NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-01-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. President Trump signed executive orders today imposing 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and 10 percent on goods from China. He says energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10 percent tariff. It's not clear when these tariffs take effect though. These countries are the US's three biggest trading partners. Trump says he's imposing them because he claims the countries allow fentanyl to come into the U.S. and also because of the trade deficit between the U.S. and these three countries. Both Canada and Mexico have vowed to retaliate

in kind if Trump went ahead with the new tariffs. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is heading to Panama today on his first trip as the Trump administration's top diplomat. Trump has threatened to take back the Panama Canal, which Rubio plans to visit tomorrow. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. In recorded video messages, both in Spanish and English, Secretary Rubio says he's putting a priority on the Western Hemisphere, a region he says has been overlooked. American leadership is back and we stand with our regional partners. This is where we live. This is the region we call home and it's where our future prosperity and security in large

part will depend. Panama's president says he's ready to talk about migration and trade but has ruled out any discussion with Rubio over control of the Panama Canal. The Secretary plans to visit the canal on Sunday. The trip will also take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. Hamas today released three hostages, including 65-year-old Keith Siegel, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. In exchange,

Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. This, as the next phase of negotiations on the Israel Hamas ceasefire are set to begin. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Trump in Washington next week. Elon Musk is his ex is suing Lego, Tyson's food and shell brands international. As MPR's Bobby Allen reports, the suit claims the corporations conspired against his social media platform by participating in a 2022 advertising boycott. In the suit, lawyers for X say the companies took part in a brand safety protest that deprived the platform of billions of dollars in ad revenue.

The suit was originally filed against the World Federation of Advertisers and CVS and video streamer Twitch, but has now been expanded to include half a dozen others. Musk, a top advisor in the Trump administration, says many big advertisers haven't returned to X. It comes as other companies, including Meta and ABC, pay out millions of dollars to settle Trump suits filed before he took office. Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, said Meta's $25 million settlement to Trump, quote, looks like a bribe. NPR's Bobbi Allen reporting. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

The Sundance Film Festival announced a 2025 awards in Park City, Utah yesterday, and Pierce Bob Mandello says some of the leading prizes, though, went to films that haven't yet found distributors. The top jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition went to the satirical comedy Atropia, about a military war games training village in the California desert that's populated entirely by actors. The audience award for that same category went to Twinless, about a man struggling to process the death of his identical twin.

Like many of the other independently produced features, neither film had been picked up for distribution. As of the ceremony, it's been a sluggish sale season for Sundance. This year's 41st edition of the festival screened almost 90 feature films and more than 50 shorts selected from more than 15,000 submissions. Bob Mandelo, NPR News. Costco and the Teamsters Union have reached a tentative contract agreement, avoiding a strike. Details haven't been released, but the union had said it wanted a contract reflecting Costco's sales and profit growth. The company's revenue rose 5 percent to $254 billion in its most recent fiscal year that ended on September 1st. The deal now has to be approved

by union members. The Teamsters represent 18,000 Costco workers in six states, California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York. Last month, union members voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike if a new three-year contract was not reached by last night when the current contract expired. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.