NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-23-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

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Know that fizzy feeling you get when you read something really good, watch the movie everyone's been talking about, or catch the show that the internet can't get over? At the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we chase that feeling four times a week. We'll serve you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, and more. From lowbrow to highbrow to the stuff in between, catch the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. European officials say President Trump's threat to impose a 50% tariff on the European Union will cause suffering in both the US and Europe.

NPR's Rob Schmidt reports from Berlin. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadepal said Germany will be counting on further negotiations with the Trump administration as well as support from the European Commission in defending the European market from Trump's threatened 50 percent tariff, which in a post on Truth Social he said the U.S. would impose starting in June. The president also threatened a 25 percent tariff on Apple products unless iPhones begin to be manufactured in America. The European Commission's stance on trade with the U.S. is that it's roughly in balance if both goods and services are calculated. Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Berlin.

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to revoke the ability of Harvard to enroll international students. A judge issuing a temporary restraining order, stopping the federal government from pulling Harvard's certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which allows the school to sponsor international students who obtain visas to study in the U.S. The move came in a letter sent to the university by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem yesterday. In its suit, Harvard said the government's action violates the First Amendment and would have a devastating effect on more than 7,000 students.

An independent watchdog has ruled the Trump administration is blocking funds Congress has already approved. The Government Accountability Office ruling yesterday it was a violation of the Empowerment Control Act. Here's NPR's Deepa Sivaram. During the Biden administration, Congress doled out $5 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to be used for electric vehicle charging stations. Biden administration, Congress doled out $5 billion in the bipartisan infrastructure act to be used for electric vehicle charging stations.

But the Trump administration illegally withheld that money, the GAO report says. Russ Vogt, who leads Trump's budget office, says the report is of no consequence. He says the GAO is trying to get in the way of the Trump administration's work to, quote, manage taxpayer dollars effectively. The report says that if Trump wants to make changes to where the funding is appropriated, he needs to go through a process called rescission, where he asks Congress, which holds the power of the purse to cancel the funds. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News.

House Republicans are jubilant about their success in muscling through President Trump's so-called big beautiful bill, which would primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans, but not everyone is cheering. Big losers under the legislation would be millions of low-income and disabled people who rely on Medicaid, as well as food aid recipients, student loan borrowers, and clean energy projects. Even EV and hybrid drivers would take a hit. Under the House version, they'd face a new annual tax tied to registrations. EV owners would pay $250 a year, while hybrid drivers would take a hit. Under the house version, they'd face a new annual tax tied to registrations. EV owners would pay $250 a year while hybrid drivers would pay $100 a year to generate

revenue for the highway trust fund. It's currently funded by a gas tax paid at the pump. Stocks lost ground on Wall Street today. The Dow was down 256 points. This is NPR. United Airlines says it has reached a tentative deal with the union representing 28,000 of its flight attendants. The airline says final contract language is still being worked out. However, the union says it will result in a financial gain of 40% in the first year

of the agreement. The contract still needs to be approved by local presidents and would need to be ratified by the flight attendants. United says the deal would include a signing bonus. Toyota says it's recalling more than 400,000 Tundra pickup trucks because of a defect in backup lights. As NPR's Kamila Dominovski explains, the problem affects vehicles produced in the model year

2022 and newer. Some Toyota Tundra pickups are getting water damage and corrosion in the backup lights, causing the lights to fail. That's a problem both because other drivers can't tell a truck is reversing and because it reduces a driver's ability to see while backing up. The problem stems from a specific kind of glue used in only some reverse lamp assemblies, but the automaker can't even estimate how many of the trucks have this problem, so they're going to replace the lights on all of them. As always, for a safety recall, the fix will be free.

Recall letters will be sent out by mid-July. Kamila Domenosky, NPR News. Plenty of people have woken up in the morning to find a car crashed into the lawn in front of their house, but a Norwegian man has a bigger story to tell. Johan Helberg, whose house sits on a piece of land overlooking a fjord, says he woke up to find a 443-foot cargo ship had run aground on his front lawn. Not only that, but Helberg apparently slept through it, saying a neighbor woke him up to say if he'd noticed the giant ship.

The cargo ship missed the house by about 24 feet. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.