NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-04-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

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Usher, Yo-Yo Ma, Boy Genius, Shaka Khan, Billie Eilish, Weird Al, one thing all these big stars have in common, they've all played behind NPR's Tiny Desk. And if you enter NPR's Tiny Desk Contest between now and February 10th, you could be next. Unsigned musicians can find out more and see the official rules at npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. The Trump administration's 10% tariffs on goods from China are now in effect. And NPR's John Ruhits reports that Beijing

has announced plans to retaliate. China's State Council or cabinet approved 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States. It also announced 10% tariffs on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and specific other kinds of vehicles, including certain SUVs. The Chinese tariffs are scheduled to take effect on February 10. China also made two other announcements that, while not explicitly linked to the Trump tariffs, appear to have been timed to send a message.

The Commerce Ministry and Customs Administration announced export controls on a handful of metals with a range of applications in tech manufacturing. And the country's market regulator announced that it was launching an anti-monopoly investigation into Google. John Ruech, NPR News, Beijing. Two unions and an advocacy group are suing the U.S. Treasury Department for giving the newly created White House Office Doge access to its payment systems. The plaintiffs say the move exposes personal information on millions of Americans.

Doge is being led by billionaire Elon Musk. President Trump says that Musk will not take any action without White House approval. Well, he's got access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good, if we agree with him. And it's good if we agree with him. And it's only if we agree with him. He's a very talented guy from the standpoint of management and costs. And we put him in charge of seeing what he can do with certain groups and certain numbers. The numbers, some of the numbers are horrible, what he's found.

Elon Musk is leading Trump's campaign to upend government agencies and cut spending. Defense Secretary Pete Hagsteth toured the southern border Monday and visited troops at Fort Bliss in El Paso. More from Angela Kachurga of Member Station KTEP. This is a new era at the southern border. That was Defense Secretary Pete Hagsteth's message standing on a mesa overlooking the border.

Soldiers posted on the spot keep watch from above in support of Border Patrol, but they are not engaged in border enforcement like arrests. After thanking the troops, Hegseth acknowledged their role is not new. Frankly, the Defense Department has been helping on the border for decades, just not at the level that President Trump is charged us with right now. Hexad said, along with deploying more troops to the border, the Department of Defense is providing detention space

at Guantanamo Bay for some deported migrants. I'm Angela Cocheregan, El Paso. A federal judge in Washington has issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's effort to freeze funding for federal grants and other programs. The order expands a pause that was issued by the same court a week ago and gives the

Office of Management and Budget until Friday to submit a status report on its compliance. This is NPR News. The University of California's system is being sued for alleged racial discrimination in admissions. A group called Students Against Racial Discrimination claims that all of UC's nine campuses are favoring black and Latino applicants over what it calls better qualified white and Asian American applicants. The lawsuit comes months after the UC system announced

that it had admitted the largest and most diverse class in its history last fall. Race-based college admissions were outlawed in California nearly 30 years ago under voter approved Proposition 209. Google is trying to get out from under a jury verdict that declared its app store for Android smartphones an illegal monopoly. NPR's Stryle Snyder reports on Monday's court arguments in California.

Google wants a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to undo the jury verdict in a case brought by the video game maker Epic Games. Epic filed its lawsuit against Google in 2020. At the same time, it sued Apple over how it operates its App Store. But while Epic largely lost the Apple case, it won a jury verdict against Google in 2023. In October, a federal judge ordered Google to make changes to how its Play Store operates. That order is on hold. While Google's appeal plays out, the appeals court panel is not expected to rule for several months. In a separate antitrust case, the Justice Department is seeking to force Google

to sell its Chrome browser. Trial Snyder, NPR News. US futures rose after the Trump administration paused tariffs on Canada, but are up at this hour after China announced retaliatory tariffs on US imports. This is NPR. The indicator for plenty of money is diving into the world of batteries. Not the kind you buy at the grocery store. We're talking really big batteries. The kind that can power thousands of homes.

This technology came seemingly out of nowhere. We're digging deep into the battery industry in three back-to-back episodes. Listen to the indicator from Planet Money podcast on NPR.