Up First from NPR - Trump's US Steel Reversal, Court Win For Harvard, Musk Leaves DOGE

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

US Steel is entering a multi-billion dollar partnership and Japanese competitor Nippon Steel. President Trump campaigned on a promise to block the deal. Now he says he approves it, so what changed? Harvard University for now can continue enrolling international students after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction. And Elon Musk is leaving the Department of Government Efficiency, commonly referred to as DOGE.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 Kelsey Snell, Lauren Migaki, Padma Rama, HJ Mai and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

U.S. Steel is entering a multi-billion dollar partnership with the Japanese competitor Nippon. President Trump campaigned on a promise to block that deal. He now says he approves. So how, if at all, did the agreement change? I'm Steve Inskeep and this is Up First from NPR News. Harvard University says the Trump administration broke the law when it banned international students there. A judge says the students may keep attending for now.

This is very much just one step in a much, much larger process. Why is the administration cracking down? Also, as Elon Musk waves goodbye to his Department of Government Efficiency, did it make government any more efficient? NPR delivers you an efficient look at the evidence. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. I'm Tanya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air.

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a Chinese product Chinese, and how companies facing tariffs are getting creative. From Planet Money on NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. President Trump travels to Pittsburgh today to celebrate something that he previously said he would not allow. It's a partnership between United States Steel and the Japanese company Nippon Steel. Former President Biden blocked that sale on national security grounds. Candidate Trump also promised to block it, saying that foreign ownership of a company with United States in the name just sounded psychologically bad. Here he was campaigning in Pennsylvania last October. And I will not approve Japan buying US

Steel 70 years ago, the greatest company anywhere in the world. NPR senior White House correspondent, Tamara Keith is here. Tam, good morning. Good morning. Why say yes now? Well, there had been signs that President Trump was taking a second look at this planned acquisition.

It came up when the Japanese prime minister visited the White House in February. And then last month, President Trump ordered a new national security review. Then last week, he announced he was on board with the deal in a social media post saying it would add $14 billion to the US economy and create 70,000 jobs. And significantly, he described it as a quote, planned partnership that will keep the headquarters

of US Steel in Pittsburgh. Okay, so we have a social media post, but what are the details here? We don't have many. The White House didn't respond to a list of basic questions about the structure of the deal. And when I asked a U.S. Steel spokesman whether it was an acquisition, he said he was unable to comment and directed me to a week old statement where the company praised President Trump and said U.S. Steel will remain American, grow bigger and stronger through a partnership

with Nippon Steel. So I called a bunch of industry analysts whose job it is to advise investors, and they said they haven't been able to get clear answers either. But all along, Nippon has made it clear that they aren't going to make this kind of investment unless they are acquiring US Steel and its assets. Gordon Johnson is CEO of GLJ Research. No matter how the government and or the non-answers from US Steel want to position this, let me be very clear. This is an acquisition. It's very clearly an acquisition. And given the expected purchase price, he says it is a very good deal for US steel shareholders and executives. Another analyst I spoke to said their best interpretation of the facts is that Trump is calling it a partnership to avoid looking like he reversed himself

on this. And another, Phil Gibbs at KeyBank Capital Markets put it this way. It has to be purposely opaque because there have been so many missteps, misfires, lawsuits, political interference, and then we finally get to what looks like a conclusion and we're even questioning the conclusion. I will also note that US Steel hasn't filed anything with the Securities and Exchange Commission about this latest version of the deal. TAM, first, thanks very much for the reporting. I appreciate your look at the substance here. It really helps me. Second, I want to talk about the politics. Last fall, we talked with people in Western Pennsylvania where there are US Steel plants who thought this deal was good.

Even the local union guys thought the deal was good, but there was this national opposition in the middle of the campaign. So why would he promote the deal in such a big way now? A major theme of the first few months of his second term has been bringing foreign investment to the US, on-shoring manufacturing, creating American jobs. And there are a few things that he relishes more than announcing a deal. Pennsylvania, of course, is also a state that delivered him the presidency. So he's going to call it a win. But, of course, is also a state that delivered him the presidency, so he's gonna call it a win. But as you know, maybe it's popular locally,

but the United Steelworkers Union is quite dubious of this announcement and what it will mean in the end for jobs. Democratic politicians from the state are offering very tentative statements saying the devil is in the details and they don't yet have the details. And Piers, Tamara Keith will be traveling with the president to Pittsburgh today.

Tam, thanks so much. You're welcome. Harvard University can go right on enrolling international students, at least for now. A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, which has the same effect as a temporary restraining order did last week. The Trump administration may not revoke the university's ability to issue student visas. NPR's Alyssa Nadwerny is covering this story.

Alyssa, good morning. Good morning. What happened in court? Well, lawyers from Harvard and the Trump administration were in a packed courtroom in Boston on Thursday. The federal judge, Alison D. Burroughs, voiced concerns that the government was attempting to prevent foreign students from enrolling despite her earlier order blocking the administration's planned actions.

The Trump administration argues that Harvard has violated students' civil rights, including failing to protect Jewish students on campus and using racial discrimination in admissions, and that banning the school from enrolling international students is warranted. After the judge's order, the White House told NPR that the Trump administration, not judges, should decide if universities can issue student visas. Now, Harvard argues that the administration's actions

are retribution, that President Trump is singling out Harvard and violating its First Amendment rights. And so the case is ongoing. For now, nothing changes for Harvard's international students. How big a deal is it for Harvard to be taking in international students? Well, Harvard has nearly 7,000 international students. It's about a quarter of the entire student body. Many of them were at Harvard's graduation ceremony, which was actually happening at the same time as the hearing yesterday. During the commencement,

President Alan Garber addressed the graduates with a nod to the ongoing lawsuit. Members of the class of 2025 from down the street, across the country and around the world. Around the world, just as it should be. Around the world, just as it should be. Now the audience gave him a standing ovation for that line. I've been in touch with Ella Rickett, she's a first year student from Canada studying at Harvard, and she's hesitant to call this order a victory. Until that case is actually won, I don't necessarily feel 100% safe with everything that's going on.

Obviously, I remain optimistic and hopeful, but this is very much just one step in a much, much larger process. Every university in the country that has international students must be watching this case, Alyssa. Exactly. You know, there are more than a million international students enrolled at US colleges and universities from community college to regional publics to Ivy League. India sends the most students to the US, followed by China. And Steve, these students bring about $43 billion to the US economy every year. University leaders are worried, obviously. And a lot have told me that international applications are down compared to last year.

You mentioned that China is one of the biggest senders of international students, one of the biggest spenders on American education, and the State Department announced this week that it's planning to revoke student visas for students from China. What's going on? So Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the department would work to, quote, aggressively revoke visas of Chinese students, including those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Now, Steve, it is worth reminding listeners that in Trump's first administration back in 2020, officials canceled visas of more than a thousand Chinese graduate students

and researchers because they had direct ties to military universities in China. So it's a familiar move in the Trump foreign policy playbook. Depending on how big the scale turns out to be. Exactly. Alyssa, thanks so much. You bet. And here's Alyssa Nadwarni. Elon Musk says he is leaving his government role

as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOJ. The head of Tesla and SpaceX and X will join President Trump at the White House for one last time this afternoon. NPR's Stephen Fowler has been covering DOJ all along and he's on the line. Stephen, good morning. Good morning. Okay. Does Musk stepping away change anything about what the Department of Government Efficiency will do? Not really. I mean, he's been touted by President Trump and others

as the leader in Doge. In court, lawyers for the government has said he's not and they've downplayed his role. But the reality is much of the Doge work, I mean, the parts that haven't been reversed or held up in court, have always been carried out by people not named Elon Musk. These allies are embedded in

agencies more permanently. Many of them are full-on federal employees and they're more focused on specific goals at those agencies. Stephen, I followed all your reporting on this. A lot of Doge's claims of savings and changes were illusory or have been reversed as you just mentioned, but they're still out there acting. So what could they continue to do? Well, there have been a few areas Doge has been successful. Data collections, one, there's been this emphasis on knocking down data silos and making massive data sets to be used, especially for Trump's immigration agenda. There's also dozens of lawsuits that allege that data collection is being done illegally. Then there's the push to further downsize the federal workforce and reshape who gets to work in federal government.

But the main force behind implementing that part of Trump's agenda is the Office of Management and Budget and its head Russ Boat. So why would Elon Musk leave now? Well he says his scheduled time is up. He's talking about his role as a special government employee, time limited to 130 working days. It's been 130 days since Trump took office and Musk took on this role, but he likely could have stayed longer. But politically Musk is an avatar for the unpopular things Doge and the second

Trump administration have done. He's taken a lot of heat. As Congress is working on trying to pass Trump's big, beautiful bill and other legislative priorities, and we pivot to the Trump's big, beautiful bill and other legislative priorities, and we pivot to the midterms, there have been concerns by Republicans that Musk is not helpful. I think a lot of people who own Tesla stock

didn't think he was being very helpful to them. Well, that's the other part of it. Musk runs multiple big businesses that have suffered because of his split attention and that unpopularity, especially Tesla. That's his main source of wealth. Tesla drivers sold their cars, stores were vandalized, profits cratered, and there were reports that the board was considering replacing him.

Oh, it's like they threatened to fire the guy who was really openly joyful about firing people. I'm thinking of the moment when he stood on stage waving around a chainsaw. Now that just a little time has passed, how is that metaphor working out for him? Well, Steve, that chainsaw doesn't really have any teeth. I mean, Musk had these lofty savings goals of cutting $2 trillion from before joining the government to a fraction of that to around $150 billion. Our reporting has found those claims are inaccurate, overstated, and rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of how the federal budget works. Also Doge's other signature efforts, like cutting the workforce, have hit repeated lead

wall snags, driven in part by Musk's public statements that have been used to claim those changes broke the law. Put another way, there's little evidence that Elon Musk has done much to make the government more efficient. Cutting to the facts, NPR's Stephen Fowler. He's part of NPR's team of reporters covering efforts to remake the federal government. Stephen, thanks so much.

Thank you. And that's Up First for this Friday, May 30th. I'm Steve Inskeep. Up First comes your way on Saturdays. Aisha Roscoe and Scott Simon have the news. And then in this very same feed on Up First Sunday, scientists seek evidence of how dinosaurs went extinct by digging behind a strip mall in New Jersey. You could probably go under the Lowe's and find these same deposits or the Chick-fil-A.

That's this Sunday, right here on Up First. Today's Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Lauren Magocchi, Padma Rama, H.J. Mai, and Mohammed El-Bardisi. It was produced by Ziad Bach, N Magocchi, Padma Rama, H.J. Mai, and Mohammed El-Bardisi. It was produced by Ziad Bach, Nia DeMass, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer is Jay Shaler. Join us Monday. Fall in love with new music every Friday at All Songs Considered.

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