NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-10-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

NPR News: 03-10-2025 5AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

These days, there's so much news, it can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community. The Consider This podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and analysis that helps you make sense of the news. We get behind the headlines. We get to the truth. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump is defending his decision to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, the president said the taxes paid by US firms that import goods will benefit the

nation's economy. Well, I think the tariffs are going to be the greatest thing we've ever done as a country. It's going to make our country rich again. We have many companies, as you know, auto companies, they're opening up plants now. We've had four or five announced already, but many more are coming. Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada but then exempted many of those goods just two days later. The president also doubled a blanket tariff on goods from China to 20 percent. In response, Beijing

announced retaliatory tariffs on some imports of agricultural goods from the US. France says it will use interest from Russian assets to fund $200 million worth of weapons for Ukraine. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports the announcement comes after Britain financed nearly $1 billion worth of military equipment using interest from frozen Russian assets. French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu says France will provide artillery shells and glide bombs for the French-made Mirage fighter jets it has already delivered. Europe is working to make up for U.S. cuts in aid to Ukraine. In a weekend interview with newspaper La Tribune, Lecornu said France also plans to hand over

some of its older armored fighting vehicles. While the European confiscation of frozen Russian assets is still controversial, the interest income they generate is being used. Eleanor Beardsley in PR News, Paris. The Trump administration's call for mail carriers to replace census workers is raising concerns about preparations for the next national headcount. NPR's Hansi Loewang reports Trump officials are also considering an attempt to fold the US Postal Service into the Census Bureau's

parent agency. Commerce Secretary Howard Letnick, who oversees a Census Bureau, recently told Fox News the concept of having his department take control of what Congress set up to be an independent postal service came out of an idea to save money. Imagine saying to your postman, can you count the people in the house? But the government accountability office has found it's not cost effective to replace census workers with higher paid mail carriers for the once a decade tally used to redistribute local representation and federal funding.

Former letter carrier Phil Rubio, who's now a professor at North Carolina A&T State University, says it could also disrupt deliveries. It would actually stop and interview people. I don't know where they would get that kind of time. Legal experts say without the approval of Congress, any attempt to fold the USPS into the Commerce Department would violate federal law. Anzila Wong, NPR News, Washington. On Wall Street, Dow futures are trading lower at this hour.

This is NPR. Firefighters are making progress battling a series of brush fires on Long Island that burned over 400 acres of land and prompted evacuations this weekend. But as NPR's Joe Hernandez reports, New York officials say they're still working to ensure the fire doesn't spread as high winds continue. Suffolk County officials say there are no more visible flames, but that the fires are only partially contained, which occurs when a boundary is established around the perimeter of a fire to stop it from spreading. The blazes began on Saturday, fueled by downed trees

and fanned by 35 mile per hour winds. More than 90 fire departments and EMS agencies responded, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency. Two firefighters were hospitalized with injuries and later released. Investigators say they're now looking into what sparked the fires and whether they were natural or caused by humans.

Joe Hernandez, NPR News. Plans to remove the iconic Black Lives Matter street mural in Washington, D.C. will get underway today. The decision to erase it comes a week after Republicans in the House introduced legislation giving the city an ultimatum, remove it or risk losing federal funding. The mural was painted on the street in front of the White House in 2020 after peaceful protesters were tear gassed by police. The demonstrations were part of a nationwide outcry over the death of George Floyd, who

was killed by police in Minneapolis. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Spencer Johnston, NPR News, in Washington.