Trump announces 25% auto tariffs | The Excerpt
On Thursday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs - this time on automobiles. Paste BN Supreme Court Correspondent Maureen Groppe breaks down a busy week for the high court. The Trump administration was again on the defensive Wednesday as the fallout continues over officials using the encrypted chat app Signal to discuss war plans. Paste BN MLB Reporter Gabe Lacques takes a look ahead to the 2025 baseball season on Opening Day. Check out a special Deep Dive episode on the future of robot umpires.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson. And today is Thursday, March 27th, 2025. This is The Excerpt.
Today, a fresh round of tariffs. Plus, a busy week for the Supreme Court, and baseball is back.
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President Donald Trump yesterday imposed 25% tariffs on imported automobiles. Trump detailed the tariffs, which will start at 2.5% and rise to 25% on all foreign cars and light trucks, in front of reporters in the Oval Office. Automobiles that fall under the umbrella of imports protected in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, a trade deal orchestrated by Trump in his first term, will not be subject to the full tariff rate. Instead, the U.S. will only put tariffs on the foreign parts that make up vehicles imported from Canada and Mexico. The tariffs are set to go into effect next week on April 2nd, and the latest move comes ahead of Trump's long promised reciprocal tariffs, which are also set to go into effect the same day, where the United States will respond to any nation's tariffs on U.S. exports with tariffs of the same rate on imports from that country.
Stocks have been on a roller coaster ride as Trump has announced then walked back various rounds of tariffs over the past several weeks. Consumer sentiment has also been slammed, and inflation expectations have spiked, concerning some Federal Reserve members. Trump has argued that leveling tariffs on a broad set of industries will boost the nation's declining manufacturing sectors.
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The Supreme Court has been busy this week. I caught up with Paste BN Supreme Court correspondent Maureen Groppe for a look at some of what they've been up to.
Hello, Maureen.
Maureen Groppe:
Hey, how are you?
Taylor Wilson:
Good. Thanks for hopping on today, Maureen. So I know the Supreme Court has been busy this week. Let's start with the High Court upholding some ghost gun regulations. What did they functionally decide?
Maureen Groppe:
So this was a challenge to regulations that under the Biden administration the government put in place to try to deal with ghost guns. These are guns that can be easily assembled from parts, but they avoid the background checks and other requirements for fully manufactured guns. And so they've proliferated at crime scenes, and the administration issued this regulation to say that they should be treated like other weapons. And the Supreme Court in a seven-two decision agreed with that. They thought that the statutory language allowed that. So this was a decision that did not turn on the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. It was a question of did the government correctly interpret the law, a Gun Control Act, that sets up regulations for other weapons? Did it correctly interpret the law when it extended those regulations to this type of weapon?
Taylor Wilson:
Well, also yesterday we saw the Trump administration ask the court to let it cancel teacher preparation grants. What are these grants, Maureen, and what context can you give us here?
Maureen Groppe:
These are grants that are used to prepare teachers particularly for teaching jobs that are harder to fill, either because of the subject matter or because of the schools' more challenging situations where they're teaching. And the Trump administration canceled these grants. And eight Democratic attorneys generals are challenging that, saying that they couldn't just arbitrarily cancel the grants. They need to have a specific legal reason to do so and they didn't.
And the first judge to look at this case initially sided with them, saying he thinks that right now, at this early stage, the evidence is on their side. And so he told the administration that they had to restore the grants as this case is being litigated. And the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to put that decision on hold, to say no, that they should be able to cancel these grants while these states continue to challenge whether they were legally canceled.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. I know conservatives have targeted a phone and internet subsidy program. What is this case all about, Maureen, and what might be some broader implications on this?
Maureen Groppe:
There was a specific issue at stake here and then a broader one. The broader issue that the courts were looking at is this question of how much of Congress's legislative power can it delegate to a federal agency to carry out a law? And in this case, Congress had in 1996 passed this law to make sure that there was universal phone and internet service around the country. So the Federal Communications Commission has this procedure where it decides how much money needs to be raised by telecommunication carriers to subsidize the services in rural areas where it's more expensive and to help lower income people get these services and to fund them in libraries and schools.
And the challengers said that Congress had given away essentially its taxing authority because the FCC in conjunction with a private entity that helps determine each quarter how much money needs to be raised, that they're the ones making the decision about this, what they call a tax, when it's Congress that should have specifically said, "Here's how much money should be raised."
It sounded like today, though, that a majority of the justices did not think that the Congress gave away too much of its authority here. So they're likely to keep this program in place. And the larger issue was whether they were going to take this case as a chance to sort of tighten their standards on how much authority Congress can give to an agency to do something. So we'll see whether they say anything about that. But it looks for now like they're going to say that this universal service fund, which provides about $8 billion in funding for rural hospitals, rural residents, for libraries and schools across the country and others, that that should be okay.
Taylor Wilson:
And finally, Maureen, what's the latest from this gerrymandering case out of Louisiana, and why is this significant?
Maureen Groppe:
This is a case that gets at this tricky issue that states sometimes have where they have to both comply with a Civil Rights Act that says you can't dilute the voting power of a racial minority, but you also have to comply with the Constitution, which says you have to treat people equally. So how do you avoid what's called racial gerrymandering while also making sure that racial minorities are able to be fully represented?
So in Louisiana, what happened is after the last census, the legislature, like all legislatures, redrew their congressional lines to address the population changes. And even though the state has one-third Black, there was only one majority Black congressional district of the state's six congressional districts. So civil rights groups sued and a court said, yeah, "We think that there was a way to create a second majority Black district while still doing so properly and not infringing on anybody else's rights."
But when the state legislature did that, a group of self-described non-Black voters sued saying, "Hey, this was discrimination against us."
So Louisiana's officials came to the Supreme Court and said, "Look, we're between a rock and a hard place. We're supposed to have the ability to juggle these two things. We think we did it in an okay way here, and we need you to both tell us we did. And also if you think we didn't, states need clearer guidance on how we're supposed to be able to do both of those things that sometimes can seem to be in conflict."
Taylor Wilson:
All right, folks can find links to these full stories in today's show notes. Maureen Groppe covers the Supreme Court for USA Today. Thank you, Maureen.
Maureen Groppe:
Thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
The Atlantic magazine published Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's messages to a group chat detailing the times and weapons used to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, as the fallout deepened over Trump administration officials using the encrypted chat app Signal to discuss war plans. In a new article published yesterday morning, Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine's editor-in-chief, posted pictures of messages Hegseth sent the chat, which included President Donald Trump's highest level national security officials, listing the planned launch times of F-18s and Tomahawks. The White House acknowledged that Goldberg was accidentally added to the chat. But during her briefing with reporters yesterday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the chat contained no classified information and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth continued to push back against characterizations that the information he texted other Trump administration officials in the chat was classified war plans. President Trump is still confident in his national security team and won't be firing any of the officials involved in the chat, according to Karoline Leavitt.
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A new Major League Baseball season begins today, and I spoke with USA Today MLB reporter Gabe Lacques about some of the things he's looking out for.
Spring is in the air. Thanks for hopping on today.
Gabe Lacques:
Oh, you got it. It's coming up quicker than we even could have imagined, I think.
Taylor Wilson:
Absolutely. And you have this great piece, Gabe, the Non-hater's Guide to the 2025 MLB Season. I love that. I think it's going to annoy some folks though with where we start, but I think we have to start by talking about the defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. What is the mood around this team, Gabe, as we enter this season, and have they become baseball's villains for some folks?
Gabe Lacques:
It kind of seems like it, which is kind of funny because it's not like they're the Yankees of the late nineties. They hadn't won a full season championship since 1988 until they won last year. They did win the Covid-shortened season of 2020. But people have really kind of gravitated toward them as making the game unfair.
But I find it interesting that so many of the players that they have now that make them so great were easily available to other teams. And they had the financial might to do so, but they also took advantage of opportunities. When you look at Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and Blake Snell, and to some extent Shohei Ohtani, other teams had a chance to either retain them, pursue them earnestly in free agency, extend them with a contract with their original teams, and none saw fit to do so. And a lot of it is a bit of financial disparity, but a lot of it is also just they're highly motivated to take advantage of what they see as pretty big opportunities, and it's going to show up on the field this year.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, we should talk about one of those players you just mentioned. That's of course Shohei Ohtani, probably the marquee start in the sport right now, Gabe. I know he's bringing pitching back this year. What are you excited about with Shohei in 2025?
Gabe Lacques:
His athleticism never really ceases to amaze. We get used to thinking that basketball players, maybe football players, soccer players even, are the best athletes on the planet. In nine out of ten cases, that's probably the case that that person is going to come from one of those sports. But it's hard to not say that Shohei Ohtani is the best athlete on the planet, simply because the two-way ability is one thing, the ability to steal bases is another. I mean, a guy with a capability to steal 50, even with the newfangled rules, and hit 50 home runs is such a unique skill set. And then you throw on the fact that he's nearly a Cy Young caliber pitcher when he's healthy.
And one thing I always come back to, because I think pitchers get a little bit of a raw deal in terms of just athleticism, whenever you see another athlete, or heaven forbid a celebrity, try to throw out a first pitch at a game, how many viral videos are there, you know, a 6 foot 8 basketball player who otherwise looks indomitable get out there and uncork something? It's a really hard thing to do. And so, it really is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. And I think people would be a little bit silly to be upset about the Dodgers, and by extension Ohtani, just because the rich seem to get richer. But hey, he's on a really marquee team where we can really enjoy his exploits. And we're kind of fortunate for that in a sense.
Taylor Wilson:
I've said that for years about pitching, and it's athleticism, Gabe, [inaudible 00:11:48] that point. Honestly. So we have this kind of bizarre stadium situation for two teams this year, Gabe, the Rays and the A's. What can you tell us here and what sorts of wrinkles might this bring?
Gabe Lacques:
The A's are going to play in a Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento and the Rays are going to play in a Class A ballpark in Tampa. Now, that might seem like the A's have the better scenario, but keep in mind, this is the New York Yankees' spring training home and their headquarters. So it's right around 10,000, maybe a little more if you throw in standing room or whatnot. They've done $10-50 million of renovations, not just for the Yankees but for the Rays as well. Tropicana Field is unplayable for this season due to the two hurricanes that they had last fall. So the Yankees have kind of bailed them out. And in a sense that it could be good for the Rays, the Tampa St. Pete area. It's surrounded by bridges and bodies of water. It's a real pain getting places. And Tropicana Field is in St. Petersburg, which isn't far as the crow flies from Tampa, but to try to get there by a car can be a real pain.
For the A's, the facilities aren't quite as up to snuff as they are in Tampa. For instance, the visiting clubhouse is out in the outfield. So every time a guy needs to go to the bathroom or wants to get a snack or look at something on video, they just disappear into the catacombs of a stadium. You never notice it. Well, now you're going to notice, oh, this guy just came back from a visiting clubhouse because he had to walk 200 feet. It's going to be a challenge, to be sure.
Taylor Wilson:
And I mean, we should note, Gabe, of course, the A's are in this kind of a limbo period in Sacramento before they eventually move to Las Vegas. So as for what'll actually happen on the diamond, Gabe, I mean, is there a dark horse team that maybe you're keeping an eye on that some folks may not have on their radar?
Gabe Lacques:
Kind of into the Detroit Tigers right now. They eliminated the Astros last year. They have the best pitcher in the game in Tarik Skubal. They brought back Jack Flaherty, who they traded to the Dodgers last year. So kind of a good deal for them. They got their starting shortstop back in that trade and then ended up re-signing Flaherty after the season. They have some really good young players, when you look at Riley Greene, their all-star outfielder. Skubal fronts the rotation. They made it in as a wild card kind of by the skin of their teeth last year. I think they're going to win their division this year. This may be a year where you see a team like Detroit, maybe a team like Arizona insert themselves into this and kind of mess up what we perceive as the new world order.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, Gabe Lacques covers Major League Baseball for USA Today. Happy opening day, Gabe. Appreciate the time.
Gabe Lacques:
Yeah, a long one ahead. We'll do it a one day at a time.
Taylor Wilson:
This spring, Major League Baseball experimented with a new kind of robot umpire challenge system that could arrive in the regular season by next year. For a closer look at what that might mean for the sport going forward, check out Gabe and I's special deep-dive episode from earlier this month. We have a link in today's show notes.
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The key to a long and healthy life could lie in your gut. New research shows that early indicators of some diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's can be traced to whether or not you've had chronic bowel issues during life.
Sean Gibbons:
The microbiome doesn't have a super, super strong effect on human health and disease in the short term. It seems to be critical for our long-term health and longevity.
Taylor Wilson:
Sean Gibbons, a microbiologist at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, joins my colleague Dana Taylor to discuss what bowel movements or a lack of them reveal about our health. Catch that conversation today, beginning at 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time right here on The Excerpt.
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And thanks for listening. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.