NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-09-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

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On the Wild Card Podcast, author John Green fights to be optimistic. I keep learning again and again that hope is the right response to the human condition. And I have to learn this over and over again because despair is an incredibly powerful force in my life. I'm Rachel Martin. Join us for NPR's Wild Card Podcast, the show where cards control the conversation. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. US stocks are now soaring. The Dow is up more than 2,500 points or nearly 7%. The S&P up 8%. And the NASDAQ has surged more than 10%. This after Treasury Secretary Scott Besson announced a 90-day reprieve on US tariffs

for most countries, except for China. We're gonna go down to a 10% baseline tariff for them, and China will be raised to 125 due to their insistence on escalation. Outside the White House, a short time ago, Besson criticized China's tit-for-tat tariffs. What China is doing will affect their economy much more than it will ours because they have an export-driven, flood-the-world, with cheap export models, and the rest of the world now

understands because when we put up our tariff wall, those exports are already flowing to the rest of the G7 and to the global south. Earlier today, China announced an additional 50 percent retaliatory tariff on all U.S. goods, bringing the total tariff level to 84 percent. The EU separately said it would impose retaliatory tariffs on 22 billion euros' worth of American products such as soybeans, motorcycles, and orange juice in response to US steel and aluminum tariffs. The two major economies responded after Trump's latest round of tariffs took effect overnight. A new administration policy designed to curb social security fraud is being criticized by the left-leaning Center

on Budget and Policy Priorities. Here's NPR's Ashley Lopez. People seeking retirement or survivor benefits from the Social Security Administration will have to seek services online or in person at a local Social Security office. Officials say this is an effort to prevent fraud, but Kathleen Roe-Migg with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says about six million seniors

live more than 45 minutes away from the closest office. That's really burdensome for a lot of people. Not everyone drives, particularly seniors or people with disabilities. Romig says ongoing staff cuts at the agency will likely increase wait times for in-person services. Ashley Lopez, NPR News. Authorities confirming 113 people are dead after the roof of a nightclub collapsed overnight early Tuesday in the Dominican Republic. Here's NPR's Ada Peralta. The roof collapsed in the early morning hours in the capital Santo Domingo. It happened

in the middle of a concert by the merengue star, Rubi Perez. Videos posted on social media show concertgoers trapped under slabs of concrete. Dominican authorities say more than 150 people had been transported to nearby hospitals, but the rescue mission continues. Authorities say they don't yet know how many people were at the club at the time of the collapse, so they're asking family members to report they're missing. Perez, the singer, was among the dead in the collapse. Octavio Lotel, who pitched for the New York Mets and the Detroit Tigers, among others, was also killed. That's Ada Peralta. It's NPR News. In another win for President Trump, a panel of judges on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court ruling ordering 20 federal agencies to reinstate probationary employees they had fired. The decision further

clearing the way for the administration to refire for now thousands of probationary employees, typically those in their first or second year on the job, were recently promoted into new roles. Staff at the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program were heavily affected by sweeping cuts last week to the nation's federal health agencies. NPR's Yukinoguchi reports that unit reduced incidents of black lung disease. A 1969 law stood up the program that's been X-raying and monitoring lung health among all coal miners in the country for free. Scott Laney, the epidemiologist who headed research there until the cuts, credits those

efforts with dramatic reduction in rates of black lung disease. Without an office to run the program, he worries that will reverse. It's going to be killing young men, and that story will go untold. Laney says most of his unit's staff were placed on administrative leave April 1st, and the program's been idle. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News. Recapping our top story, the Trump administration has announced a 90-day reprieve on U.S. tariffs for most countries except for China, and U.S. markets are reacting with the Dow up more

than 2,600 points, or roughly 7%. The S&Ps climbed more than 8%. The Nasdaq up more than 10%. It's NPR News. Hey, it's NPR News. Hey, it's A. Martinez. Even as the host of a news show, it can be hard to keep up with the headlines. That is why we make the Up First podcast.

Every morning in under 15 minutes, we cover three major stories with context and analysis from reporters around the world. So you can catch up on what's going on while getting ready, making breakfast, or going to work. So listen to the Up First podcast from NPR.