NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-27-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

NPR News: 05-27-2025 4PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As NPR's daily economics podcast, the indicator has been asking businesses how tariffs are affecting their bottom line. I paid 800,000 today. You paid $800,000 in tariffs today. Yes. Wow. And what that means for your bottom line. Listen to the indicator from Planet Money.

Find us wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump administration's ending COVID vaccine recommendations for healthy pregnant women and children more than five years since the onset of the pandemic. NPR's Rob Stein has more on the latest shift at the CDC. The Department of Health and Human Services posted a video on X announcing the decision to remove healthy, pregnant people and children from the list of those who should get routine vaccination against COVID.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was flanked by National Institutes of Health Director J. Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin McCary in announcing the decision. I couldn't be more pleased to announce that as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule. The decision was made without the usual input from independent advisors. Rob Stein, NPR News. The administration is attempting to cut off about $100 million worth of remaining federal contracts with Harvard University. Harvard president Alan Garber tells NPR's morning

edition that the measures Trump has taken are perplexing. Why cut off research funding? Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all the research funding is not a gift. The research funding is given to universities and other research institutions to carry out work that the federal government designates as high priority work. It is work that they want done. President Trump accuses Harvard of enabling anti-semitic and anti-American activities. His grievances include Harvard's refusal to change its policies around screening

international students, DEI, hirings and admissions. Harvard and its allies argue that Trump's actions threaten the deeply rooted independence and constitutional rights of academic institutions across the US. Stocks rally today after President Trump decided not to impose a steep tax on European imports for at least a month. NPR's Scott Horstley reports stocks regain much of the ground they lost last week. Over the long weekend Trump said he would wait until at least early July to impose a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union. That provides at least a little time for the two sides to negotiate a trade deal and possibly avoid a punishing tit-for-tat tariff battle.

Trump took to social media saying the EU leaders have called to quickly set up meeting dates. For now imports from Europe are being taxed at a 10 rate, which is still much higher than before Trump returned to the White House. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. The Dow's closed up 740 points or 1.7% to end the day at 42,343. This is NPR News. Tesla sales in Europe plunged in April, continuing a recent trend for the electric automaker, yet it's still the top electric vehicle brand in the United States. NPR's Camilla Dominovski reports the brand has been struggling in Europe, though, even though Tesla's EV rivals have been gaining ground. Tesla's sales in the European Union were down more than 50% compared to a year ago. That's

according to data from a trade group. Meanwhile, battery electric car sales overall grew by more than a third. According to the vehicle data company Jato, Volkswagen is now the top EV seller in Europe, and Tesla isn't even in the top 10. Tesla has previously blamed a rocky first quarter on the redesign of the Model Y, which disrupted sales. More recently, in an interview with Bloomberg last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged Europe was Tesla's weakest market, but denied any broader sales troubles. Camila Domenosky, NPR News.

A Sherpa from Nepal set an imposing record today, climbing Mount Everest for the 31st time. Here's NPR's Bill Chappell. Kamirita Sherpa first reached the peak of Mount Everest in 1994. He's now 55 years old and still leading teams of mountaineers to the top of the world's highest mountain. Kamirita got to the top of Everest in the early morning hours, breaking his own record by standing at the peak for the 31st time. In some years Kamirita has completed two Everest climbs in a single season, but a new and different record was set last week when a younger Nepali Sherpa completed four climbs of Everest in just 15 days.

Bill Chappell, NPR News. This is NPR. Listen to this podcast sponsor free on Amazon Music with a prime membership