NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-01-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

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There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show, Here and Now Anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he is disappointed that President Trump has boosted tariffs against Canada to 35%. Dan Karpanchuk reports Carney also says his government remains

committed to the existing Canada-US-Mexico agreement. Carney says the USMCA is the world's second largest free trade agreement and under it the average U.S. tariff on Canadian products remains one of its lowest for all trading partners. However, some sectors, such as steel and aluminum, automobiles and softwood lumber, are going to feel the weight of U.S. tariffs. Carney says Ottawa has made historic investments into border security and the fight against fentanyl. President Trump in boosting tariffs had given as a reason Canada's lack of cooperation in stemming the drug from coming across the border. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary

Howard Lutnick said Trump could reconsider the tariffs if Carney turns on the charm and backs off from retaliation. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto. The Democratic Mayor of Lansing, Michigan, Andy Schor, spoke to NPR about how President Trump's tariffs are affecting his city. Having those prices go up for development, for housing, for agriculture. Essex County has a huge greenhouse

and they send a lot of vegetables and things over, so people who want to eat their avocados and green beans and things, those prices are going to go up. And the commitment in the election was prices are going to go down and now they're going to go up. These are all extremely concerning. Mayor Schor speaking with NPR's morning edition. New campaign finance reports indicate

Elon Musk has been donating millions of dollars to help Republicans keep their majority in Congress in next year's midterm elections. And PRS Bobby Allen reports a tech billionaire spent months overseeing the president's Department of Government Efficiency before the two had a falling out. Just a month after Musk said he had done enough political spending, he spent $10 million to back Republicans in midterm races. Musk is pouring millions into political action committees backing House and Senate Republicans. It makes Musk the largest individual donor to the groups

this year. It follows Musk's falling out with President Trump. Musk has also pledged to form his own party. He's calling the America Party. While there are few signs of that happening, the spending shows Musk's continued interest in influencing U.S. elections. The SpaceX and Tesla chief executive has criticized Republicans for voting for Trump's big, beautiful bill for adding trillions to the national deficit. Bobby Allen, NPR News. Dramatic videos are circulating on social media of

parts of New York City's train system in daily The Associated Press posted video credited to Chantal McLaughlin of a train at Grand Central Station engulfed in sheets of water yesterday Thunderstorms generated intense periods of rainfall and flood threats in the Northeast and mid-atlantic The National Weather Service projects the conditions for floods will continue through tonight From Washington. This is NPR news From Washington, this is NPR News.

As of today, the World Food Program says it is no longer doing emergency food aid in Northeast Nigeria. NPR's Gabriella Manuel reports this comes as a record 31 million people in Nigeria face acute hunger. The WFP says it's running low on money since both the Trump administration and European countries have cut foreign aid. David Stevenson heads operations in Nigeria.

He says WFP needs $130 million to keep food programs there open through December. We're falling off the cliff. He's been doing this work for more than 30 years. I've never been so concerned as I am now in terms of the international community dropping the ball. He warns the lack of food could prompt mass migration and force people to join extremist groups like Boko Haram. Doctors Without Borders says over 600 malnourished children have already died this year in Nigeria. Gabriella Emanuel, NPR News. In Florida, the crew of four is now on the way to the International Space Station after NASA and SpaceX successfully launched the mission from

the Kennedy Space Center. Central Florida Public Media's Marion Sumaral has more. Flying on SpaceX's Dragon capsule are two NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. The successful launch marks SpaceX's 19th time sending humans to space and the 12th mission with NASA under the agency's Commercial Crew Program. That's Marianne Somerall in Orlando. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington. Listen to this podcast sponsor free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or any podcast Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.