NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-27-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

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This is Fresh Air contributor Anne-Marie Baldonado. I talked with actor Cole Escola about their hit Broadway play, Oh Mary. Cole plays an unhinged alcoholic Mary Todd Lincoln, who's an aspiring cabaret performer. If that makes no sense, that's part of the point. You can find my interview on the Fresh Air Podcast. Lyle from NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump went on social media to defend his proposed 50% tariff rate on goods from the European Union. This came just two days after he said he had delayed that high tariff by more than a month. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben has the latest. Trump has used social media to create several days of tariff whiplash.

On Friday, he floated the idea of 50% tariffs on EU goods starting June 1st. Sunday, after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had spoken to Trump, he posted that he had agreed to postpone the tariffs to July 9th. Now he has written on social media he was, quote, extremely satisfied with a 50% tariff, adding he will set rates if he and the EU are unable to make a deal. Trump added that the EU has now reached out to set dates to negotiate tariff rates. His deadlines for tariffs on China and many other countries will come this summer. If deals are not reached by those dates, tariffs are set to ratchet upward. Danielle Kertzleib in NPR News, the White House. NPR and three Colorado public radio stations are suing President Trump. They filed suit

this morning over his executive order seeking to ban the flow of federal funds to NPR and PBS. NPR's David Fokinflick reports that public broadcasters allege that Trump's action constitutes clear-cut unlawful retaliation against protected speech. Trump's May 1st executive order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding NPR and PBS and directs local stations not to use federal funds to pay for the network's programming. The White House has blasted the public broadcasters for what it alleges is liberal bias. CPB has ignored the order.

It is a private corporation which distributes a half billion dollars in federal funds each year to public broadcasters, mostly local stations. The three radio stations joining NPR in the lawsuit reflect the disparate audiences served there Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT, which serves Native American tribes in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest. PBS says it's weighing its options. A White House spokesperson says the president is exercising his lawful authority. David Folkenflick, NPR News. Ukraine's intelligence service is now accusing China of supplying materials to Russian military

factories, a claim Beijing denies. Here's NPR's Emily Fang. Earlier this year, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 150 mercenaries from China are fighting on behalf of Russia. Ukraine also captured six soldiers it said were from China. Now Ukraine says it has data purporting to show Chinese parts and equipment going to about 20 Russian military factories. China's foreign ministry flatly rejected this allegation. It said it has not provided lethal weapons to either Russia or Ukraine and strictly controls dual-use items. China has stepped up its trade

with Russia over the last three years, however, helping to prop up a Russian economy under severe Western sanctions. Emily Fang, NPR News. This is NPR. Tesla sales are not doing great in Europe according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Today it's posting new data showing sales by Elon Musk's EV company fell 48% in April from the same time a year earlier across 32 European nations. Tesla's billionaire owner has been facing considerable backlash over his political views and involvement in the US as head of President Trump's Doge, the government-wide cost-cutting entity. The

supernatural horror film Sinner seems to be winning over a lot of critics. The movie was mainly shot in Louisiana but the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians played a significant role in the film but the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians played a significant role in the film. Shamir Mohammed of Mississippi Public Broadcasting reports the city of Clarksdale's residents petitioned producers to have the movie screen in their town. Cynthia Massey is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and was a cultural consultant for centers.

I enjoyed seeing our Choctaw language on the screen because pretty much it was the first time that was spoken on screen correctly. Other indigenous actors and centers say they hope the movie opens the door for more interest in Mississippi's indigenous cultures. The setting of the movie is Clarksdale, but without a theater in town, residents are unable to see it without leaving town. So producers have arranged special screenings of centers for later this week in the city's civic auditorium. For NPR News, I'm Shamir Mohammed-Jackson.

The Dow is up more than 700 points, or roughly 1.5%. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or a free download