China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial

Summary

Up First from NPR – April 14, 2025

NPR’s “Up First” delivers the three biggest stories of the day with in-depth reporting and analysis. In this episode, hosts Leila Fadel and Michelle Martin delve into China’s tariff maneuvers, El Salvador’s controversial immigration agreements with the U.S., and the landmark antitrust trial against Meta.

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1. U.S.-China Tariff Developments

Leila Fadel opens the discussion by highlighting a recent development in the ongoing trade war between the United States and China:

“There's now a carve out for electronics on those steep tariffs the US slapped on Chinese goods, but maybe not for long.” [00:03]

Michelle Martin probes the state of negotiations:

“Are the US And China any closer to negotiations?” [00:12]

John Ruit, NPR’s correspondent in Beijing, provides deeper insights:

“Late on Friday, Customs and Border Protection posted a notice online... no tariffs on mobile phones, computers, memory chips, flat screens, LEDs, stuff like that.” [02:55]

He explains that this carve-out covers roughly a quarter of Chinese exports to the U.S., signaling a temporary easing but not necessarily a resolution:

“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained... they're exempted from the so-called reciprocal tariffs... to force supply chains of those products back to the US.” [03:35]

Ruit further elaborates on China’s stance and strategic moves:

“China has made clear they want to negotiate, they want to resolve this problem, but they're not sure what the US is looking for.” [04:21]

He notes Chinese President Xi Jinping’s overseas trip to Southeast Asia as a move to reinforce China as a steadfast trading partner amidst the trade tensions:

“Xi had a piece in the Vietnamese Communist Party's mouthpiece newspaper... protecting the multilateral trading system and maintaining stable supply chains.” [05:10]

This strategic diplomacy underscores China's intent to diversify and strengthen regional ties despite the U.S.-China trade disputes.

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2. El Salvador’s President Meets with U.S. President Trump

Transitioning to Latin American politics, Michelle Martin introduces the meeting between El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and U.S. President Donald Trump:

“El Salvador's president is expected to meet with Donald Trump at the White House later today.” [06:00]

Leila Fadel provides background on Bukele’s controversial actions:

“Nayib Bukele has taken hundreds of people deported from the US alleging they're gang members... he has few fans among human rights advocates.” [06:04]

Freelance reporter Manuel Rueda, reporting from Medellín, adds context:

“In March, El Salvador took in more than 200 Venezuelan migrants... Bukele put them in a notorious prison known as the Secot.” [07:43]

He discusses the Trump administration’s objective:

“In Latin America, the Trump administration has been looking for allies that will help it to deliver quickly in its priorities... reduce immigration to the United States.” [06:52]

Rueda highlights Bukele’s motivations:

“This gives him the validation of the United States... Bukele might also be trying to reduce tariffs on El Salvador's exports.” [09:07]

The segment underscores the geopolitical and humanitarian complexities of the U.S.-El Salvador relationship, with significant implications for immigration policy and human rights.

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3. Federal Trade Commission’s Antitrust Trial Against Meta

The final major story revolves around the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) case against Meta Platforms Inc., targeting its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp:

“A case considered the most significant legal challenge in Meta's history starts today in Washington, DC.” [09:43]

Leila Fadel outlines the trial’s premise:

“Did Meta break competition laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp?” [09:48]

Bobby Allen, NPR’s technology correspondent, breaks down the government's allegations:

“The FTC says Meta acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp two years later as part of a strategy to eliminate competition and maintain monopoly power over the whole social media market.” [10:21]

He explains the FTC’s desired remedy:

“The FTC is pushing for Instagram and WhatsApp to be spun off into two separate companies... to allow smaller social media companies to compete.” [10:21]

Allen anticipates Meta’s defense:

“Meta is expected to say it's always competed fairly and that regulators are trying to punish the company for being so successful and so innovative.” [11:03]

He further discusses the potential impact on users:

“The FTC says they would mean more competition and therefore better quality social media services... Meta says the opposite, that a breakup would make each of its individual apps less integrated and just worse overall.” [11:47]

Michelle Martin inquires about the political dynamics:

“Does Mark Zuckerberg's relationship with Trump play into this?” [12:16]

Allen provides insight into the shifting relationship between Zuckerberg and the Trump administration:

“Meta donated a million dollars to Trump's inaugural committee fund... Zuckerberg has made several visits to Trump's Mar-a-Lago.” [12:25]

He concludes that despite these maneuvers, the trial is poised to proceed:

“All indications are that this case will be going on for weeks inside of a federal courtroom in Washington.” [13:03]

This trial not only challenges one of the largest tech conglomerates but also sets a precedent for antitrust actions in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

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Conclusion

In today’s episode of Up First, listeners received a comprehensive overview of critical international trade developments between the U.S. and China, the contentious immigration agreements involving El Salvador’s president, and a groundbreaking antitrust trial that could reshape the social media industry. Through expert interviews and incisive reporting, NPR paints a detailed picture of the geopolitical and economic forces shaping our world.

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Notable Quotes:

• “Nayib Bukele has taken hundreds of people deported from the US alleging they're gang members.” – Leila Fadel [06:04]
• “Meta acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp two years later as part of a strategy to eliminate competition.” – Bobby Allen [10:21]
• “China has made clear they want to negotiate, they want to resolve this problem.” – John Ruit [04:21]

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This summary provides an in-depth look at today’s top stories, offering valuable insights for those who seek to understand the intricate dynamics at play without having listened to the full episode.

Transcript

[Leila Falden]

There's now a carve out for electronics on those steep tariffs the US Slapped on Chinese goods, but maybe not for long. Publicly, China showed defiance in the face of this trade war.

[Michelle Martin]

Are the US And China any closer to negotiations?

[Leila Falden]

I'm Leila Falden with Michelle Martin, and this is up first from NPR News. El Salvador's president is in D.C. for a meeting with President Trump. Nayib Bukele has taken hundreds of people deported from the US Alleging they're gang members. Bukele has called himself the world's coolest dictator, but has few fans among human rights advocates. After locking up his own citizens without due process, what comes out of this meeting?

[Michelle Martin]

And the Federal Trade Commission is taking on social media giant Meta in court. The case centers on whether Meta broke competition laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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[Michelle Martin]

No new tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the United States or on US Goods flowing into China.

[Leila Falden]

In fact, late on Friday, the Trump administration outlined a substantial carve out for mobile phones, computers and other electronics, but that may not last very long and neither side appears ready to back down.

[Michelle Martin]

NPR's John Ruit has been following all these twists and turns from Beijing and he's with us now to tell us more. Good morning, John.

[John Ruit]

Good morning.

[Michelle Martin]

So no new tariffs and what about that carve out for electronics? Can you tell us more?

[John Ruit]

Yeah. Late on Friday, Customs and Border Protection posted a notice online. It was full of legalese and arcane tariff codes. And what it translated into was no tariffs on mobile phones, computers, memory chips, flat screens, LEDs, stuff like that. This is substantial because electronics account for roughly a quarter of Chinese exports to the US China's Commerce Ministry responded fairly quickly over the weekend, calling it a small step toward correcting the error of imposing those so called reciprocal tariffs on China and on other countries.

[Michelle Martin]

How is this being interpreted? Is it seen as a sign of goodwill or maybe a face saving way to deescalate this trade war that Trump started?

[John Ruit]

It was initially, but it doesn't look like it is. You know, Trump's come out on social media to say that nobody is getting off the hook. These products are just moving to a different tariff bucket. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained it on Sunday on ABC's this Week. So all those products are going to come under semiconductors and they're going to have a special focused type of tariff to make sure that those products get reassured. So he's saying they're exempted from the so called reciprocal tariffs that Trump announced so that they're sort of off the menu for negotiation.

[Bobby Allen]

Why?

[John Ruit]

Because they're going to be lumped in with semiconductors under a separate tariff that he says will be announced in the next month or two and not just on China. And the idea is to force supply chains of those products back to the.

[Michelle Martin]

US So where do things stand from China's perspective?

[John Ruit]

Well, China's been pretty consistent. They've projected defiance throughout this. You know, Trump seems to be waiting for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to pick up the phone and call him. That's not how China operates. It doesn't mean that they're not open to discussion, though. I asked Andy Rothman about this last night here in Beijing. He advises investors and corporate boards on China and he's been on a trip here meeting companies and contacts. I think the Chinese have made clear they want to negotiate, they want to resolve this problem, but they're not sure what the US Is looking for. They're also very unsure about what the US Is willing to offer in return. Meanwhile, China has taken steps to you know, gird for these tariffs. One part of that is deepening relations with other countries, in particular neighbors. And it just so happens that Xi Jinping left today on his first overseas trip of the year.

[Michelle Martin]

Okay, now that's interesting. So where is he headed?

[John Ruit]

First stop is Vietnam. He's in Hanoi now. He heads to Malaysia next for three days, and then to Cambodia. The Chinese government's projecting China as sort of an anchor in rough seas, a reliable trading partner. In fact, Xi had a piece in the Vietnamese Communist Party's mouthpiece newspaper today calling for joint efforts to protect the multilateral trading system and maintain stable supply chains. But these Southeast Asian countries are in a tough spot. They've all benefited to some extent from the trade friction between the US And China in recent years because manufacturing has moved their. And also they are all negotiating or seeking to negotiate with the Trump administration to keep the tariffs off.

[Michelle Martin]

That is NPR's John Wurich in Beijing. John, thank you.

[John Ruit]

You're welcome.

[Michelle Martin]

El Salvador's president is expected to meet with Donald Trump at the White House later today.

[Leila Falden]

Yeah. Nayib Bukele is the man the Trump administration paid to imprison hundreds of people deported from the US and accused of being gang. Salvador got about $6 million in that deal. Those deportations are facing numerous legal challenges in the U.S. bukele is no darling to human rights organizations because he's imprisoned thousands of his own citizens with no due process. He's called himself the world's coolest dictator.

[Michelle Martin]

To hear more about this, we're joined by freelance reporter Manuel Ureda. He's following all this from Medellin, where you can hear that it is pouring rain, but hopefully he's indoors. Good morning, Manuel.

[Manuel Rueda]

Good morning.

[Michelle Martin]

So this is the first leader from a Latin American nation to get an official invitation to the White House in President Trump's second term. What is Trump trying to get out of this meeting?

[Manuel Rueda]

Well, in Latin America, the Trump administration has been looking for allies that will help it to deliver quickly in its priorities. And in this case, it's the effort to reduce immigration to the United States. In March, El Salvador took in more than 200 Venezuelan migrants who were accused of being gang members and were deported from the US in an expedited and controversial fashion. Bukele put them in a notorious prison known as the Secot. There have been more deportation flights like that since then. The latest on Sunday. During this visit, both sides might talk about how to expand those kinds of partnerships, including the possibility of sending some US Prisoners to El Salvador to be incarcerated there.

[Michelle Martin]

So this has obviously been hugely controversial in the United States States. Has there been any pushback in El Salvador about this kind of deal?

[Manuel Rueda]

Well, in El Salvador, Bukele is a hugely popular president, and many people don't mind his prison system. That's because El Salvador used to be one of the most violent countries in the world, with fighting between gangs controlling daily life in many communities. But in 2022, Bukele declared a state of emergency, which is still ongoing, that gave the police the power to arrest anyone they suspect of being a gang member and lock them up for months at a time without any kind of due process. Since those policies began, the number of homicides in El Salvador fell by 75%, and Gans lost their grips on many communities where they were taxing local businesses. Of course, human rights groups have been very critical of these tactics, and now their concern is that people who get sent from the US to El Salvador will basically be treated in the same way that local prisoners are treated and disappear into the system. Last month, a Maryland resident, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was sent by mistake to El Salvador. The Trump administration admitted it was a mistake. His family hasn't been able to get in touch with him yet, despite the Supreme Court's insistence that he should be brought back. On Sunday, the Justice Department said the courts had, quote, no authority to force El Salvador to release Abreu Garcia. So the question now is if Trump will discuss with Bukele the return of this Maryland residents.

[Michelle Martin]

And what about Mr. Bukele? What might he be looking for in this visit?

[Manuel Rueda]

Well, I think one big thing is that this gives him the validation of the United States, something that helps Bukele to dismiss the criticism she gets from human rights groups at home. By shoring up relations with the Trump administration, Bukele might also be trying to reduce tariffs on El Salvador's exports. El Salvador is the US's main trading partner. They send about 30% of their exports to the United States.

[Michelle Martin]

That is freelance reporter Manuel Rueda. He's reporting from Medellin. Manuel, thank you.

[Manuel Rueda]

Absolutely.

[Michelle Martin]

A case considered the most significant legal challenge in Meta's history starts today in Washington, dc.

[Leila Falden]

Yeah. The trial pits the Federal Trade Commission against the social media giant. It's expected to last two months, and executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are set to take the witness stand. The case centers on this question. Did Meta break competition laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp?

[Michelle Martin]

NPR's Bobby Allen joins us to talk about what the trial could mean for the future of Meta and The entire social media landscape. Welcome, Bobby. Thanks for joining us.

[Bobby Allen]

Hey there, Michelle.

[Michelle Martin]

What exactly is the government's case against Meta and what is it asking for?

[Bobby Allen]

The FTC says Meta acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp two years later as part of a strategy to eliminate competition and maintain monopoly power over the whole social media market. The government says Meadow is motivated by a buy or bury strategy, meaning Meadow would try to purchase a rival or put them out of business entirely. The FTC says this is illegal and the only way to remedy it is for Meta to be broken up. So the FTC is pushing for Instagram and WhatsApp to be spun off in two separate companies. The government says this will allow smaller social media companies to compete for consumers and ad dollars and loosen Meta's grip on the industry. And as you might imagine, Michelle, Meta is fighting back against this pretty hard.

[Michelle Martin]

Do we have a sense of how Meta is likely to respond in court?

[Bobby Allen]

Yeah, Meta is expected to say it's always competed fairly and that regulators are trying to punish the company for being so successful and so innovative. Lawyers for Meta have said in court filings that, you know, the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and look, they were quite prescient and made the company really successful. Meta says they were approved by regulators at the time. So to go back years and try to unwind these deals, Meta says, is unreasonable. Meta also says by breaking up an American tech company, who are you going to benefit? Rivals abroad, including Chinese competitors.

[Michelle Martin]

What would it mean for people who use Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp if Metta had to spin them off into separate companies?

[Bobby Allen]

Well, the FTC says they would mean more competition and therefore better quality social media services. The FTC says since Meta is a monopoly, all of its apps have become pretty lousy and full of intrusive advertising. The agency also says privacy protections for users has suffered. So, you know, if the FTC is to be believed here, a breakup would mean just better quality social media apps for all of us. But Meta says the opposite, that a breakup would make each of its individual apps less integrated and just worse overall.

[Michelle Martin]

So we have been talking about the legal case just now, but let's pivot back to the politics. Does Mark Zuckerberg's relationship with Trump play into this?

[Bobby Allen]

Yeah, this case first started in Trump's first term. That's when Trump was at war with Zuckerberg. And until very recently, Trump has not been a fan of him. Trump even threatened to throw Zuckerberg in prison before the 2024 presidential election. Saying if Zuckerberg did anything to hurt Trump on the campaign trail, he would, quote, spend the rest of his life in prison. Now, in recent months, Zuckerberg has been ingratiating himself with the Trump administration. Like so many others in Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg has publicly praised Trump. Meta donated a million dollars to Trump's inaugural committee fund. He would have made these company wide shifts to appease Trump, like ending Facebook and Instagram's fact checking program and rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Zuckerberg has also made several visits to Trump's Mar A Lago. And there has been tons of speculation in Washington about whether the Trump administration would settle with Meta and not go forward with his trial. But so far, Michelle, all indications are that this case will be going on for weeks inside of a federal courtroom in Washington.

[Michelle Martin]

That is NPR's Bobby Allen. Bobby, I know you'll be watching it, so thank you.

[Bobby Allen]

Thanks, Michelle.

[Michelle Martin]

And that's up first for Monday, April 14th. I'm Michelle Martin.

[Leila Falden]

And I'm Layla Falden. For your next listen consideration, consider this from npr. We here at up first give you the three big stories of the day. Our Consider this colleagues take a different approach. They dive into a single news story and what it means to you. Learn about a big story of the day in less than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Michelle Martin]

Today's episode of up first was edited by Rylan Barton, Tara Neal, Brett Neely, Mohammed Elvardisi and Janaya Williams. It was produced by Ziad Butt, Adam Byrne, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director is David Greenberg. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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