NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-13-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

NPR News: 05-13-2025 5PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Tariffs, recessions, how Colombian drug cartels gave us blueberries all year long. That's the kind of thing the Planet Money podcast explains. I'm Sarah Gonzalez and on Planet Money, we help you understand the economy and how things all around you came to be the way they are. Para que sepas. So you know. Listen to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Donald Trump today announced he will end sanctions against Syria as he seeks to try and normalize relations with its new government. Development coming before a plan meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharah in Saudi Arabia. Al-Sharah, a one-time insurgent, led the overthrow last year of Syria's longtime leader Bashar al-Assad.

Trump says the overture came at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkey's president. Trump said in terms of Syria, he wants to give the country, quote, a chance at peace. President Trump has done a lot with his first few months in office, but much of what he's promised to accomplish quickly

remains incomplete. And Piers Domenico Montanaro looks at the challenges ahead and where Trump stands politically at this point. President Trump took bold action in his first few months in office. He signed 147 executive orders, tried to reshape the federal government, and attempted to win peace deals overseas. But this is a pivotal juncture in Trump's presidency. Domestically, in order to forge a lasting legacy, he needs Congress.

Trump is trying to get a tax cut bill passed, but he's working with a very narrow Republican majority that has some conflicting views on how to spend and what not to spend on. Internationally, Trump has not been able to get the peace deals in Ukraine or the Middle East that he's wanted, and he's looking for off-ramps from trade wars that have dragged down his approval ratings. Domenico Montanaro, NPR News, Washington. U.S. businesses could begin taking advantage of the 90-day pause in tariffs announced by the U.S. and China this week.

NPR's Windsor Johnson reports the temporary suspension affects billions of dollars in goods and importers are scrambling to lock in prices before the duties possibly return. Some companies are moving to expedite shipments and lock in contracts before the narrow window closes. Mark Wu, an international trade expert at Harvard University, says the short-term reprieve may temporarily stabilize or even lower prices. One area where there will be cheaper goods is in the online e-commerce space. So as part of the agreement, the tariffs on the online direct shipments from China are

going to decline, and those would have taken effect soon. Experts say the pause in tariffs is also creating a frenzy of uncertainty as businesses try to predict what happens next. Windsor-Johnston NPR News, Washington. The Commissioner of Major League Baseball has removed Pete Rose, Shoeless, Joe Jackson, and 15 other deceased players from the sports permanent ineligibility list. The move clears the way for Rose, Jackson, and others to potentially be voted into the Hall of Fame. MLB Commissioner Rob Manford made the decision after the Rose family filed an application

to change the policy following Rose's death last year at age 83. Rose was never inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame because of his lifetime ban for betting on the game. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 269 points. This is NPR. Software maker Microsoft says it will lay off roughly 3% of its workforce. The company did not disclose the exact number of positions that will be affected, though based on current employment numbers it would be about 6,000 jobs.

As of last June, the last time the company reported employment numbers, it had about 228,000 full-time workers. Microsoft says the layoffs will be across all areas and locations of the company, though the focus will be on reducing management levels. After the Trump administration cut most U.S. foreign aid earlier this year, some foundations wanted to help fill the enormous gap in funding, but were not sure how to do it.

A small team is helping them figure that out. More from MPR's Ari Daniel. The group calls itself Project Resource Optimization. They sifted through the $35 billion of foreign aid commitments once funded by the United States Agency for International Development. They then painstakingly calculated which were the most cost-effective and life-saving, whittling the list down to 54 so far. Caitlin Tulloch is an economist. She helped start this initiative.

This is not about getting everything we want, making things whole again. But it's something. The team has already matched 13 programs with private donors and foundations. Their goal is to get as many programs on their list funded as possible. R.E. Daniel, NPR News. Critical futures prices moved higher today. Oil gained ground amid continued optimism over lessening tariff tensions between the

U.S. and China. Oil was up nearly 3 percent to $63.67 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.