Up First from NPR
Court Blocks Most Trump Tariffs, Trump Grows Frustrated With Putin, CPAC Hungary
Thu, 29 May 2025
A federal court has blocked most of President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs. The judges said the president overstepped his authority when he put tariffs on nearly every country in the world last month. Trump also appears increasingly frustrated with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over Moscow's ongoing airstrikes in Ukraine. How could this affect any peace negotiations? And one of the largest right-wing political gatherings is getting underway in Eastern Europe.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 Kara Platoni, Miguel Macias, Arezou Rezvani, HJ Mai and Lisa Thomson. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What are the recent developments in Trump's tariffs?
A federal court has blocked most of President Trump's tariffs. The judges say the president overstepped his authority when he put tariffs on nearly every country last month. How big of a setback is this for Trump's economic plans? I'm Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. President Trump appears increasingly frustrated with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Trump earlier this week described Putin as absolutely crazy amid Russia's ongoing airstrikes in Ukraine. How does this growing frustration affect any peace negotiations? And one of the largest right-wing political gatherings is getting underway in Eastern Europe. CPAC Hungary will feature leading right-wing voices from Europe and America.
Leila Fadl and her team are on the ground in Budapest with the latest. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from Reveal, more to the story.
Chapter 2: How does the court ruling affect Trump's economic plans?
Every Wednesday, Peabody award-winning journalist Al Letson sits down with the people at the heart of a changing world for candid conversations that help people understand what's happening around them. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This message comes from Ear Hustle, a Radiotopia podcast.
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A federal court has blocked the nearly worldwide tariffs that President Trump ordered last month. The U.S. Court of International Trade says Trump overstepped his authority when he ordered taxes on imports from nearly every other country.
If the ruling stands, it would strike down all of the tariffs Trump imposed on April 2nd, along with separate levies on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China, some of which have been temporarily suspended. NPR's Scott Horsley is with us now to tell us more about this. Good morning, Scott.
Good morning, Michelle.
Scott, this sounds big. What's at stake in this case?
The stakes here are enormous. The president has imposed the highest tariffs this country has seen since the Great Depression. And while he has backed off on some of those import taxes, the White House maintains he could reimpose them any time with just a social media post. So a dozen states and five businesses challenged the president's authority to unilaterally levy those taxes.
And last night, a specialized trade court handed those challengers a decisive victory. The unanimous three-judge panel ruled that under the Constitution, it's Congress that has exclusive power to regulate trade and impose tariffs. And the court said the 1977 emergency law that Trump has been relying on does not give the president unfettered power to impose taxes on imports from around the world.
They rejected Trump's claims that fentanyl trafficking or persistent trade deficits justify taxing nearly everything the U.S. buys from other countries. And in fact, the judges skipped right over issuing a preliminary injunction and gave the plaintiffs a summary judgment.
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Chapter 3: What is Trump's current stance on Russia and Ukraine?
Morning, Michelle.
So let's just start by digging in on Trump's statements. We just heard the president briefly remind us, what has he been saying?
You know, this began with Trump expressing anger over Russia's intense bombing of cities across Ukraine over the weekend. Trump initially said Putin had gone absolutely crazy and threatened potential sanctions. That was on Sunday. Two days later, Trump reminded Moscow that if it hadn't been for him, quote, really bad things would have already happened to Russia.
He warned Putin he was playing with fire. And then yesterday, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia had continued attacks while negotiations were ongoing. Yet on this issue of hitting Russia with new sanctions or some other response, Trump made clear he's not there yet.
If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that. Let me tell you, I'm a lot tougher than the people you're talking about, but you have to know when to use that.
Okay, so some drift in there, but the president is saying he's not happy with Moscow's behavior. So how has the Kremlin responded?
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Chapter 4: How is Trump responding to Putin's actions?
Chapter 5: What are the implications of the CPAC Hungary gathering?
Leila Fadl and her team are on the ground in Budapest with the latest. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from Reveal, more to the story.
Every Wednesday, Peabody award-winning journalist Al Letson sits down with the people at the heart of a changing world for candid conversations that help people understand what's happening around them. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This message comes from Ear Hustle, a Radiotopia podcast.
Current episodes describe celebrating birthdays in prison, stories from death row, and a daddy-daughter dance. Ear Hustle is available anywhere you get your podcasts.
A federal court has blocked the nearly worldwide tariffs that President Trump ordered last month. The U.S. Court of International Trade says Trump overstepped his authority when he ordered taxes on imports from nearly every other country.
If the ruling stands, it would strike down all of the tariffs Trump imposed on April 2nd, along with separate levies on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China, some of which have been temporarily suspended. NPR's Scott Horsley is with us now to tell us more about this. Good morning, Scott.
Good morning, Michelle.
Scott, this sounds big. What's at stake in this case?
The stakes here are enormous. The president has imposed the highest tariffs this country has seen since the Great Depression. And while he has backed off on some of those import taxes, the White House maintains he could reimpose them any time with just a social media post. So a dozen states and five businesses challenged the president's authority to unilaterally levy those taxes.
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Chapter 6: How do tariffs impact American families?
No. The industry-specific taxes on steel and aluminum and cars and car parts remain in place. Those were authorized under a different statute. And Trump has threatened to use that statute to add additional tariffs on imported computer chips and pharmaceuticals and copper.
But as for the sweeping tariffs on nearly everything we import, from coffee and bananas to French wine and Chinese toys, for the moment at least, those taxes do not pass legal muster.
That is NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, thank you.
Boom.
For several days now, President Trump has expressed growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the slow progress towards ending the war in Ukraine, something he did again yesterday at the White House.
We're going to find out whether or not he's tapping us along or not.
And if he is, we'll respond a little bit differently. Meanwhile, Russia announced it's ready to hold another round of peace talks. Joining us to talk about all this is NPR's Charles Maines, who's with us on the line from Moscow. Hi, Charles.
Morning, Michelle.
So let's just start by digging in on Trump's statements. We just heard the president briefly remind us, what has he been saying?
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Chapter 7: What will be the outcome of the appeal against the court ruling?
You know, this began with Trump expressing anger over Russia's intense bombing of cities across Ukraine over the weekend. Trump initially said Putin had gone absolutely crazy and threatened potential sanctions. That was on Sunday. Two days later, Trump reminded Moscow that if it hadn't been for him, quote, really bad things would have already happened to Russia.
He warned Putin he was playing with fire. And then yesterday, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia had continued attacks while negotiations were ongoing. Yet on this issue of hitting Russia with new sanctions or some other response, Trump made clear he's not there yet.
If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that. Let me tell you, I'm a lot tougher than the people you're talking about, but you have to know when to use that.
Okay, so some drift in there, but the president is saying he's not happy with Moscow's behavior. So how has the Kremlin responded?
Well, some Kremlin officials have called Trump misinformed, arguing Trump wasn't aware of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia over the week. More, they also point to a deal Ukraine signed yesterday with Germany to produce long-range weapons capable of striking inside Russia in the future. But overall, the Kremlin's strategy appears to be not antagonizing Trump. President Putin has said nothing.
Meanwhile, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has repeatedly complimented Trump's effort to end the conflict, while reminding these are complex negotiations full of nuances. Now, critics will say, of course, that it's just more foot-dragging by Moscow as fighting continues.
And yet Russia's foreign minister announced last night he was now ready to pick up talks where they left off, calling for a meeting with Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey next Monday, when each side can present documents outlining their vision for an eventual peace deal.
OK, what about the Ukrainians? Have they signed on to this meeting?
Well, the presumption is they will, because Kiev needs to show Trump that Ukraine's not the obstacle to peace here. Certainly that was the case in the first round of talks in Istanbul, negotiations that were proposed by Putin amid earlier sanctions threatened by Trump, although Putin then undermined those very talks by sending a relatively low-level delegation.
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