NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-04-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

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Wait, wait, don't tell me. Fresh Air, up first. NPR News Now, Planet Money, Ted Radio Hour, ThruLine, the NPR Politics Podcast, Code Switch, Embedded, Books We Love, Wildcard, are just some. Of the podcasts, you can enjoy sponsor-free with NPR+. Get all sorts of perks across more than 20 podcasts with the bundle option. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Corva Coleman Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. A report from the Labor Department this morning shows a jump in hiring last month. NPR Scott Horsley reports U.S. employers added 228,000 jobs in March. The pace of hiring last month was stronger than the month before and

stronger than forecasters had expected. Jobs were added in health care and hospitality. Thousands of retail workers also returned to the job after a strike. Meanwhile, the federal government cut about 4,000 jobs in March, according to the official tally. In addition to 11,000 jobs eliminated the month before, the numbers are based on a survey conducted in the middle of each month. Overall, federal layoffs are significantly larger. Average wages in March were up 3.8% from a year ago, which is likely more than enough to outpace inflation. The unemployment rate inched up

to 4.2% as 232,000 people joined or rejoined the workforce. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. The markets are not buoyed by the jobs news. Investors are still reacting to President Trump's global tariffs. On Wall Street and pre-market trading, Dow futures are down about 1100 points. Trump's 10 percent tariffs on all imported goods take effect tomorrow. Trump's overall tariffs on China are much higher. Now China has hit back. Starting in less than a week, China will impose its own tariffs on U.S. goods of 34 percent. Trump's tariffs target a lot of goods U.S. companies

do not make. And as NPR's Alina Seljuk reports, when U.S. companies do produce the goods, they often cost more than imported ones. The reality is for so many things, you know, clothes, shoes, toys, electronics, the U.S. has not manufactured them at scale in ages or ever. And so, you know, one shopkeeper says she sells work boots. She has American-made boots. They are $400. Not everyone can afford that. So she also has imported ones that are half the price.

NPR's Elena Seljuk reporting. The head of the National Security Agency and his deputy have been fired, according to two prominent Democrats in Congress. As NPR's Greg Meyrie reports, this marks the latest dismissal of a senior military officer by the Trump administration. Air Force General Timothy Hawke served just over a year as director of the NSA, the spy agency that collects cyber intelligence worldwide. Senator Mark Warner and Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, issued late-night statements criticizing the firing.

The NSA declined to comment on the dismissal of Hawk and his deputy, Wendy Noble, who is a civilian. The move came just hours after several members of the National Security Council at the White House were also fired. The Trump administration previously dismissed several top military officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General C.Q. Brown. Greg Myrie, NPR News, Washington.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Powerful storms continue to rake the central and Midwestern parts of the U.S. The National Weather Service has warned that for some areas this is a once-in-a-generation series of storms. At least seven people have been killed by tornadoes. Some areas such as in Kentucky and Tennessee have gotten more than a foot of rain where flash flood warnings are posted. Later today, President Trump is expected to announce a deal to resolve the future of the video sharing app TikTok in the U.S.

As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, the agreement is expected to involve a group of investors led by the software firm Oracle. The agreement Trump is pushing would create a new U.S. entity to be spun off to oversee TikTok's U.S. operation. TikTok's secret sauce algorithm would still be controlled and updated by owner ByteDance in China, but it would be licensed to the new entity. ByteDance's stake would be below 20%, which is required under the federal law forcing TikTok to divest from China.

Since Trump took office, he said he would save TikTok despite trying to ban the app in his first term. He's talked about there being tremendous interest in the app used by half of Americans. But for months, the top contender in the deal has been Oracle, which is run by Trump ally Larry Ellison. Bobby Allen, NPR News. Tomorrow is the deadline set by the Trump administration for TikTok's Chinese parent company to sell the app.

The women's NCAA college basketball final four games are set for tonight in Tampa. South Carolina will meet Texas. After that, UCLA will take on Yukon. The men's final four games will begin tomorrow in San Antonio, Texas. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News. Do you remember when discovering a new artist felt like finding buried treasure? I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News.