NPR News: 05-13-2026 10PM EDT
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Bartner.
What impact does President Trump's trade war with China have on the U.S. economy?
President Trump's trade war with China has shown the world's two biggest economies can hurt each other. U.S. firms are looking for suppliers outside of China, and China has cut back on purchases of U.S. soybeans and deprived U.S. manufacturers of crucial minerals and metals. On the eve of Trump's state visit to Beijing this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News that the U.S. wants to reshape its trading relationship with China.
On trade, look, the United States is very clear. We have to be able to make our own stuff. We cannot depend on China or any country for that matter for 100 percent of anything that we need. You know, when you depend on any other country for 100% of what you need, you're very vulnerable. Likewise, you know, China wants the world to be dependent on them for 100% because it gives them strength and leverage. So that's a perfect example of an area in which our interests are not aligned.
Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping momentarily. The Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California and is threatening to suspend more unless states show they're prosecuting Medicaid fraud. NPR's Jacqueline Diaz has more.
Vice President J.D. Vance announced these actions as part of his role as the administration's fraud czar. He said the White House is targeting California because it isn't taking fraud seriously. The administration is sending letters to all 50 states. It's threatening to freeze funding to the state's Medicaid programs unless they aggressively go after Medicaid fraud. And if they don't, Vance said the administration will look to make other cuts.
And if we continue to find problems, we can turn off other resources within their state Medicaid programs as well.
As part of this crackdown, the administration is also imposing a six-month freeze on some new Medicare enrollments by hospice and home care providers. Jacqueline Diaz, NPR News.
Debate continues on Capitol Hill about the origins of the COVID virus. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee heard testimony today suggesting the virus originally came from a lab in China. NPR's Katie Riddle reports.
For years, Republican leaders have been suggesting that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a Chinese laboratory and that public health officials at the time worked to cover this fact up. Today, a man named James Erdman III, who works for the CIA, reinforced this narrative.
Intelligence community leaders and senior analysts downplayed the possibility that the COVID pandemic originated as a result of a lab incident.
There's limited evidence on the origins of the virus. Many scientists say the most likely scenario is that it came from animals in the wild. Katie Riddle, NPR News.
The Senate has confirmed Kevin Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The vote brings new leadership to the world's most powerful central bank at a fraught moment for the global economy. The Fed is trying to confront stubborn inflation and deep divisions over interest rates. The S&P 500 rose more than half a percent today. This is NPR News from Washington. Chronic wasting disease has been discovered in the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming. It adds urgency to a 2021 plan to reexamine the size of the 11,000-strong Jackson elk herd, the nation's largest migratory herd. The first case of the disease in the refuge was discovered last month. Chronic wasting disease is always fatal and easily transmissible.
The State Department says it will suspend a requirement that some World Cup fans pay a bond of up to $15,000 to come to the U.S. this summer. NPR's Becky Sullivan has more.
Visitors from 50 countries are subject to the bond payments, which were imposed by the Trump administration last year as part of a crackdown on immigration. Five of those countries have teams participating in the World Cup, all of them from Africa, Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Tunisia. Now, visitors with verified World Cup tickets will be allowed to skip those bond payments so long as they opt in to the FIFA Pass system unveiled by the White House last fall.
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