s. really upping the pressure on china what's the reception in china. catherine can you hear me. there. let's actually go to conrad right now i think reading some technical problems on catherine conrad what's the global impact of these tariffs we talk so much about the u.s. and china impact but this is going to affect other businesses as well but it. including in frankfurt including all over the world it's expected that this policy of protectionism of imposing you know taxes basically import tariffs taxes on goods imported into the united states will have a slowdown effect not only on the economy in china where those imports come from but also in america you know businesses in america will likely not any longer be able to absorb the negative effect of those import tariffs they will try to shift more of the negative burden onto american consumers who as a consequence of course will consume less and this is how this wil

and let's go now to our financial correspondent in frankfurt conrad who isn't conrad how are the markets in europe reacting so far. well steve i'm not as negatively not as shocked as the markets in china but still for example the german share index dax has started trading here in frankfurt this morning with a loss of around about two percent you know this those tweets by the u.s. president have come to the market as a total surprise up until this weekend the mood had been very optimistic on the financial markets that some kind of agreement would be struck between the u.s. and the chinese of course everyone was aware that you know we shouldn't expect the super the one super large agreement including every single aspect for example of intellectual property but some kind of agreement that would indicate that the americans and the chinese would be willing to work together on their issues was what markets had hoped for but now it looks like donald trump really wants to go the contentious way that he likes to continue the disruptive atmosphere right encountered maybe no surprise in that alone

and our financial correspondent conrad boos and joins us now from frankfurt conrad speaking of trade germany's leader and america was in hamburg yesterday to make a case for free trade maybe in response to some what's going on there between us and china what he tell us. make of gave her statement at the famous hamburg port one of germany's doles to the way the perfect spot to illustrate how important international trade is for germany merkel said we need to have a global conversation about how we can foster a fair and balanced trade conditions and this came one day ahead of today's visit of my pump aoe in berlin the u.s. secretary of state and of course medical he'll once to appeal to the americans she wants to remind them that you know the uni lateral approach is not the way to go that the americans should together with the germans and the europeans find common ground in terms of trade policies and conrad stay with me as we look at something else another report in this case the value of the turkish lira tumbling for the first time since october one u.s. dollar is worth more than six

to be on the way with me here to discuss that question is our financial correspondent conrad bosun in the frankfurt. residence a china expert clifford tour and here with me in the studio and let's go to conrad in frankfurt first hope he's on the line concierge right now come on ask anyway it's easy to blame donald trump for for this. dropping in influence really. is it just down to his rather erratic foreign and economic policy. no it's not we should forget that the united states is of course very important market for europe for example but it's only one market. still even if we take into consideration that the americans and the economy they're setting the tone in the world it has to be said the most important market for europe is europe itself even after breck's it the european union will unite four hundred fifty million consumers and it also has to be said that markets like china have become more and more important in recent decades not only because of car sales but also because of the enormous influence of china in electronics elektra of parts made in china used in virtually everything produced

conrad. in frankfurt why a market like this. you know you know whatever it is tactics are not hot it makes the optimism go away optimism that you know you can rely on donald trump that you can hope for a change of mind here that the americans out the chinese might be able to find some common ground the other certainty about this is on the rise again and this of course raises concern on the trading floors that you know businesses manufacturers purchasing managers who give out alters for large capital goods might continuously be reluctant to order today we got reports from the german engineering sector that confirmed that you orders for this sector have come down again. if we look at not going to was talking about industry what is the outcome but people in asia want well i think what people want in asia is very much for coming out was saying you mentioned on certainty what they want is certainty they want these talks to come reach a satisfactory conclusion there they want their i think they're prepared for concessions on the chine

let's go to frankfurt now our markets are open our financial correspondent susan is there conrad what's the mood among traders. the mood is not as bad as one might have anticipated you know the german share index tax is trying to trading slightly higher than last night of course i have to say after having lost around about four percent in the course of the trading week until last night in anticipation of those terrorist but now traders i talked to would like to see the positive aspects in all this they say that it's positive that the two sides are still on speaking terms that they continue their talks and also it's positive that the chinese have talked about retaliation but they haven't been very precise about it all this makes people slightly optimistic here but of course the optimism is very very fragile unlike the u.s. president a vast majority of economists are convinced that eventually those higher import tariffs will also slow down the u.s. economy and you know american businesses will not be able to absorb the terrorists the way they have in the past they will eventually put more

expected for tomorrow conrad how big an event is this going to be for markets people in frankfurt for example. it is going to be a very big event or has made sure that the public relations mill is really very very active in financial centers all over the world and you know or has to do this because we're desperately needs the money from this i.p.o. not only did it make roughly ten billion u.s. dollars in operating losses last year it has a massive cash burn of nearly two billion u.s. dollars. some people on the market say without the i.p.o. the company would really risk of running out of money the venture capitalists who have financed over so far. are said to have become very very unwilling to continue to pour money into. so all eyes are going to be on this i.p.o. it's more a contribution with the latest from frankfurt think you can run. now many think of artificial intelligence as a technology that will transform our lives in the future the fact is already all around us sort of directing our behavior and even helping us get our mail. gloves are mandatory here but not for hygiene reas

expected for tomorrow conrad how big an event is this going to be for markets people in frankfurt for example. it is going to be a very big event has made sure that the public relations mill is really very very active in financial centers all over the world and you know over has to do this because desperately needs the money from this i.p.o. not only did it make roughly ten billion u.s. dollars in operating losses last year it has a massive cash burn of nearly two billion u.s. dollars. some people on the market say without the i.p.o. the company would really risk of running out of money the venture capitalists who have financed over so far. are said to have become very very unwilling to continue to pour money into. so all eyes are going to be on this i.p.o. it's more a contribution with the latest from frankfurt thank you. in the u.s. china trade is taking its toll on one of the u.s. is key industries the tech sector american companies complain about intellectual property theft and market restrictions in china but they also rely on china for manufacturing and china's burgeoning tech c