NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-04-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

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This message comes from Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right. They offer premium wireless plans for less and all plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, and nationwide coverage. See for yourself at mintmobile.com slash switch. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. Stock markets in Asia and Europe have plunged today. They're trailing yesterday's enormous slide on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 4 percent of its value. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plummeted nearly 6 percent. They're all reacting to President Trump's announcement of massive worldwide tariffs. And Bear's Mara Eliason reports, Trump insists trillions of dollars will flood into the U.S. because of the tariffs.

On his way from the White House to Florida for a charity golf event, Trump said he wasn't surprised by the market reaction to his tariffs. The Wall Street Journal estimates that the market drop equaled a loss of $2.7 trillion. But President Trump insists that the markets ultimately are going to surge. The thing that people have to talk about, we're up almost to $7 dollars of investment coming into our country and you'll see how it's going to turn out. Our country's going to boom. U.S. trading partners are promising to retaliate with tariffs of their own,

which are in effect an import tax paid by American consumers, who economists say may pay as much as $2,100 a year more per family. Mara Eliason, NPR News. Forecasters say a severe weather event is still underway through much of the central and Midwestern U.S. Devastating tornadoes have wrecked many communities, and storms have killed at least seven people in Indiana, Missouri, and Tennessee. The National Weather Service is warning of what it calls generational flooding. Forecaster David Roth says parts of the eastern U.S. are getting astonishing amounts of rain. There's an extensive area of flash flood warnings from northwest Tennessee across over half of Kentucky currently.

The rainfall that's occurred over the past 24 to 36 hours is even being pretty significant for this part of the country. There's some radar estimates near nine inches now since the rain began across portions of Western Kentucky. There's also a severe thunderstorm watch up for parts of Texas where large hail and damaging winds could come today. A federal judge in Washington is weighing

whether to hold Trump officials in contempt. This is over two flights that deported migrants to El Salvador last month. And PR Serrillo Martinez Beltran has more on Judge James Boasberg's hearing yesterday. At the core of the case is whether the Trump administration ignored Judge Boasberg's orders to turn back the flights carrying more than 100 men, allegedly members of a Venezuelan gang, who were removed under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Justice Department continues to stonewall over the details, invoking the state's secrets

privilege to not provide specifics about the flights. But an attorney for the DOJ says the administration did not violate the court's orders. Judge Boesberg did not buy it. He said, quote, there is a fair likelihood that that is not correct. In fact, the government acted in bad faith throughout that day. He's expected to decide whether to hold Trump officials in contempt next week. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News. You're listening to NPR.

The top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence committees are upset following news reports that the director of the National Security Agency has been fired. The New York Times and Washington Post report General Timothy Hawk has been dismissed. The paper's report, Hawk was fired after President Trump held a meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer, who called for the removal. NPR has not independently confirmed this. However, other NSC staffers have been fired. The Trump administration is looking at federal land to construct more data centers amid a boom in artificial intelligence. From the Mountain West News Bureau, Rachel Cohen has more. The Department of Energy identified 16 properties where it says

it can help companies build data centers fast. Many are national laboratory campuses including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, where Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited Thursday. It's a commercial arrangement using our land to get some value out of it that both helps the lab and helps the country by getting more data centers built. The department is seeking information from developers that want to build at these federal sites and hopes data centers will come online by the end of 2027. For NPR News, I'm Rachel Cohen in Golden, Colorado. Later this morning, the Labor Department

will release its latest monthly snapshot on jobs. Some analysts expect that employers created about 130,000 new jobs in March. That would be down from the 151,000 new jobs created in March. That would be down from the 151,000 new jobs created in February. The U.S. unemployment rate is now at 4.1 percent, but it may tick up slightly. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News. Following the news out of Washington, D.C. can be overwhelming. I'm Scott Detro, and

NPR has a podcast that can help. It's called Trump's Terms, stories about big changes the 47th president is pursuing on his own terms. Each episode is short, usually around five minutes or so. We keep it calm and factual. We help you follow what matters and we leave out what doesn't. Listen to Trump's Terms from NPR.