NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Europe and Canada retaliate against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs; Markets closed mixed as inflation eases; Dept of Education cuts half its workforce; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the trade wars enter a new chapter as tariffs fly from America to Europe to Canada. America and its closest trading partners hit each other on steel, aluminum, even bourbon, bikes and blue jeans. While some celebrate at home, Canada, one of our biggest trade partners, left furious and firing back. Despite news of cooling inflation, markets losing their momentum for a mixed day on Wall Street, Christine Roman's on how to make sense of it all. Protests outside of a court hearing for the Columbia grad student set to be deported by the Trump administration.

A case that's pitted free speech against claims of anti-Semitism. What Laura Jarrett learned in court. Justin or Brian Koberger's lawyers planning a bold new strategy. Why a defense expert may claim a key piece of evidence was planted. The search for a missing spring break student. A Virginia sheriff saying there's a person of interest. We're in the Dominican Republic with the latest.

The flood watch for Orange County and 20 million in California put flash floods turned burn scars into rivers of debris. All eyes on the skies for Crew 10's liftoff to the International Space Station to relieve Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams. And our exclusive, after centuries beneath the ash of Pompeii, the new artifacts our Molly Hunter is digging up tonight. This is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Good evening and welcome. The President Trump led trade war, rocking both friends and foes tonight. Washington slapping global trading partners with a 25 percent hike in tariffs paid on steel and aluminum imports.

The move invited swift retaliation from the EU and Canada, which placed retaliatory trade duties on roughly $21 billion of U.S. products, from computers to water heaters. The EU, meanwhile, targeting $28 billion in U.S. goods, including beef, poultry and eggs. Today, Canada's foreign minister with a message for Americans that Canada is not the one driving up the cost of groceries. President Trump vowing whatever they charge us, we're going to be charging them. On Wall Street, the market volatility over recession worries ease as the rate of inflation slowed in February. Wall Street ending the day mixed. Our Gabe Gutierrez reports tonight from Canada. Welcoming Ireland's prime minister to the Oval Office. President Trump touting today's better than expected inflation numbers. Inflation is way down and it's based on what we've done.

But tonight, his trade war is escalating. Canada and the European Union slapping new retaliatory tariffs on the U.S., including the E.U. hitting Kentucky bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles with 50% tariffs. The president's latest round of tariffs took effect, 25% on steel and aluminum imports from around the world. The European Union treats us very badly. They have for years. President Trump saying today he'll consider raising the tax on cars imported from Europe, which is currently two and a half percent.

The EU tariff on imported American cars is 10 percent. So whatever they charge us, we're charging them. If they charge us 25 or 20 percent or 10 percent or 2 percent or 200 percent, then that's what we're charging them. There's nothing more fair than that. Stephen Capone employs 100 people making steel products in Massachusetts and supports Trump's new tariffs. He says cheaper Canadian steel has decimated his business. We have to revitalize our industry, our economy. We can't rely on foreign imports for anything, anything critical.

But Trump's new tariffs are devastating for Canada. In the working class city of Drummondville, manufacturing is huge, and about 18% of the jobs here are linked to the U.S. What would your message be to President Trump? Stop the tariff. Jean-Francois Nadeau has worked at MatriTech, a metal processing company, for 25 years. At one point yesterday, President Trump threatened 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum. What is this uncertainty doing to you? It's giving us, we are kind of becoming crazy right now.

It's going too fast. On the morning, it says something. On the afternoon, it says something else. And don't get him started on Trump floating the idea of annexing Canada, making it the 51st state. The first time was, hi, he's making a great joke. Now it's not a joke anymore. Luis Charles Elbari works for the mayor's office in Drummondville, where he says some 3,000 Canadian jobs are now at risk, the tariff turmoil potentially driving up prices on both sides of the border. Did this almost feel like a betrayal? I mean, to some extent, yeah, because America is our greatest friend, right?

And Gabe, we know the U.S. and Canadian officials will be meeting tomorrow. Meantime, there's a pretty big headline involving a potential federal government shutdown. What do we know? That's right, Lester. Senate Republicans need at least seven Democrats to support their funding bill to keep the government open. But tonight, top Democrat Chuck Schumer just said the GOP does not have the votes, indicating Democrats are prepared to block the Republican bill with a deadline on Friday. Lester. All right, Gabe Gutierrez, thank you. Christine Romans is here. We saw the markets close mix after falling and falling earlier in the week

and people wondering about the state of the economy. What can you tell us? You know, Lester, this was the first welcome news markets have had in days here. Annual inflation improving to 2.8 percent, getting a little closer to normal. But the context here is so important. The trade war underway is not yet reflected in these numbers. You know, take today's new tariffs on aluminum and steel and look at this chart from Barclays Bank. It shows a typical car is 50 percent steel, 11 percent aluminum. That's part of why there are forecasts that the average price of a car sold in the U.S. could rise by thousands of dollars. So while Wall Street seemed to calm down a little today, given that the president has promised more tariffs to start just weeks from now,

it's the months ahead that could see some real changes in the prices people pay. It's going to be a while before we see how this plays out. That's right. All right. Christine Romans, thanks. Now to the new fallout over the mass layoffs at the Department of Education, all of it part of the president's attempt to eventually abolish the agency. Kelly O'Donnell has late details. Business suspended at the Department of Education today.

I am very, very angry about this. Sweeping terminations. More than 1,300 career employees hit with this email describing difficult news that their organizational unit is being abolished. The 45-year-old federal agency workforce is effectively cut in half. Today, the president defended the job cuts. I feel very badly, but many of them don't work at all. Many of them never showed up to work. The president would need Congress to shutter the agency. We're going to move education into the states instead of bureaucrats working in Washington.

However, education officials say six regional offices were closed, firing all employees, including Sharia Smith in Texas. My family is now trying to figure out how we overcome the loss of my income. An attorney, Smith helped students who raised civil rights issues in their local schools. This administration is now eliminating the only agency that was in place to make sure that those rights were enforced. But others welcome the president's education overhaul. Well, I'm actually very optimistic about the change. Megan Degenfelder, Wyoming's superintendent of public instruction, says this reduces red tape. This is going to provide a lot more flexibility, streamlining those funds to the states and putting

us back in charge of our kids. Education is largely funded and run at the state and local level. Officials say they will keep federal functions like student financial aid. Lester. OK, Kelly, thank you. A major storm is set to bring heavy rain, powerful winds and mountain snow to the west. Twenty one million people across Southern California are at risk for flooding from Santa Barbara all the way down to San Diego, with up to three inches of rain likely along the coast. There is concern for mudslides and debris flows, especially near burn scar areas. In New York, major demonstrations outside a legal hearing for a pro-Palestinian student activist being detained by ICE as calls for his release mount.

Laura Jarrett now with the latest on that. Outside a New York City courthouse today demands for the release of Mahmoud Khalil. If they come for Mahmoud today, they will come for every other green card holder. Khalil, a leader of the pro-Palestinian protest that rocked Columbia University last spring, arrived on a student visa

and became a permanent resident last year, according to court papers. Now he's facing deportation at the direction of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing him of supporting Hamas. This is not about free speech. This is about people that don't have a right to be in the United States to begin with. The Trump administration relying on a law authorizing the Secretary of State to deport any green card holder whose presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences. Halil, an Algerian

citizen of Palestinian descent, was set to graduate in May, but his lawyers say immigration agents apprehended him Saturday night at his home in New York in front of his wife, who is due with their child next month, then quickly moved him to a detention center in Louisiana, where he remains. They stole my campus house! They stole my campus house! His legal team in court today saying he has no criminal record and has not been charged with any crime.

What happened to Mahmoud Khalil is nothing short of extraordinary and shocking and outrageous. It should outrage anybody who believes that speech should be free in the United States of America. All this as President Trump threatens to punish any school that allows, quote, illegal protests, promising others will face the same fate as Khalil. I think we ought to get them all out of the country. They're troublemakers. They're agitators. They don't love our country. We ought to get them the hell out. And Laura, joining me now, Khalil's legal team today say they'll pursue an expedited schedule to secure his release. What's that look like? Yeah, and they got that expedited schedule, Lester, but it's still

not clear exactly which court is ultimately going to decide his fate. The judge in court today suggesting he might not even have jurisdiction because he's moved from New York to New Jersey to Louisiana. So how this actually gets resolved is still an open question. OK, Laura, thank you. Now to a breaking development in the murders of four University of Idaho students. Tonight, we're learning how the lawyers representing Brian Koberger may plan to argue his innocence. Liz Kreutz joins us with what we know. Liz. Hi, Lester. Good evening. Prosecutors say that it appears Brian Koberger's defense team is going to make the case that he could have been framed in the murders. According to a legal filing, prosecutors say Koberger's lawyers

are planning to argue that the knife sheath that had Koberger's DNA on it that was found at the home where the killings occurred could have been planted by the real perpetrator. Now, Koberger is currently facing the death penalty of convicted in the murders of the four University of Idaho students in 2022. A judge has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. His trial is scheduled to begin in August. Lester. Liz Kreutz, thank you. Almost a full week after a college student went missing on spring break, U.S. investigators are now saying they've identified a person of interest. Jesse Kirsch is in Punta Cana. Tonight, American authorities say there's now a person of interest in the search for missing U.S. college student Sudiksha Kunanki. And sources familiar with the investigation say it's this man. There's concern about the statements that he's made, the

inconsistencies on those statements, and that bothers us. The sheriff's office in Loudoun County, Virginia, where Kunanke is from, saying a 22-year-old man has caught investigators' attention. He appears to have been the last person with Kunanke before she vanished from this Punta Cana beach. But the sheriff's office stresses this is not the same thing as a suspect, as this is not a criminal matter. It is still a missing person case. Dominican Republic authorities who are leading the investigation have neither confirmed nor denied there is a person of interest. The University of Pittsburgh student was last seen on surveillance video here more than six days ago at this resort on her spring break trip. Her disappearance around 4.15 a.m. Thursday later sparking a massive search

that has included a focus on the water. The Dominican Republic's national police telling us they're studying where a body would drift if someone drowned. We still hold out hope that she's around and that she may still be alive. And we're hoping that she, you know, that we find her. That sheriff's office says two of its detectives are in Punta Cana supporting the FBI, but adds that Kunaki's family has returned home as her whereabouts remain a mystery. Lester. All right, Jesse, thank you. In 60 seconds, Tom Costello reports from Kennedy Space Center on the mission to relieve NASA astronauts Butch and Sonny in space for months now.

There are some late-breaking developments with that SpaceX rocket launch that was planned for tonight as part of the plan to bring home NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams. Tom Costello now with the latest. Luster, at T-minus 43 minutes, NASA has scrubbed the launch for this evening because they are dealing with an ongoing problem with a hydraulic issue related to the clamp that holds the rocket to that erector structure on the ground. So not a problem with the rocket. It's literally a ground structure and a hydraulic issue related to the clamp. So they are not launching tonight. Now the plan had been Crew 10 would go up to the space station, they would dock at 6 a.m., and these four astronauts would then go into the station,

and that would allow then Crew 9, which includes Butch and Sunny, to come back as soon as Sunday. But now that timetable is on hold. NASA says, and SpaceX says, they may try again Thursday. They could try again Friday. But first, they've got to deal with this issue, get to the bottom of it, exactly what is the problem with this hydraulic issue on this clamp. Can they fix it in short order? But those are the next two opportunities. And as you know, Butch and Sunny have been up on station since June. They launched in June on that Boeing Starliner spaceship. But then that developed problems. NASA wasn't comfortable bringing them back on Starliner. And so they kept them on the station, saying that SpaceX and Crew-9 would bring them back after that six-month assignment with Crew 9 on station. So now Butch and Sonny have been there for nine

months. They plan to go for 10 days. They insist that they are not angry, they're not bitter, they do not feel abandoned, that they are professional astronauts and Navy veterans who are used to deployments lasting a bit longer, and now it's going to be even longer than that. Lester? All right, Tom Costello, thanks. We're back in a moment with a closer look at how some local governments are cashing in on migrant detentions potentially set to make millions of dollars from facilities like this one. The Department of Homeland Security says its immigration detention centers are full given the number of arrests made during the first 50 days of the Trump administration. Antonia Hilton now on why that could mean millions for local counties across the country.

This is what the cells look like. They're all the same. In Ohio's Butler County Jail, Sheriff Richard Jones is eager to fill these cells. Got a bed over here, little cabinet, sink. Happy to provide a resource now that the Department of Homeland Security says its immigration detention centers are at capacity after ICE arrested 32,809 individuals since President Trump's inauguration. Well, they have no jail space. So they can't do mass deportations without sheriffs like you. They need us and we are willing to help. I shook hands with President Trump. Right after Trump won the election in November, Jones contacted ICE and renegotiated

a contract his jail had with the agency during the first Trump administration. Butler County now charges ICE for holding detainees, renting out its beds for a price per head, potentially bringing the county millions of dollars a year. 300 beds. Yes, ma'am. What are you charging? As much as I can get. We're charging $68 a day, and that pays for my employees, pays for what they need. Tack on another $36 per hour for transportation. Is it about the money? No, it's about doing the right thing. If you look at what these people, the crimes that they have committed since they've been here, what's it worth for somebody that's been murdered or somebody that's been raped? Saito So says he accidentally missed a court appointment that led to a deportation order in 2006.

For years, his family sought to keep him in the U.S., but in 2016, he was convicted of a crime following a car collision. In 2018, ICE brought him to Sheriff Jones's jail in Butler County. He now lives in the Ivory Coast, separated from his daughter, a U.S. citizen. Butler County, I'm still going through some trauma from Butler County. He alleges staff at the jail beat another detainee until blood surrounded his cell. What are you worried could happen to other people like you there? Somebody's going to put hands on them. They will be beat up.

In a lawsuit filed in 2020 and still pending, other detainees shared experiences similar to So's. The sheriff's office denies all allegations, saying our staff are trained professionals and would not beat anyone. Jones has been reelected in this community six times, and for most of those years has had this sign right in front of his jail. That's the legal designation. The illegal aliens. That's where they're at. So now... But it's not an amusement park. Is it dehumanizing to have this here for people to just gawk and stare?

I don't see anybody gawking. Back in the migrant detention business, he's confident his Ohio community is with him. Antonia Hilton, NBC News, Hamilton, Ohio. And we will take a break here. Coming up, digging into Pompeii's secrets, our inside look with the archaeologists and the fascinating discoveries below centuries of ash.

Finally tonight, the history about Pompeii, that buried city in Italy, still captivates so many of us. Now scientists say the most important dig in a century is underway. NBC's Molly Hunter reports on what they found. Two thousand years later, Mount Vesuvius still towers above the ruins of the Roman city of Pompeii. Walking in before the crowds, we headed to the edge of the excavated area. Archaeologist Dr. Sophie Hay takes us inside the latest discovery. Wow. These frescoes are spectacular. They go on three walls, and you can see the figures are

nearly life-size. They're wild women doing things that typically women didn't do at the time, like eating raw meat, like hunting, and their initiation rites into the mysterious cults of Dionysus. Were the real women going to go out to the woods, hunt animals, eat raw meat? We still don't know that. We're walking on Roman ground level here, about 30 feet underground. It was all dug by hand, Dr. Hay explains. First, 10 feet of pumice stone from the eruption, then toxic gas and ash. They basically seal the top of Pompeii. So if you're left in the city at that point, you're never going to leave.

Following Dr. Hay down. Just how the Romans did it, right? We descend into a small room where two people died, barricaded inside the skeleton of an older woman clutching gold and pearl earrings. And this is portable wealth. This is something she can use beyond the walls of Pompeii after the eruption. Sadly, she never had that chance. Was this her lavish house or was she a slave, maybe a thief? But director Anna Onesti, who heads the dig, says the good news is they've only uncovered half the site. Every day here, there is a surprise. Molly Hunter, Pompeii, Italy. Absolutely fascinating. That's nightly news for this Wednesday. Thank

you for watching. I'm Lester Holt. Please take care of yourself and each other. Good night.