Up First from NPR
Imported Steel Tariffs Double, White House Rescission Request, Gaza Aid Paused
Wed, 04 Jun 2025
Starting today, the tax on imported steel and aluminum doubles to 50 percent. The White House has formally asked Congress to take back $9.4 billion dollars in funding for foreign aid and public media. And, the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation pauses food distribution for the day following another deadly shooting by the Israeli military near one of its sites. 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 Pallavi Gogoi, Gerry Holmes, Carrie Kahn, Lisa Thomson and Adriana Gallardo. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from David Greenburg and our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: How are the new steel and aluminum tariffs set to impact consumers?
good morning leila good morning just waking up yes i'm so tired today oh i'm so sorry but i sound like this all the time you're the first person i've spoken to though wow i'm touched do you know i run into like listeners who will say that they'll say you're the first person who talks to me in the morning oh that's sweet yeah There might be variants on that.
You're the first person I like who I talked to today.
Everyone else in this house, get rid of.
How will new tariffs affect the cost of U.S.-made products that use imported aluminum and steel?
We, as can makers, pass these increases on to our customers.
Domestic businesses consider the cost. I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Fadal, and this is Up First from NPR News. The White House formally asked Congress to claw back some spending it had previously approved. The administration made that request after failing to cut spending very much on its own.
The losses that the administration is seeing in the courts may be impacting how they think they need to approach issues.
What would a vote in Congress mean for public broadcasting and foreign aid?
And the U.S.-backed organization delivering food aid in Gaza has paused distribution for the day following yet another strike. deadly shooting by the Israeli military near one of its sites. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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Chapter 2: What does the White House request for foreign aid funding entail?
NPR covers itself like anybody else, so we will give you the facts, and no NPR newsroom or corporate executives had any input into this story.
Joining us now is NPR correspondent Fatima Tanis. Good morning, Fatima. Good morning, Leila. Okay, so let's start with this request to defund public broadcasting.
What can you tell us? So this is part of the president's broader clash with major cultural institutions, as my colleague David Folkenflik has been reporting over the last few months. Now, the president and his Republican allies have accused NPR and PBS of partisan bias. President Trump issued an executive order last month that would defund both organizations.
NPR CEO Catherine Maher has said that the administration is punishing public media for coverage that the president dislikes, and both NPR and PBS are challenging that order in court. Now, the White House is asking Congress to officially cancel all the funding it has set aside for the public broadcasters over the next two fiscal years. That's the $1.1 billion.
It's a fraction of the overall federal budget. And to be clear, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting sends much of those funds directly to member stations of NPR and PBS. In statements yesterday, the heads of NPR and PBS outlined the serious impact that losing that funding would have on their stations that reach Americans all over the country. And what do they say those implications would be?
Well, they said that it would be, quote, devastating, and especially to local public media stations in rural communities. That would be disproportionately harmed because they rely on those stations not only for news but for life-saving emergency alerts. They also said that these cuts would accelerate the spread of news deserts.
And what about that $8 billion in foreign aid that the White House wants to send back to the Treasury? What are those funds for?
So they fund global health programs aimed at controlling the spread of diseases like HIV AIDS. The White House is cutting $400 million for that. Millions of dollars also in contributions to the World Health Organization, various United Nations agencies, programs related to women's health and gender issues. the environment, climate change research, that's all a part of this package.
Now, in the memo that the White House sent to Congress, it says some of the funds have been used for, quote, radical projects, and that the cuts are part of an effort to, quote, eliminate wasteful foreign assistance programs. The memo also adds, this approach best serves the American taxpayer.
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Chapter 3: Why has food distribution in Gaza been paused?
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Your next listen can be Consider This from NPR News. Up First gives you the three big stories of the day. Consider This goes deep into a single story in less than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Today's episode of Up First was edited by Pallavi Gagoi, Jerry Holmes, Carrie Kahn, Lisa Thompson, and Adriana Gallardo. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from David Greenberg, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.
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