104% tariff on China; Firings of federal workers : NPR

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Today’s top stories

President Trump’s new sweeping tariffs on nearly all of the U.S.’s trading partners took effect shortly after midnight. These tariffs will cause U.S. businesses to incur additional costs when importing products into the country. Some major trading partners will face significant new taxes, including a 20% increase on goods from the European Union and a 46% increase on goods from Vietnam. Trump has indicated he’s open to negotiations.

• 🎧 The argument that the tariffs are about negotiations fits an image Trump likes to present — that he’s a master dealmakerNPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben Tells Up First. Trump said he’s spoken to multiple world leadersincluding from Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. There has been some back and forth between the U.S. and China over retaliation, which has resulted in tariffs for goods from that country now being at least 104%.
• 🎧 China is casting its retaliatory tariffs as essentially right versus wrongNPR’s John Ruwitch says. Beijing presents itself as a champion of free and fair trade and multilateralism, while it claims that the U.S. engages in selfish and irresponsible protectionism, even blackmail. China’s leadership believes it can tough it out and that, in the long run, the trade war will hurt the U.S. more. China has been doubling down on policies to strengthen its self-sufficiency since the first trade war in 2018.

Yesterday, in a brief unsigned order, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with firing 16,000 probationary federal employees. The decision wasn’t a complete victory, as the court didn’t rule on whether the firings were lawful.

• 🎧 NPR’s Nina Totenberg says the court stated that the plaintiffs in the case were not the employees themselves but rather non-profit groups that failed to demonstrate that they would be harmed by the decision. The employees can challenge their firings in the Merit Systems Protection Board, which is charged with protecting civil servants. Totenberg says the most efficient way for those employees to challenge the Trump administration’s actions is with a class action that would represent fired employees in similar situations.

Trump is expected to get his first physical of his second term on Friday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. At 78, he is the oldest president to start a second term in office. Former President Joe Biden, started his White House term at the same age, and showed noticeable signs of slowing down during his time in the role. In recent years, Trump has been less transparent about his health information, even though his age was a topic of discussion during his 2024 presidential campaign. Here’s what will be included in his physical.

The state of the First Amendment

Trump recently declared during an address to Congress that he had “stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America.” This week, Morning Edition will explore who feels freer to speak under Trump’s administration, who feels they’re being forced into silence and the extent to which the constitutional right to free speech might be changing — for the better or worse.

For some Americans, the right to free speech and a free press are almost synonymous. However, in recent years, Trump has tried to use the courts to punish nearly every major U.S. TV news network in reaction to interview questions or coverage he doesn’t like. Local officials and business moguls are also turning to lawsuits or threats of legal action to punish publications for unflattering news coverage. Morning Edition host Michel Martin speaks with New York Times editor David Enrich about his new book, Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful. At the heart of the book is The New York Times v. Sullivan case, which the Supreme Court decided on in 1964. Enrich says that if we want to have a free press and speech, it’s important to make sure people are not afraid. Listen to Enrich address the current threats to a free press in the U.S.

Deep Dive

Google searches for the term “recession” have surged since Trump announced tariffs on goods from countries worldwide last week. Economists at prominent investment banks say the odds of a recession have increased. Here’s what the term means and who decides when to declare one.

• 📉 Some analysts use this rough rule of thumb to identify a recession: two consecutive quarters of decline in a nation’s gross domestic product. GDP is the broadest measure of economic activity.
• 📉 The National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee, composed of top American economists, has declared the beginning and end of economic cycles since 1978.
• 📉 During a recession, ripple effects can occur, including decreased employment, declined stock market performance, and increased borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
• 📉 The U.S. has experienced 34 recessions since 1857. They’ve varied in length from two months to over five years, according to data from the NBER.

3 things to know before you go

1. A pair of nearly 100-year-old Western Santa Cruz Galápagos tortoises have welcomed four hatchlingscontributing to the critically endangered species’ population.
2. A federal judge yesterday ordered the Trump administration to immediately allow Associated Press journalists back into the Oval Office and other spaces to cover the news. The judge ruled that blocking the agency’s access over disagreements about its word choices was unlawful.
3. Biotech company Colossal Biosciences says it used novel gene-editing to breed three gray wolf pups with key physical traits of the extinct dire wolf.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.