NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-04-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

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Our long national nightmare is over. Beyonce has finally won the Grammy for Album of the Year. How and why did it take so long for Beyonce to win the top prize at Music's Biggest Night? We're talking about her big wins and breaking down the Grammys for Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Rhone, and Sabrina Carpenter. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. China is threatening to impose a series of new tariffs on American imports starting next week.

The retaliatory measures were announced hours after U.S. imposed taxes took effect on Chinese goods. The White House on Monday granted a last-minute extension on new tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports. NPR's Deepa Sivaram reports the move followed a phone call between President Trump and the leaders of those countries. President Trump posted on his social media platform that the tariffs on Canada, which were supposed to go into effect on Tuesday, would be paused to see if an economic deal between the two countries could be reached.

Trudeau also shared the news on social media and said Canada would invest $1.3 billion to enforce the U.S.-Canada border to help stop the flow of fentanyl, though only a tiny percentage of fentanyl that comes to the U.S. is through the northern border. Tariffs on Mexico were also given a 30-day pause after Mexican leader Claudia Sheinbaum and Trump spoke, and Mexico agreed to beef up security on the southern border. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News, The White House. Lawmakers and legal experts are warning

the Trump administration that shutting down the agency for international development is unconstitutional. Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin says USAID down the agency for international development is unconstitutional. Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin says USAID was established by an act of Congress. Congress authorized it. Congress appropriates the money and it is implementing congressional programs to support U.S. foreign policy and democracy and development all over the world. The government efficiency cost-cutting team led by tech billionaire Elon Musk argues that

funding for the agency has been used to launch deadly programs and has called it a criminal organization without evidence. President Trump's executive action on immigration that prevents migrants from requesting asylum at the southern border is being challenged in court. NPR Sergio Martinez Beltran reports. The lawsuit filed by the ACLU and others argues that Trump's effort to unilaterally ban access to asylum is unlawful because it overrides Congress's authority. Lee Gelernt of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project says Trump's move closes all avenues for asylum in the country.

That's an unprecedented power grab. We think it's unlawful and that's why we've sued. The ACLU is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to immediately block the Trump administration from implementing the asylum ban at the southern border. In response, a White House statement says Trump was, quote, given a resounding mandate to end the disregard and abuse of our immigration laws. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Austin. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

Health officials in Uganda have started a clinical trial of a vaccine against a strain of Ebola that killed one person last week. Health workers and others who were exposed to that strain are being targeted in the study. The Ugandan Health Ministry says more than 200 people have been identified in the outbreak. Venezuelan Americans are calling on the Trump administration's policy change on temporary protective status, or TPS, a betrayal. NPR's Greg Allen reports the administration is proposing to end protections that shielded hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans from deportation.

Secretary of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says renewing temporary protected status for more than 300,000 Venezuelans is, quote, contrary to the national interest. That comes as a blow to Venezuelans who came to the U.S. seeking refuge from the authoritarian Nicolas Maduro regime and now face possible deportation. Adelise Ferro, with the Venezuelan American Caucus, says her community is shocked and disappointed. During the campaign, the elected officials from the Republican Party, they actually told us that it was not going to touch the documented people.

TPS designations are generally 6 to 18 months, but repeated extensions are not uncommon. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami. A violin will become the most expensive musical instrument ever sold when it goes up for auction this week at Sotheby's in New York. The instrument was made in 1714 by Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari. This is NPR News In Washington.