AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It was a whirlwind last week here in Washington, and this coming week looks like it will be no different, which means NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid is going to be tracking a number of different stories. And she joins us now for a preview. Good morning, Asma.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: Let's start with tariffs because China's retaliatory measures are due to come into effect tomorrow. What are we looking at?
KHALID: Yeah. And, Ayesha, there certainly has been a whirlwind of news. So let me rewind and just give folks a bit of context if they may not have been following this particular tariff storyline. Last weekend, you all might recall that President Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on goods coming into the United States from China.
And the professed reason for these new tariffs was to stop the flow of fentanyl. But, you know, keep in mind, the United States has also been in quite a bit of economic competition with China for the last several years. And these new tariffs came on top of the China tariffs that Trump had already put in place in his first administration, tariffs that were, in fact, largely kept in place during the Biden years.
And I will say, Ayesha, China was not going to quietly accept sweeping new tariffs, and so it has retaliated, as expected. It has announced 10% higher tariffs on crude oil, farm equipment and certain vehicles. Also an additional 15% tariff on American coal and liquefied natural gas. And there is the risk that this could further escalate into some trade war. I know when Trump did this before, there were American farmers in the Midwest who were financially hurt. And so there are broad ripples that are felt throughout the economy.
RASCOE: And that's not even the end of the tariff story. You're expecting more announcements this week, right?
KHALID: That's right. President Trump campaigned heavily on tariffs. He described tariffs during the campaign season as the most beautiful word in the dictionary. You know, he sees them as a multipurpose tool for negotiations on everything from immigration to actual trade deficit concerns. And during the campaign, he had suggested he'd come into the White House with some sort of blanket flat fee tariffs on friends and foes to create this protective ring around the U.S. economy. Trump on Friday, though, held this press conference with the Japanese prime minister, and instead of a flat tariff, he described his vision this way.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Probably reciprocal tariffs where a country pays so much or charges us so much, and we do the same. So very reciprocal because I think that's the only fair way to do it.
KHALID: And, Ayesha, he sees this - as he says, he used that word fair. He sees this as a way to create fair trade relationships and said he's planning to announce these reciprocal tariffs. More on them this coming week.
RASCOE: On the domestic side of things, we see Elon Musk rolling through federal agencies and, in some cases, leaving them decimated. What stood out to you from last week, and what's on your radar this week?
KHALID: I think what stood out to me, Ayesha, was just the scope and speed of what is happening. You know, we've seen the administration essentially try to shut down a federal agency, USAID, get rid of thousands of employees, gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, take over the cultural arts by firing the board of the Kennedy Center here in Washington, D.C., and then you saw the president naming himself as the chairman. So there is so much, I would say, breaking of institutions that is occurring simultaneously.
But I also think what is noteworthy is the relative silence from Republican lawmakers. We have separation of powers, you know, here in the United States. We have three branches of government, and Congress has appropriated money for agencies. You're seeing, I would argue, the sort of abdication of their responsibility out of loyalty to what President Trump wants to do.
RASCOE: And just quickly, we've seen Democratic lawmakers rally at agency doors, but nothing like what you saw in 2017 with the resistance. What do you make of that?
KHALID: Yeah, I mean, the relative silence is, I think, a statement itself to me. And Ayesha, you're right. It is not happening, the sort of loud protest movements in the crowd. I think that, in many ways, this is because the Democratic Party itself is deeply divided amongst the members of the Democratic Party about what to do in this moment.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Asma Khalid. Asma, thank you so much.
KHALID: Nice to speak with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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