Court Blocks Most Trump Tariffs, Trump Grows Frustrated With Putin, CPAC Hungary

0:01A 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.

0:37CPAC Hungary will feature leading right-wing voices from Europe and America. Leila Faddle 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.

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1:39This time, his most recent expose puts him head to head with a powerful family that rules Tulsa, meaning only one thing. He must be on to something big. FX's The Lowdown, all new Tuesdays on FX, stream on Hulu. This message comes from Schwab. Everyone has moments when they could have done better. Same goes for where you invest. Level up and invest smarter with Schwab. Get market insights, education, and human help when you need it. 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.

2:21If 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 anytime with just a social media post.

2:54So 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.

3:33buys from other countries. And in fact, the judges skipped right over issuing a preliminary injunction and gave the plaintiffs a summary judgment. How are financial markets reacting? You know, investors have never liked these tariffs. Every time the president raises import taxes, the stock market tumbles. Every time he backs down, the stock market soars. So global investors are welcoming the idea that maybe the courts are going to take away one of Trump's tariff clubs. Asian stocks rose sharply overnight. Stock futures here in the U.S. are up between 1 % and 2 % this morning. Remember, it's mostly American businesses and consumers that bear the cost of these import taxes.

4:08And it's U.S. farmers and factories that risk losing markets overseas because of retaliation in the trade war. Oregon is one of the states that brought this case, and Oregon's Attorney General Dan Rayfield says striking down these tariffs is a win for working families. We as consumers, we as families, people that are working day in, day out to try and pay their bills, don't have the flexibility in their budget to afford it. And economists were showing this was going to be a$3 ,800 increase to average household budgets every year. That is a tax on all of us, right? But it's hidden and disguised as a tariff.

4:44Rayfield also says this ruling shows that laws still matter and that trade decisions cannot be made on a president's whim. How is the administration responding? Well, the administration wasted no time saying it would appeal this decision. That will go to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit here in Washington. The White House also issued a statement saying, quote, it's not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. I'll note the three judges who ruled against the president here were nominated to the court by Presidents Reagan, Obama, and Trump himself.

5:17Okay. So does this ruling strike down all of Trump's tariffs? 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 Horsey. Scott, thank you. You're welcome.

5:59For 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.

6:29We 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. And 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.

6:59Yet 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. OK, 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.

7:40But overall, the Kremlin strategy appears to be not antagonizing Trump. President Putin has said nothing. Meanwhile, his spokesman, Dmitry Pesko, 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, there'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.

8:12Okay, 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 threat by Trump. Although Putin then undermined those very talks by sending a relatively low-level delegation. Is there any reason to be more hopeful with this this time around? Well, I'd say never say never, not least because Trump has suggested he may be willing to meet with Putin and Zelensky to hammer out a deal.

8:46But Ukraine is already accusing Russia of amassing troops along its border for a new summer offensive, and Russia's lead negotiator has publicly drawn comparisons between Ukraine and a war Russia had with Sweden back in the 1700s that went on for 21 years. The clear message there that no matter how long it takes, we'll get what's ours. So Trump may face this vexing question that's really been there ever since he waded into the Ukraine conflict at the beginning. What to do if or when he decides Russia isn't serious about wanting to end the war. That is NPR's Charles Mainz in Moscow. Charles, thank you.

9:19Thank you.

9:26Today, American and European conservatives, populists and nationalists are gathering in Hungary for a fourth consecutive year for the Conservative Political Action Conference. It was kicked off this morning by Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Trump tsunami swept through the world and changed the entire world. It gave back hope to the world. American conservatives have looked at Hungary and Orban as an aspirational model in recent years for getting elected and also for lessons in implementing a political agenda. He's led the country for the last 15 years and won four consecutive elections.

10:04And many Hungarians and analysts say he's done that by taking over and then undermining democratic institutions. Our colleague Leila Fadl has been in Hungary this week exploring all this, and she's with us now in Budapest, the capital. Good morning, Leila. Hey, good morning. So I hear it's a little windy. Tell us where you are. I'm actually sitting right outside my hotel. I've been watching people all morning head out with their badges and go over to the CPAC gathering that just started. So remind us what goes on at this annual gathering. Who are some of the big names attending this year? Yeah, so Hungary was really the first place CPAC ever hosted a gathering in Europe because Hungary invited them.

10:43And this year, Poland hosted a CPAC earlier this week where we saw Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speak and urge polls to vote for the right-wing nationalists running in a tight presidential election there in just a few days. And one of CPAC's goals is really to keep growing its global footprint. And here in Hungary, we're going to hear from a hodgepodge of speakers. One of the minds behind Trump's child separation policy back in 2017, Chad Wolf, John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who crafted much of Trump's strategy to overturn the 2020 election results. So those are the types of voices that are going to be on the stage in the next two days.

11:21So in the course of your reporting, what are you finding has drawn the U.S. and Hungary together in recent years? Yeah, I met up with the U.S. chairman of CPAC, Matt Schlapp, to talk about the deepening alliances between the MAGA movement, Orbán's Fidesz party in Hungary, and other right-wing movements in Europe. And I ask that, especially given that the European Union is withholding billions of dollars allocated for Hungary right now over policies they deem anti-democratic. One of the recent moves was the country effectively banning upcoming pride celebrations. Schlapp says what's uniting them in part is a feeling that their political opponents are actually being the undemocratic ones.

12:02I felt like America's institutions were definitely in an autocratic slide. I felt like people who have CPAC-type values couldn't get a fair shake in the major national media. We couldn't get a fair shake in the big city courtrooms. We couldn't get a fair shake when it came to having corporations be neutral on politics. They seemed to all get involved in every left-wing political cause of the day. And he's talking about, of course, before President Trump was reelected. And he said that's what populists, conservatives and right wing movements around the world feel. So Viktor Orban and Trump, parallels there?

12:36Yeah, I mean, there are. They're different men, as many people have pointed out to me. But in style and substance, there's a lot that's similar. And their supporters appreciate what they see as the two leaders calling it like it is, outmaneuvering liberals, saying controversial and sometimes downright offensive things out loud. Orban is known for his anti-immigration stance and has depicted himself as the defender of a Christian Europe, working against liberal headwinds in academia and the media. Michelle, I'm sure that sounds familiar. And then there are parallels in policies. I mean, this is a different system, a parliamentary system, but basically Orban really centralized power under the prime minister.

13:14And one big similarity is the universities. They were all state universities here, but enjoyed academic autonomy. And now they come under private foundations that get state money. And that foundation decides how the universities are run. In the States, Trump is also using the threat of pulling federal funds to get universities to come in line with his government's demands. And they both spend a lot of time attacking the independent press. That's actually how CPAC opened today. That is our Leila Fano talking to us from Budapest, Hungary. Leila, thank you. You're welcome, Michelle.

13:51And that's Up First for Thursday, May 29th. I'm Michelle Martin. Make your next listen Consider This from NPR. Up First covers three or more big stories of the day. Consider This gives you one big story in depth in less than 15 minutes. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Cara Platoni, Miguel Macias, Arazu Rizvani, H.J. Mai, and Lisa Thompson. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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