NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-31-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

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We've all been there running around a city looking for a bathroom but unable to find A very simple free market solution is that we could just pay to use a bathroom But we can't on the planet money podcast the story of how we once had thousands of pay toilets And why they got banned from planet money on NPR wherever you get your podcasts Live from NPR news in Washington, I'm Gile Snyder. President Trump says his plan to double to 50% the tariff on foreign steel and a planned partnership with Japan's Nippon Steel will put those who work in the industry in a better position.

Steel workers are very happy. We did the tariffs. It's going to make them even more competitive. and it's turning out to be a great deal. I think it's going to be a fantastic deal. President Trump spoke to reporters after returning to the nation's capital last night from Pittsburgh. He said the new tariff would go into effect next week. On social media he said the increase would also apply to aluminum imports. Trump traveled to Pittsburgh to tout the agreement with Nippon Steel to give a boost to the storied steelmaker US Steel,

but some details of the arrangement remain unclear. More business leaders and lawmakers are sounding the alarm about how President Trump's tariffs could hurt the economy. NPR's Maria Aspin spoke with Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota. Senator Rounds says he's generally supportive of President Trump's efforts to negotiate what he calls better trade deals. But he adds that there's been a lot of back and forth. A lot of us have been frustrated just in terms of the fact that the types of tariffs and the amount of tariffs have changed literally on a daily basis and sometimes multiple times.

Rounds is not alone among Republicans on this. He doesn't like tariffs long term. But he says he's still hopeful that President Trump can use his new tariffs as a short-term negotiating tactic. It's been a little over 100 days so far. So we're going to give him the opportunity to be successful before we be real critical about it. Maria Aspin, NPR News, Semivalley, California.

Ukraine has yet to confirm if it will attend another round of peace talks in Istanbul. The talks are set for Monday, but President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine first needs to see Russian proposals on ending the wars. Zelensky says Russia is undermining diplomacy. In Washington, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says that he expects a Russian sanctions bill

will start moving next week. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is reorienting its military posture to focus on the threat from China. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Singapore, where Hegseth spoke at an annual defense forum. Hegseth said that the U.S. does not seek to strangle, dominate, or humiliate China.

But he warned that China is intimidating its neighbors and threatening Taiwan. It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Hegseth called on allies to ramp up defense spending. He also devoted much of his speech to praising President Trump's skills as a dealmaker and for increasing the security of U.S. borders. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke ahead of Hegsef. He warned that abandoning Ukraine would undermine the credibility of the U.S.'s commitment

to defend Taiwan. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Singapore. This is NPR News, Singapore. This is NPR News. Federal officials are warning of worsening air quality in parts of the U.S. as dozens of wildfires burn in Canada. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, air quality is very unhealthy in Bismarck, North Dakota, and the National Weather Service, as Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Arkansas could be affected over the next day or so. The flames in Canada have forced thousands to evacuate the city of Flintlawn in the Prairie

province of Manitoba as a virtual ghost town this weekend. The actor known for playing Margaret Hotlip's hula hand in the long-running TV show MASH has died, according to a statement by her publicist, Loretta Switt died overnight Friday at her home in New York. She was 87. And Piers Andrew Limbong reports. Compared to some of the jokier doctors on the sitcom, Margaret Houlihan was no-nonsense, dedicated to serving in the U.S. Army as the best nurse in the Korean War.

My father was a colonel and my mother was a nurse and I was conceived on maneuvers. The Army's in my blood. MASH ran for 11 seasons and through that time, Loretta Switt and the writers gave the character more depth as she pushed back against higher ups trying to take advantage of her. I'm not a pushover anymore. Get yourself another clay pigeon. You're gonna hate yourself in the morning. Get out of my tent, General. Besides the show's star, Ellen Alda, Switt was the only other actor to appear in the show's pilot

and its history-making finale, picking up two best-supporting actress Emmys in the process. Andrew Limbaugh and PR News. Beekeepers in Washington state have been working to save as many bees as they can after a commercial truck carrying them overturned near the Canadian border yesterday. The truck was carrying an estimated 250 million honeybees. This is NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. estimated 250 million honeybees. This is NPR News.