NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-04-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

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99% of the U.S. population lives within listening range of at least one public media station. And everyone can listen to NPR podcasts free of charge. That means you get completely unpaywalled access to stories, prize-winning reporting, and shows that represent the voices in every corner of the country. Hear the bigger picture every day on NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Stock markets are spooked again today as investors try to make sense of President Trump's worldwide tariffs.

The Dow Jones industrials lost nearly 4 percent of their value yesterday. In pre-market trading this morning, Dow futures are down 3.5 percent. Meanwhile, China is hitting back. NPR's Johnewich reports, Beijing will impose tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. goods. In coordinated statements, government ministries laid out the details of China's retaliation, which sharply escalates the trade war between the world's two biggest economies. The finance ministry will impose a 34 percent tariff on all U.S. imports. That's the same rate that

the Trump administration imposed on China during Wednesday's so-called Liberation Day global tariff blitz. China's tariffs take effect on April 10. The Ministry of Commerce is adding 16 U.S. entities to an export control list and 11 to a so-called unreliable entities list, effectively blacklisting them. It also said it's imposing export controls on a handful of rare earth minerals, making it harder for American companies to buy them. And China's Customs Department is suspending farm product import qualifications for several American companies. John Ruch, NPR News, Beijing.

One group that is celebrating the new Trump tariffs is Gulf Coast Shrimpers. Stephen Bisaha of the Gulf States Newsroom reports that shrimpers have long complained that cheap imports have harmed their industry. About 80% of all seafood consumed in the United States is imported. And a big portion of that is foreign shrimp. Shrimp that U.S. fishers say is subsidized, driving down prices and driving them out of business.

Bosaarge Boats in Pascagoula, Mississippi, has been in Leanne Bossard's family for generations. She believes that tariffs will give southern shrimpers an even playing field. It makes us feel like we finally have somebody looking out for the little guy and we may be able to continue a heritage that we're very proud of and feed our country. India is the largest exporter of shrimp to the United States and now faces a 27 percent tariff. For NPR News, I'm Stephen Besaha in Birmingham, Alabama.

The top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees are expressing outrage over the reported firing of the director of the National Security Agency. The New York Times and the Washington Post are reporting that President Trump has fired NSA Director General Timothy Hawk and his deputy. The reports say Hawk was dismissed after Trump met with far-right activist Laura Loomer, although that has not been independently confirmed by NPR. NPR's Domenico Montanaro reports that President Trump was asked about the firings yesterday.

Trump denied that Loomer was the reason for these firings. He said that she actually made recommendations for additions. But Loomer herself posted on X, one of the many platforms that she'd been banned from before Elon Musk bought it, that she did report to Trump people who she sees as disloyal, not to the country or Constitution, but to him. NPR's Domenico Montanaro reporting.

This is NPR. The Labor Department will release its latest jobs reports this morning. Economists expect about 130,000 jobs were created in March. That is fewer than in February. Thousands of cultural organizations across the country have been told their federal grants have been terminated. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports the grants were distributed by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A letter from the administration says NEH grants are being terminated effective immediately because the NEH is repurposing its funding to further President Trump's agenda. The NEH supports museums, libraries, education and history projects across the U.S. Nearly half of NEH funds goes directly to 56 state and local humanities councils. Caroline Lowry, head of the Oklahoma Humanities Council, says the impact will be devastating. Among its projects, oral histories from survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and archiving material from the 1995 Oklahoma bombing. This will mean the erasure of our ability to preserve and share our history. The NEH did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Washington.

The Philadelphia Zoo is celebrating the birth of four critically endangered Galapagos tortoises. It's the first time this has happened at the Philly Zoo. Even more astonishing is the age of the hatchlings' parents. The two Galapagos tortoises, named Abrazo and Mommy, are about 100 years old. The tortoises can live up to 200 years. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News. This is Ira Glass. In Lily's family, there's a story everybody knows by heart. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News.