NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-04-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

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Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts, perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Political business and labor leaders across Canada are welcoming of reprieve and President Trump's threatened tariffs. But as Dan Karpanchuk reports, there are also warnings that it's only a pause.

After two phone calls with President Trump on Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there would be a pause of at least 30 days before tariffs would be unleashed. Trump and Trudeau found common ground on the border issue. Canada would appoint a Fentanyl Tsar, implement its $1.3 billion security plan, which includes deploying additional drones, personnel, surveillance equipment, and helicopters, as well as listing drug cartels as terrorists. Trump said Canada has agreed to secure the northern border and he's pausing tariffs to see whether a final economic deal with Canada can be structured. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpanchuk in Toronto. Meanwhile China's Ministry of Commerce is threatening retaliatory tariffs on select US goods beginning next Monday.

President Trump's 10 percent tariffs on imports from China took effect today. The newly created Government Accountability Office, or DOJ, is causing chaos and confusion at federal agencies. DOJ is being run by billionaire Elon Musk, whose actions are raising some legal questions. More from NPR's Shannon Bond. White House Secretary Caroline Levitt said, Elon Musk is what's known as a, quote, special government employee. That's a temporary appointment to perform a limited services. She said she does not have details about Musk's security clearance.

And we don't know about the status of others working at Doge, like whether or not they're government employees, what clearances they may have. What we do know is that some of these folks are young engineers who have come in from Silicon Valley. So for example, an email sent early Monday morning to USAID staff about the building being closed in Washington today had the name of a former Twitter employee on it. His LinkedIn page describes him as a special advisor to the director at the Office of Personnel Management, which is essentially the federal government's HR department, but he now also has a USAID email address.

NPR's Shannon Bond. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says El Salvador has agreed to accept criminals deported from the U.S. Michelle Kellerman reports. After spending the afternoon at President Naib Bukele's lakeside retreat, Rubio praised him for making El Salvador safer and more prosperous. He says Bukele has promised to take back all Salvadoran gang members who are living in

the U.S. illegally. And he's also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States, even if they're U.S. citizens or legal residents. We are profoundly grateful. Rubio called it unprecedented and extraordinary, though he didn't say whether the U.S. would actually send Americans to jails in El Salvador. He says he talked to President Trump about the offer. Michelle Kelliman in San Salvador. This is NPR News.

The Trump administration is exploring dramatic cuts to the Department of Education, Kelliman in San Salvador. This is NPR News. The Trump administration is exploring dramatic cuts to the Department of Education, including executive action to end some programs. Dozens of department employees have already been placed on administrative leave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington for a meeting with President Trump today. Netanyahu's White House visit comes amid negotiations over the second phase of a ceasefire deal for Gaza.

The agreement calls for an end to the war with Hamas and the return of all remaining Israeli hostages. The first phase of the agreement included the release of 33 captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. State Farm is seeking an emergency rate hike in California in wake of devastating fires around Los Angeles. As Kevin Stark of member station KQED reports, the insurance company says it has already paid out

more than a billion dollars on thousands of claims. State Farm says the rate hike is needed to avert a dire situation, raising serious questions about the health of its California subsidiary. They've asked to raise the average California homeowner's policy by more than 20 percent, starting in May. The company is the state's largest insurance group, Stanford's Michael Wara.

State Farm isn't very healthy financially because it has been really trying to stay in the California market and even grow in the California market as opposed to doing what most of the other companies have done, which is to shrink. State regulators say they're setting hearings to consider their request. For NPR News, I'm Kevin Stark in San Francisco. And I'm Shae Stevens. This is NPR News. Our long national nightmare is over. Stevens. This is NPR News.