The Headlines - Tariffs Push Prices Up, and the Supreme Court’s ‘Shadow Docket'

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

Plus, why that e-book cost your library $50.On Today’s Episode:Rising Inflation Underscores Risks in Trump’s New Tariff Threats, by Tony Romm and Colby SmithSupreme Court Keeps Ruling in Trump’s Favor, but Doesn’t Say Why, by Adam LiptakState Dept. Layoffs Hit Russia and Ukraine Analysts, by Michael Crowley, Greg Jaffe and Julian E. BarnesH.H.S. Finalizes Thousands of Layoffs After Supreme Court Decision, by Christina Jewett and Benjamin MuellerAs Iran Deports a Million Afghans, ‘Where Do We Even Go?,’ by Elian Peltier, Farnaz Fassihi and Yaqoob AkbaryLibraries Pay More for E-Books. Some States Want to Change That. By Erik OfgangTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, July 16th. Here's what we're covering. New data on inflation shows that American consumers are starting to feel the first effects of President Trump's steep tariffs. According to the Consumer Price Index, inflation ticked up in June. It's still relatively tame, but prices rose noticeably on appliances, furniture, and clothing, products that are often imported from China, Canada, and other major trading partners that Trump has hit with surcharges. The rising prices are an early sign of what economists have been predicting ever since Trump unveiled his tariff plans,

that American businesses and consumers will shoulder some of the costs. Other more dire consequences economists warned about haven't materialized, including rising unemployment and a possible recession. And the economy remains strong. But experts say that's because the president's trade strategy has kept changing.

Trump has paused, unpaused, raised and lowered tariffs over the last few months, pushing off some of the worst case scenarios. Mr. President, your reaction to the latest numbers from the Labor Department saying that inflation rose slightly last month. Very slight. Essentially, they were exactly as anticipated. Very low inflation. Trump downplayed the new data yesterday when asked. Currently, he's threatening another round of tariffs on dozens of countries, including a 30% surcharge on the EU that would kick in on August 1st.

In Washington in recent weeks, the Supreme Court has issued a series of emergency rulings allowing the Trump administration to move forward with some of its most controversial policies. That's included paving the way for migrants to be deported to countries they're not from and for mass firings across the government. The orders have come down in response to emergency applications from the administration. And unlike typical Supreme Court cases, which come with oral arguments and extended written rulings, the Court's emergency orders are often unsigned and have no explanation at

all. These kinds of rulings used to be relatively rare, but in the first six months of Trump's term, the court has taken up more of the applications than Presidents Biden, Obama, or Bush ever filed while in office. While the orders are often technically temporary, just in place while a case works its way through the courts, they've allowed Trump to carry out actions that might be impossible to ever reverse. For example, it's hard to re-staff a government agency that's been gutted. For years, the emergency rulings have been called a shadow docket by critics because of the lack of transparency. But legal experts the Times talked with said

that the new flurry of unexplained orders is opening the court up to more criticism. One said, quote, in a highly polarized climate where the court is often accused of acting politically, the justices should feel a heightened obligation to explain their decisions to the public. Meanwhile, in Washington, the result of some of those emergency rulings has been on full display recently. Outside of federal buildings, government workers have gathered to clap for their colleagues who've been laid off by the administration as they walk out of their offices for the last time. There have been mass firings at at least two

agencies in the past week. At the Department of Health and Human Services, thousands of people got final termination notices as part of what Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has called a dramatic restructuring of the agency. Critics say the firings, which hit support staff in particular, are like laying off everyone at a hospital except the doctors and still expecting it to function. And at the State Department,

more than 1,300 people were laid off, including senior intelligence analysts who specialize in Russia and Ukraine. If we are serious about leading globally, we need a capable, strategic, and fully staffed diplomatic corps. Instead, you're gutting the very institutions we rely on to confront these threats. Those staff cuts set off angry remarks in Congress yesterday from lawmakers concerned about losing that expertise during an ongoing conflict. It's like one bus after another, a constant stream of buses from sunrise to dusk. And Afghan families we talked to at the border were scared and uncertain of the future that

is awaiting them. My colleague Eliane Peltier has been reporting from the border of Iran and Afghanistan, where one of the world's largest mass displacements in years is unfolding. Starting a few months ago, the Iranian government launched a major effort to force out many of the millions of Afghan refugees who've been living in the country.

It says it doesn't have the resources, including water and gas, to support all of them. That deportation push then accelerated after the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, with Iranian officials claiming, without citing evidence, that Afghans are being recruited by Israel and the U.S. to attack Iran from inside. Elion says that now as many as 20,000 Afghans a day are crossing back into Afghanistan, entering a country that's almost completely unprepared to handle their arrival.

Under the Taliban, it's remained a very isolated country, more than half of the population, 23 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, massive, massive levels of food insecurity, no job opportunities. So people go to Kabul, the capital, to try to find jobs, but Kabul cannot absorb all those people. So we're seeing 10 cities or 10 camps, people sleeping outside as well. And the situation is specifically difficult for women and girls returning from Iran, where they had some freedoms that they are definitely going to lose as they come back to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, girls cannot go to school beyond sixth grade and so I spoke with a lot of teenagers for instance who had just finished sixth grade or they were in eighth grade and they were like well

what's gonna happen to us now like what are we gonna do are we gonna stay at home all the time. What they told us is that they felt that the doors are really closing on them. And finally, across the US, more and more people are turning to their local library for e-books. But librarians say the switch to digital is breaking their budgets. Libraries generally have agreements in place to buy print copies for less than the jacket price, but many have to pay much more for e-books.

For example, a public library system in Washington State wanted a copy of Fahrenheit 451. That would cost them $51.99 for the license. The e-book could then only be checked out by one patron at a time, and it would expire after two years, when they would have to buy a new copy. Big publishers and many authors say terms like that are necessary. The publishing industry is already struggling. If every ebook was always available from a library with just one click, why would anyone ever buy one? Right now, the fact that your library might have a 32-week waiting list could be the only thing encouraging you to actually pay for a copy. But librarians say it's not sustainable financially. And in some states, the tension over e-book prices is now turning into a legal fight. The Connecticut legislature recently

passed a law aimed at reining in e-book costs, and other states are considering similar measures. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how the group that pushed the conservative agenda known as Project 2025 has led another effort to crush the pro-Palestinian movement in the U.S. That's next in the New York Times audio app, where you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.