Up First from NPR - Seesawing Tariffs, Trump's Middle East Agenda, Sean 'Diddy' Combs Trial

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Companies are rushing to import merchandise while a temporary trade deal between the U.S. and China is in place, but what happens after the 90-day arrangement expires is unclear. As President Trump visits the Middle East, economic opportunities and security issues top the agenda. Jurors hear often graphic testimony on the first day Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Carrie Kahn, Jacob Ganz, Rafael Nam, Ally Schweitzer and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ana Perez, Nia Dumas and Chris Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A temporary softening of tariffs on Chinese products has investors relieved. And some business owners are racing to import merchandise, but... We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. It's very unpredictable. I'm Leila Faldin with Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. President Trump is in Riyadh for his first overseas state visit. And leaders in the region are prepared to make deals with the famously transactional president. You'll see Mr. Trump's visit. There'll be a whole slew of economic agreements that will be signed, joint ventures, investment agreements.

What do Gulf states want in return? And jurors heard graphic allegations on day one of Sean Diddy Combs' sex trafficking trial. His defense team argues that Combs is a complicated man, but not a criminal. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. You may have heard that President Trump has issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR. This is the latest in a series of threats to media organizations across the

country. Millions of people depend on the NPR network. Now more than ever, we're depending on you. Please donate today. Visit donate.npr.org. On the Indicator from Planet Money podcast, we're here to help you make sense of the economic news from Trump's tariffs. It's called in game theory a trigger strategy, or sometimes called grim trigger, which sort of has a cowboy-esque ring to it. To what exactly a sovereign wealth fund is.

For insight every weekday, listen to NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money. Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. The NPR Politics podcast makes politics a breeze. Every episode will break down the day's headlines into totally normal language and make sure that you walk away understanding what the day's news might mean for you. Take a deep breath and give politics another chance with the

NPR Politics Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. A temporary trade deal between the US and China has set up a scramble to bring merchandise across the Pacific Ocean while lower tariffs are in place. No one's sure what's going to happen when the deal expires in 90 days, but a lot of importers aren't taking any chances. NPR's Scott Horsey is with us now to tell us more about this. Good morning, Scott. Good morning, Michelle.

You know, so the president's tariffs had made investors and business owners very uneasy these last several weeks. How are they reacting to, I guess we'll call it a temporary reprieve? Well, investors were thrilled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared more than 1100 points yesterday. For the importers I talked to, the reaction was more determination and a feeling that, all right, it's time to get back to work. A lot of importers had been in a holding pattern since those 145% tariffs took effect last month. Now, the tariffs been cut to 30%, at least temporarily. And for Jonathan Silva, who runs a Massachusetts company making high-end board

games in China, that was enough to green light nine truckloads of games that had been parked in China to start their journey to the US. We need to get product back on shelves. I think that we're really getting close to the tipping point of starting to see some shortages, but at 30% it's not ideal. There'll be slight price increases. Silva is hoping to bring a lot more merchandise in before the Christmas season, but he's just not sure how much he'll be able to manufacture and ship before this 90-day window closes. And why is that? Well, think about it. A huge number of US businesses rely on factories in China. And when those triple digit tariffs took effect last month, it was like pinching off a garden

hose. Now the hose is partially unkinked and there's a lot of pent-up pressure. Bonnie Ross is a clothing importer who works with a lot of discount chains. She says they're all going to be rushing to bring in merchandise, but the capacity of the hose, you know, the factories, the cargo ships, the ports, is still limited. Now, everybody who has goods that are sitting in China that they have not put on a vessel that were ready, now it's going to be a rush because everybody wants it out in the next 90 days. What is going to happen to the freight rates? Shipping costs could certainly go up, and that's on top of the remaining tariffs, which are still

30%. Ross thinks those costs will be shared by factories, retailers, and in the end, yes, consumers. Forecasters at the Yale Budget Lab say the economic damage from these lower tariffs will be less, but they're still projecting the U.S. will have higher inflation and slower growth than it would have without this trade war. Were the people you talked to and the analysts you follow surprised by how much these tariffs came down, at least temporarily? Yeah, I think the market reaction suggests this was a bigger drop in tariffs than investors had been expecting.

And that's just another sign of how unpredictable the tariff landscape is under the Trump administration. Import taxes can go up or down or sideways, and businesses and consumers just have to try to make the best of it. That uncertainty about future tariffs also makes it hard to decide, is it worth moving a factory out of China or running the expense of building a plant in the U.S. Board game maker Jonathan Silva says no matter what happens to Terrace, he is going to explore those options. He doesn't want the risk anymore of having all his production in China. The past 40 days has been the hardest 40 days in all of our business's life, and I'm glad that

we're going to be able to come out of it, but we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. It's very unpredictable. Silva is still bracing for difficult months ahead, but at least now he thinks his business can survive this year, which was very much in doubt when the triple digit tariffs were in place. Wow, that's a lot. That's NPR Scott Horsley. Scott, thank you. You're welcome. President Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia today for the first overseas state visit of his second term. He'll also be making stops in Qatar and the UAE.

It's a high stakes trip with huge business deals at play and it comes as Gulf Arab states are hyper focused on transforming their economies. Trump will be leaning on his personal ties with Arab leaders to make deals happen. Joining us now to talk about what to expect from the visit is NPR International correspondent Aya Bertraui. She's in Riyadh. Aya, good morning. Thanks for joining us. Good morning, Michelle. So tell us what's happening in Saudi Arabia, where you are today. So it began with Trump's arrival. You know, he was greeted on the tarmac by

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. And that's in contrast with Biden's visit here when they only fist bumped and the crown prince didn't even go out of his way to meet, you know, the president back then at the tarmac. Now Trump is different. You know, he's transactional. And what that means for the Gulf and Gulf leaders here is that they know that if they deliver on big weapons purchases and other investments in the U.S, Trump will give them something in return for their security. Adi Shahabi, a Saudi analyst says there are huge economic interests on both sides. You'll see Mr. Trump's visit. There'll be a whole slew of economic agreements that will be signed, joint ventures, investment agreements. That economic side also is very important,

but it also upholds the political and military involvement of America. So what Adi is saying here is that these big business deals, the bulk of them in weaponry and defense sales are not just about economics. This maintains America's position as the Arab Gulf's main security guarantor at a time when Russia and China also have major inroads in this region. I just want to go back to that moment where Trump was greeted and received warmly by the Crown Prince upon his arrival. Trump's personal relationship with Gulf rulers is something that he

seems to be proud of. He says it helps him get deals done that benefit the U.S. So can you just tell us more about those ties? Yeah, those personal ties are linked to his family's business interests in the Gulf. Just less than two weeks ago, his son Eric Trump, who runs the family business, the Trump organization was in the region launching new projects. A Trump hotel tower in Dubai, a Trump golf course in Qatar. There's also money from the Gulf flowing into the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture. And Qatar has just offered Trump a new Boeing airplane to replace one of the aging Air Force One jets. But also Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has

two billion dollars invested in his private equity fund from a Saudi fund overseen by the Crown Prince. So what we're seeing on this trip is a confluence of all these interests coming together. So Trump's visit is coming at a sensitive time for the Mideast more broadly. There's the war in Gaza. The U.S. nuclear talks with Iran happening. Do we expect Trump to tackle some of these issues on this trip as well? He has to. I mean, this region is interconnected and what happens in Gaza is not only deeply emotional

for the Arab public here, you know, seeing tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and the population they're starving under Israel's blockade, but it's also drawn in the Houthis from Yemen attacking ships in the Red Sea. And there's also issues concerning Syria, whether the US will lift sanctions now under a new government there or how much Trump will give Iran nuclear talks time to plan out. And all this will be raised by Gulf leaders in their conversations.

And for Trump, he really wants to cap his presidency with another Abraham Accords deal, the prize being Saudi Arabia and Israel establishing ties. But Saudis have been clear, it's not going to happen without an end to the war, a path towards the Palestinian state. But you know, the US has direct talks with Hamas now, and that led to yesterday's release of the last living American held in Gaza.

So Trump is clearly doing things differently. And I think the perception here in the Gulf is that is exactly what's needed right now. That is NPS Aya Bertraui and Riyadh Aya. Thank you. Thanks, Michelle. The trial of Shawn Combs is underway in New York City. The rapper, producer, and businessman known as Diddy faces charges that include sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Combs has been in custody since September.

He was in court yesterday as both the prosecution and the defense laid out their opening statements to jurors. And Piaz, Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento was there too, and she's with us now. And here is where I want to let you know that we are about to discuss allegations of sexual assault and that might be uncomfortable for some. That being said, Isabella, good morning. Good morning. So tell us what happened on the first official day of this trial.

It was a very busy day. The courtroom was completely packed. Combs was seated at a table with his defense team. In the time since he's been in jail, his hair has gone gray. He smiled and blew kisses at his children who sat and watched the proceedings. And once opening arguments started, there was a lot to take in. The prosecution alleged that Combs operated his businesses as a criminal enterprise to carry out

and cover up a number of crimes, including arson, bribery, and sex trafficking by coercion. They said Combs used his status and power to violently force two ex-girlfriends into a number of sexual acts they didn't want to partake in, and that he victimized his own employees through threats, kidnapping, and even sexual assault. The defense admitted that Combs has a temper and can be physical, but they argued that

those ex-girlfriends were engaged in consensual, yet toxic, relationships that are unrelated to the 55-year-old's media, music, and fashion companies. They called the allegations a money grab. You also heard from the prosecution's first witnesses. What did they say? Yeah, two government witnesses took the stand. They were both asked to describe instances in which Combs allegedly behaved violently towards his ex-partner, the singer Cassie Ventura.

So one revolved around a 2016 incident in a Los Angeles hotel. Many people have seen a surveillance video obtained and released by CNN last year that shows Combs kicking and dragging Ventura. The first witness was a former hotel security guard who responded to that altercation. He said Ventura had a quote purple eye when he arrived on the scene. Several angles of the video footage were shown in court. The second witness was a man who says he received money from Ventura in exchange for having sex with her while Combs watched.

But he said he became scared and worried for his own safety and that of Ventura when he witnessed Combs attack her more than once. So we were hearing that name quite a lot, Cassie Ventura. Is she the most important figure in the prosecution's case against Combs? Yeah, it seems that she's very central to this case. You might remember that she filed

the first prominent civil lawsuit against Combs in the fall of 2023. He denied those allegations and they settled out of court. But the behavior that she described in her lawsuit, allegations that Combs supplied her with drugs, beat her, forced her to have sex with male escorts, all of this was at the center of opening arguments. She's not the only alleged victim who will take the stand, but she's certainly the most well-known one, so we expect there will be a lot of attention on her when she does appear. Do we know when that's going to be? The prosecution has not released an official schedule, but it appears that she'll be in the courtroom very, very soon.

She's expected to describe how she met Combs as a teenager, signed to his record label, and eventually began dating him, and how that relationship allegedly took an abusive turn. Combs' defense attorney, Tani Garagos, argued that Sean Combs is a complicated person, but this is not a complicated case and that he's not guilty of sex trafficking, transporting to engage in prostitution or racketeering conspiracy. That is NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Isabella, thank you. Thank you. President Trump suspended refugee resettlements in the U.S. at the beginning of his second

term, but the administration made an exception for white South Africans. Yesterday, a chartered flight carrying 59 Afrikaners landed in Virginia, where members of the administration welcomed them as refugees. We underscored for them that the American people are a welcoming and generous people. That State Department Deputy Secretary Christopher Lando greeting the Afrikaners. He said the administration made an exception for these white descendants of Dutch settlers in part because they could be, quote, assimilated easily into the US. South African officials say Trump has fallen for false claims that Afrikaners have faced racial discrimination and violence since the end of white minority rule in South Africa.

In a statement, Democratic US Senator Jean Shaheen criticized the administration for admitting Afrikaners into the US, while thousands of previously approved refugees from places like Afghanistan remain in limbo. Yasmeen Aguilar works at a refugee resettlement agency in Idaho. She says she has family from Afghanistan awaiting resettlement. My brother and sister are still not here like some other refugees who are in the pipeline for a long time and approved waiting to travel and come to safety.

Yesterday, the Episcopal Church announced that it's ending its federally funded refugee resettlement program after the government asked it to help find housing for Afrikaners in the U.S. The church has ties to the Anglican Communion, of which the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the noted cleric and anti-apartheid activist, was a member. And that's Up First for Tuesday, May 13th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Leila Faldin. If you like Up First, you'll love it on the NPR app.

That's where you'll get the latest news and the best podcasts from NPR's network. Find it in your app store. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kerry Kahn, Jacob Gz, Raphael Nam, Allie Schweitzer, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ana Perez, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director is Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow. I'm Tanya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. At a time of sound bites and short attention spans, our show is all about the deep dive. We do long-form interviews with people behind the best in film, books, TV, music, and journalism. Here our guests open up about their process and their lives in ways you've never heard before. Listen to the Fresh Air podcast

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