NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-01-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: June 1, 2025

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On the Planet Money podcast, you've seen them, those labels that say made in China or made in France. But what do they really mean? The reaction was, it can't possibly work like that. That can't possibly be right. We dig into the delightfully convoluted rules behind country of origin. What makes, say, a Chinese product Chinese? And how companies facing tariffs are getting creative. From Planet Money on NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Aarons-Reed. China is denouncing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's speech this weekend to an international

defense forum in which he warned of threats posed by China. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Singapore. Anthony Kuhn In a statement on its website, China's foreign ministry said Hegseth's speech was provocative, smeared China, and peddled a Cold War vision of confrontation between opposing camps. In a speech to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Hegseth said the U.S. is strengthening its deterrence of China by, for example, deploying anti-ship missiles to the Luzon Strait near Taiwan in April. China's Foreign Ministry said the

U.S. is turning the Asia-Pacific region into a powder keg, ignoring the wishes of Asian nations for peace and development. The ministry says it lodged diplomatic representations with the U.S. over Hegseth's speech. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Singapore. Anthony Kuhn, PR News, Singapore In Gaza today, the Israeli military says it's investigating a report that its forces fired on people on their way to food distribution sites. Palestinian health officials say at least 32 people were killed. Congress returns tomorrow from its Memorial Day recess.

The Senate is expected to take up a huge tax cut and spending bill passed by the House last month. It would spend more money on defense and less on Medicaid and other programs that benefit lower-income Americans. Wealthier Americans would benefit more from reduced taxes. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the bill would add trillions of dollars to the national debt over 10 years. Russ Voeth, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, disagrees.

This bill doesn't increase the deficit or hurt the debt. In fact, it lowers it by $1.4 trillion. What some of the watchdogs have done is they have used CBO's artificial baseline, which doesn't allow and assume that current tax law will be extended because of sunsets that are in the law. He was interviewed on CNN. The Trump administration is calling for the reorganization of the Census Bureau and two other agencies that release key economic indicators.

NPR's Hansi Luong reports. The more than a thousand page document offers no details but says, quote, the president's budget proposes to reorganize the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau at the Department of Commerce. The Commerce Department's Public Affairs Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Merging those three federal agencies into one has been suggested by conservative groups behind the Project 2025 blueprint for governing. President Trump's proposal comes days after the Census Bureau confirmed it's lost more than a thousand employees as part of the administration's push to slash the federal government. It's now planning to scale back some of its work on producing statistics for the country.

Many data users are concerned about the federal government's ability to produce accurate head counts for redistributing political representation and indicators for monitoring the U.S. economy. Anzela Wong, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR News. The Atlantic hurricane season opens today. NPR News, Washington. This is NPR News. The Atlantic hurricane season opens today. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts 13 to 19 named storms this year, with 6 to 10 hurricanes. Director Mike Brennan is urging people to get ready to prepare a disaster kit, know

if they're under evacuation orders, and listen to local emergency officials. He says most fatalities from hurricanes are due to inland flooding, sometimes far from the coast. Sweden's Maja Stark holds a one-shot lead going into today's final round of the Women's U.S. Open Golf Championship. The 80th edition of the major tournament

is being played at the Aaron Hills Court's Neal Mawaunke. Chuck Hormbach of Member Station WUWM reports. Twenty-five-year-old Maya Stark has never won a U.S. women's major, but she shot a two-under par 70 on Saturday on a day when tough pin placements at Aaron Hills made things difficult for many golfers. Stark says during Sunday's final round, she'll just try to have fun. Because when I play scared, that's when I mess up.

And you can't really play scared at a course like this. Spain's Julia Lopez Ramirez had Saturday's best score, a 68, and is one shot back of Stark. Top US golfer Nellie Korda trails Stark by three strokes. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Aaron, Wisconsin. In basketball, the Indiana Pacers beat the New York Knicks last night to advance to the NBA Finals. They'll face the Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 1 is Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.

I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.