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Episode Date: July 24, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. President Trump is imposing sweeping double-digit tariffs on dozens of major U.S. trading partners today, including the European Union. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says more than 99 percent of U.S. imports come from these countries, though a broad swath of goods, including energy-related ones, are exempted. Trump says he's putting 10 to 12.5 percent tariffs on 60 economies that he says makes product, with forced labor. This after the Supreme Court struck down his previous tariffs, which included 10 percent, levied against all U.S. trading partners. The U.S. military struck Iran again last night for the 13th consecutive night in a row. This is Iran, says it hit U.S. targets in Bahrain and Jordan.

That sent oil prices rising yesterday. Brent crude oil, the international standard, jumped 6 percent yesterday to over $100 a barrel. And peers Hidal al-Sholci has more. It came after the Iran-backed Yemeni Hothis attack two Saudi oil tankers trying to cross the Red Sea. Now, the Hothis got involved in the war earlier this week and said it was in retaliation for a siege the Saudi Arabia placed on Yemen and for Saudi attacks on the capital's international airport. The rebel group is threatened to blockade the Babl Mendeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Besides the strait of Hormuz, Babel-Mendam is another choke point. Empirisandil Al-Shulci reporting.

Brent Oil has pulled back a bit, trading at around $96 a barrel. The Justice Department has dropped subpoenas against New York Times journalists, asking for phone records and grand jury testimony about reporting on security concerns around the new Air Force One plane from Qatar. This after the federal judge questioned nearly every aspect of the Justice Department's handling of the subpoenas, which the Times calls an effort to intimidate its reporters. The Justice Department blasted the judge's ruling and said it would. continue to investigate. A landmark federal nutrition program around for decades will end in a matter of weeks. And here's Joe Hernandez reports. Snap Ed is an offshoot of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It funds everything from cooking classes to farmers markets in low-income neighborhoods.

Nutrition advocates say it's a key public health initiative and are confused about why it was cut as part of the spending and policy package known as the one big beautiful bill. In a statement, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly touts sweeping changes made to snap food benefits as a whole, saying the president is strengthening the assistance program for future generations. The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the roughly $500 million SNAP ed program, says it will continue to provide nutrition education through other initiatives. State and local organizations have until the end of September to spend any remaining SNAPED money. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Spain has declared a national emergency after wildfires forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people around Madrid. This is firefighters struggle to battle several blazes fanned by the heat wave.

Already this year, fires have burned around 250,000 acres across the country. Earlier this month, 13 people died in a fire in southern Spain. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez this week called for a packed. between political parties to fight climate change that he says is key to fighting the blazes. The second-named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season has been drowned-graded again. The National Hurricane Center says in its final advisory on Bertha that it's weakened into a trough, as NPR's Matt Bloom reports. Bertha came ashore for a second time near Galveston, Texas, bringing several feet of storm surge

and isolated flash flooding. thick clouds prompted SpaceX to call off a planned starship launch from the southern tip of the state, but no deaths or significant damage have been reported since Bertha formed Monday south of the Florida Panhandle. The storm caused some coastal flooding in Louisiana southwest of New Orleans on Wednesday, but its heaviest rain stayed over Gulf waters. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1st. Forecasters have predicted a slower-than-usual season overall due to a strong El Niño in the Pacific Ocean. Matt Bloom, NPR News, New Orleans. U.S. Futures contracts are trading higher this hour. Dow futures

up more than a half percent. NASDAQ futures are up about two-tenths of a percent. I'm Janine Hurst, NPR News in Washington.