Trump's New Tariffs, China Reacts To Tariff Ruling, State Of The Union Poll

What did you just say? I said, I was born ready. You need to say that was more... Into, like, more... Force. Make conviction as if I really believe it. I was born ready. Go for it. I was born ready. That's true. All right. I'm ready. Republicans had a moment of hope for the midterm elections. The Supreme Court got rid of President Trump's unpopular tariffs. Then Trump imposed new tariffs. What's the political cost of attacks on imports? We have analysis from Marleyison. I'm Steven Skiype with Leila Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News. The president's new global tariff rate is far lower than the taxes he raised, then re-raised, then lowered, and raised on imports from China. Trump lost leverage just as he was announcing a trip to meet China's president. What does that mean for his trade war? And heading into President Trump's national address tomorrow night, a new poll finds most Americans say the state of the union is not strong. We'll break down the numbers and what they mean in a midterm election year. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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Because he says it all comes down to how it's enforced and what's next? Like when he loads his shoes on a ship today, will it be the same tariff rate when it arrives in the U.S.? You know, this past year has just been a roller coaster ride with tariffs. Wow, I mean, obviously a real concern that it could change just on that journey. At one point last year, the tariffs and counter tariffs from both sides were over 100%. How are Chinese businesses you've been speaking to coping with the decision making from Washington? Well, they've been living with uncertainty. for quite a while since Trump's first term when he launched a trade war with China in 2018. So Chinese manufacturers that are still standing, they've built this uncertainty into their business model by looking for ways to hedge the tariffs. So take that shoe manufacturer you heard from earlier. James Gao, he's expanded his manufacturing to Vietnam, where the U.S. tariff rate is lower there than the ones placed on China. So right now, most of his athletic shoes destined for the U.S. are made in Vietnam. But that hasn't meant that he cuts China out of his operations. China's the best place for innovation. He says for more specialized shoes, he still uses his factory in China because they have the high-end machinery and technical know-how here. China is still the place to manufacture high-quality stuff. And on the government level, Beijing has been trying to diversify its trading partners. And they've been doing it for some years now. In other words, they're trying to be less reliant on trade with the U.S., and they've had some success. Okay, so now President Trump is about to head to China in a few weeks. How might this Supreme Court ruling influence the trip? Before the Supreme Court's decision, both the U.S. and China... put a brief pause on some trade restrictions and the higher tariffs on each other's exports. Now, President Trump has used tariffs against China as a threat to lower the trade deficit, to stop intellectual property theft, to stop the flow of chemicals used to make street fentanyl. So in theory, this decision on Friday by the Supreme Court might weaken Trump's hand. However, China also has its own issues. Its domestic economy is sluggish, consumption has been weak, which is why some Chinese manufacturers have been selling more to other countries. And now some of those countries, they're starting to push back on cheap Chinese exports, saying that those exports are destroying their local industries. So China really needs the relationship with the U.S. to stabilize. And like the Chinese Commerce Ministry has said, when the U.S. in China fight... Both sides hurt. That's NPR's Jennifer Pack in Shanghai. Thank you so much for your reporting. Thanks for having me.

The state of the union is not strong. That's according to the majority of respondents in the latest NPR, PBS News, Marist poll, out today. President Trump is said to give his update on the state of the union tomorrow night. To tell us more about the findings of this survey is NPR's senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, good morning. Hey, great to be with you. What did the survey say about the state of the union? Well, I mean, 57% say that it is not strong. That's up four points from last year. That includes eight and ten Democrats and nearly seven and ten independents who say that it's not strong. Three quarters of Republicans, though, say that it is strong. Maybe no surprise given that Trump is in office and they've backed him on almost everything else. Are there other notable divides other than political party? Yeah, I mean, there are really big splits by education and gender. I mean, of those with college degrees, 69% say that the state of the union is not strong. Those without degrees, though, are split 50-50. Women, 63% say that the state of the union is not strong. That's 12 points higher than men. Both of those divides have been really pronounced throughout this decade with Trump on the political scene and how people view him. And here on the eve of Trump's report about the country, it really gives a good view of how some Americans are seeing things. Yeah. What else jumped out at you? Yeah, we asked about whether people thought the country was better off or worse off than a year ago just after Trump came into office. percent say that the country is worse off now. 55 percent see the direction that Trump is moving the country as, quote, change for the worse. And that, by the way, is the highest number that Trump has faced in either of his terms in our poll. Interesting. I also thought it was interesting in this survey that we asked people whether they think there's a threat to democracy. What did we find? Yeah, here's one place where majorities across parties agreed, you know, saying that there is a serious threat to democracy. You don't get almost eight and ten people in polling agreeing on much, but that's what we found here. Nine and ten Democrats, eight and ten independents, 61% of Republicans all say that there's a serious threat. Now, As we know from other surveys and conversations we've had with voters, what they see as those threats in many cases is very different. You know, Democrats see the country backsliding on liberal democracy. Republicans have concerns that elections aren't secure, something Trump has pushed to explain away his 2020 loss despite evidence to the contrary. You know, we also asked whether the system of checks and balances in the country is working two-thirds say it is not. Here again, though, with Trump in office, Democrats and independents. overwhelmingly say that it's not working, but a majority of Republicans do see it working well. And that makes some sense because Republicans in Congress, as we've seen, haven't put many checks on Trump during his first year as he's tried to centralize power. Many of these splits feel like what we've seen all along when it comes to Trump.

Yeah, I asked her pollster about this, and he said that views of Trump are very, quote, baked in in his words. And, you know, that makes Trump's challenge at the State of the Union all the more difficult. He's facing a very skeptical public in a midterm election year, and those are generally not very good for the party in power anyway. And whatever he says, as it relates to midterm messaging, is going to set the backdrop for the next several months until those November elections. You know, people have been saying that prices, the cost of living are their top concern, and don't think that the Trump administration. is focused on it enough. You know, Trump has mostly sidestepped it and focused on other things like immigration, foreign affairs. But how does he try to reset that, if at all, tomorrow night? That's NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Thank you, Domenico. You're welcome. This news probably posed well. The U.S. ended the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy with a triumph. They won the gold in men's hockey. They beat their longtime rivals from Canada, two to one, in overtime. The first time Americans won gold in Olympic hockey since 1980. The American women's team won hockey gold, too. Those are just two of the 12 gold medals won by Team USA in the games. If you're keeping track, the United States won 33 medals overall, making it the best winter games showing in... decades for the United States, although that was not good enough to beat out the Norwegians who won 41 medals. And that's up first for Monday, February 23rd. I'm Leila Faldon. And I'm Steven Ski. For tomorrow's top three stories, follow up first on your podcast app, and you get coverage of the news you need to start your day delivered directly to you when you wake up. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Christianab Kalimer, Vincent Nee, Dana Farrington, Mohamed al-Bardisi, and H.J. Mai. It was produced by Ziyadh-Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Highness, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.

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