The Headlines - Trump's Trade War Heats Up, and Government Websites Go Dark

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Plus, Beyoncé’s long-awaited win.  On Today’s Episode:Trade War Heats Up After Trump Orders Tariffs and Canada Retaliates, by Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Keith Bradsher and Susan HopkinsTrump Administration Moves to End Protections for Venezuelans in the U.S., by Hamed Aleaziz and Maggie HabermanThousands of U.S. Government Web Pages Have Been Taken Down Since Friday, by Ethan SingerCrews Move Closer to Recovering All Bodies in D.C. Crash, by Campbell RobertsonBeyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Wins Grammy for Best Country Album, by Ben SisarioTune 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 Monday, February 3rd. Here's what we're covering. The United States and its largest trading partners are now hurtling into a trade war. President Trump slapped sweeping tariffs onto Canada, Mexico, and China over the weekend. They'll kick in just after midnight tonight. Goods imported from China will face a 10% surcharge, and nearly all products imported

through Canada and Mexico will face a 25% surcharge. Trump has said that the North American tariffs are intended to force America's neighbors to do more to stop the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the U.S. Economists warn that they could ramp up inflation and cripple whole industries. Consumers may see prices go up from everything from auto parts to avocados. Hours after the tariffs were announced, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went on TV to address the American public directly. Tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American

auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities. They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery stores and gas at the pump. In a speech, Trudeau announced that Canada will slap its own tariffs on the U.S. We don't want to be here. We didn't ask for this. But we will not back down. What's clear in the case of Canada is that there is a broad consensus to continue with the retaliatory tariffs and other measures against the United States.

In fact, some top political leaders in Canada are pushing for harsher tariffs faster. Matina Stevis-Gridneff covers Canada for the Times. She says that beyond the political reaction, there's also been pushback from the Canadian public. At pro-sporting events between U.S. and Canadian teams in recent days, Canadians have been booing during the American national anthem. And Matina says there's been an immediate push to buy Canadian. We have seen stickers with Canadian flags put out on grocer shelves indicating to consumers that these are domestically produced goods that should be favored over the American alternatives. Mexico has also vowed to retaliate

against the US with tariffs, and China's promised its own countermeasures. In a post on social media, Trump acknowledged that his aggressive moves could bring some negative consequences, writing, quote, Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe, and maybe not. In other news from the White House,

the Trump administration has revoked immigration protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S. 300,000 people will lose Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, in the coming months. TPS is designed for people from countries wracked by conflict or natural disasters. In recent years, Venezuelans have faced political repression, runaway inflation, and widespread food shortages.

But the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Noem, says the program is no longer necessary because it does not serve American interests. The people who will lose protections will no longer have formal immigration status in the U.S., putting them at risk of being deported. Also, in the past few days, a wide range of government websites have gone dark. Federal agencies have been scrambling to comply with executive orders targeting diversity programs and what the Trump administration has called gender ideology. The agencies had a 5 p.m. deadline on Friday to terminate all of those programs and to

strip any related language from their sites. In the process, the Times found that more than 8,000 websites were shut down. That includes Justice Department pages about LGBTQ hate crimes, FDA pages about increasing diversity in clinical trials, and thousands of pages from the Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The removed pages often mention words like inclusion or transgender. It's not clear yet if the pages are permanently gone or if they'll be revised and put back online. This morning, salvage teams on the Potomac River will begin lifting the wreckage of the

American Airlines plane that crashed into the water after colliding with a military helicopter last week. The crash killed 67 people. So far, divers have recovered 55 bodies. Once the debris is pulled out of the water, it will be moved to a hangar, where it will be examined as part of the ongoing investigation into the crash. It's still not clear what ongoing investigation into the crash. It's still not clear what exactly led to the collision. Investigators now say the plane

turned upward in the final moments, perhaps trying to avoid the Black Hawk helicopter, which was flying around 100 feet higher than authorized. After the crash, federal authorities have blocked nearly all helicopter traffic along the route that the Blackhawk was flying. And finally. The Grammy Awards were last night in Los Angeles, a city still reeling from devastating wildfires last month. The ceremony was part fundraising effort, with firefighters on stage to present some of the awards, and part pop music celebration. Best new artists went to Chapel Rowan, the 26-year-old behind Pink Pony Club and Good

Luck Babe. It was a triumphant moment for her, since she was once dropped by her label and had to move home and work at a coffee shop to make ends meet. Because I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor, and when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt. Rone took her moment on stage last night to call out how the music industry treats artists. She asked record labels to offer a livable wage and health insurance, especially when people are just starting out.

Labels, we got you, but do you got us? The night's biggest win, though, Cowboy Carter was Beyoncé. Her album Cowboy Carter, which draws heavily from country music, won Album of the Year. I just feel very full and very honored. It's been many, many years. It was the fifth time Beyoncé had been nominated for the Grammy's top award and the first time

she won. She's the first black woman to win Album of the Year since Lauryn Hill in 1999. I hope we just keep pushing forward, opening doors. God bless y'all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a look at how the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek caught Silicon Valley

off guard. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.