NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-07-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

NPR News: 02-07-2025 9PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump is back in Washington, pursuing major policy changes on his own terms. We know from the past that means challenging precedent, busting norms, and pushing against the status quo. NPR is covering it all with Trump's Terms, a podcast where we curate stories about the 47th president with a focus on how he is upending the way Washington works. Listen to Trump's Term terms from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Donald Trump and his cost-cutting crew under Doge

are apparently ready to tackle just about every branch of federal government, including the Department of Education and the Pentagon. That's based on comments today from President Trump, Trump after a meeting with Japan's prime minister, saying Elon Musk and Doge will continue to look to downsize government, though he said the cuts are unlikely to rival those made at the U.S. Agency for International Development. I've instructed him to go check out education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military,

and sadly you'll find some things that are pretty bad, but I don't think proportionally you're going to see anything like we just saw. At USAID, meanwhile, the federal judge has moved to temporarily block the administration's move to place more than 2,000 employees on administrative leave, the judge signing with federal employees associations that argue Trump's lack the authority to take such action. Several local governments are suing the Trump administration over its crackdown on policies limiting cooperation with immigration authorities. One Carlos Lora of Member Station KQED has more.

Trump has threatened to withhold funding from local governments with these sanctuary policies, and has asked federal law enforcement to investigate officials who don't assist in immigration enforcement. San Francisco City Attorney David Chu says these moves violate the Constitution's 10th Amendment, which gives states any powers not reserved for the federal government. The Trump administration is asserting a right it does not have. They are trying to tell us how to use our resources and to commandeer our local law enforcement. Santa Clara County, California, Portland, Oregon, New Haven, Connecticut, and King County, Washington

are also joining the lawsuit. For NPR News, I'm Juan Carlos Lada in San Francisco. Last week, President Trump ordered massive amounts of water diverted from two dams in California's agricultural heartland, falsely claiming it would be sent to Los Angeles to help battle wildfires. Ms. Joshua Yeager of Member Station KVPR reports it's much too early in the growing season for farmers to get much use in the water either.

Many farmers in the Central Valley say they're standing behind Trump anyway. I don't think valley growers feel that this was in any way done as an intentional, you know, attack on valley agriculture. Tricia Stever-Blattler runs the Tulare County Farm Bureau, which represents more than a thousand growers in this area. In general, farmers are supportive of what President Trump is trying to do in relaxing some of the really draconian

environmental laws in California. But any challenge to the way water is regulated in the state has an uncertain future. California sued over similar efforts during Trump's first term. For NPR News, I'm Joshua Yeager in Bakersfield, California. Stocks went into retreat mode at week's end. The Dow fell 444 points. The Nasdaq was down 268 points today.

You're listening to NPR. So much for the Trump bump, at least based on the latest consumer sentiment numbers from the University of Michigan. The University's consumer sentiment index fell 5% in preliminary February data. Much of the decline due to expectations the Trump administration tariffs, coupled with other actions, could be inflationary. With expectations, inflation this year could rise from the expected 3.3% rate to 4.3%. Cotter is saying it's extremely rare to see a 1% rise in inflation expectations.

President Trump's threats to impose new tariffs on European goods have also caused Americans to suddenly stockpile their favorite Italian wines. That includes Prosecco. And Bruce Sherlock has that story. The statistics are clear says Lamberto Frisco Baldi of the Union of Italian wines Americans are not willing to give up on our vino. The Trade Association says US imports of Italian wine mostly Prosecco skyrocketed by 41% in November after Trump's election. This peak in orders is unprecedented,

the association says. In the history of Italy's sparkling wine exports for the month of November, President Trump has threatened to slap new import taxes on European goods. Italy sends nearly one quarter of its wine to the United States. Last year, these exports totaled more than 1.9 billion US dollars. The

Union of Italian Wine says tariffs could seriously damage this valuable market. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Rome. Critical futures prices closed higher today. Oil up 39 cents a barrel to settle at $71 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from NYU Langone. New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.