Transcript
Frank Ordonez (0:00)
Imagine, if you will, a show from NPR that's not like npr, a show that focuses not on the important, but the stupid, which features stories about people smuggling animals in their pants, incompetent criminals, and ridiculous science studies. And call it Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, because the good names were taken. Listen to NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Yes, that is what it is called. Wherever you get your podcasts.
Deepa Shivaram (0:25)
Hi, this is Betsy in Seattle. It's currently 1am and I just finished my dress for my work's annual gala that's happening later today. Last year, I put the final stitches in my dress at 6:30am the day of the gala. So I think I'm getting better. This episode was recorded at 12:37pm on Friday, May 30, 2025. Things may have changed by the time you listen to this, but hopefully I will have caught up on some much needed sleep. Okay, off to the gala. Oh, man, I need pictures. Yeah, when she says finishing touches, I mean, like, did she make the whole dress? I must.
Danielle Kurtzleben (1:07)
Sounds like it.
Deepa Shivaram (1:07)
I must know. Hey there. It's the NPR Politics podcast. I'm Deepa Shivaram. I cover the White House.
Danielle Kurtzleben (1:13)
I'm Danielle Kurtzleben. I also cover the White House.
Frank Ordonez (1:15)
And I'm Frank Ordonez. And I also cover the White House.
Deepa Shivaram (1:18)
I love a pod when we just dominate from the White House team. All right, so it's been a busy week in Washington, starting with the ongoing fight over President Trump's tariff policy. So much back and forth. But, Danielle, I want to start with you on this because there is a court involved in this that not many people have heard of or dealt with that, you know, kind of handed the president a setback this week. Can you tell us what happened?
Danielle Kurtzleben (1:42)
Yes. So this is a court called the Court of International Trade, and there's a reason people may not have heard of this court. It usually deals in trade disputes that would strike a lot of people as niche, even picky you, and even if they aren't really in real life. But some of their disputes I looked up, a recent one was about whether one particular imported product could be defined as a centrifuge or not. This case that we are talking about today was a much bigger deal. What happened here was a group of businesses as well as a group of state attorneys general brought a case to the Court of International Trade Challenge, the heart of President Trump's tariff policy. So really the heart of his entire economic policy. They argued, hey, for a lot of these tariffs, the president Just didn't have the legal authority to do it. And specifically, the tariffs we're talking about today are those global sweeping tariffs that day that he called Liberation Day, when he imposed tariffs on countries all over the world. Those tariffs plus tariffs he's imposed on China, Canada and Mexico, and he justified those as a way to slow the flow of fentanyl. So the court looked at this argument and said, you know, you're right, these tariffs have to stop. The president did not have the legal authority to impose these.
