--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. Today's Tuesday, March 4th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Just after midnight, the sweeping new tariffs that President Trump has been threatening against America's largest trading partners kicked in. There's now a new 25% surcharge on products from Canada and Mexico, and an extra 10% on goods from China, on top of existing tariffs.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: President Trump had been framing the tariffs as a national security issue, claiming that Canada and Mexico in particular weren't doing enough to stop migrants and fentanyl from coming into the U.S. Those countries have spent weeks scrambling to show Trump that they were stepping up enforcement.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But yesterday, hours before the tariffs started, Trump seemed to move the goalposts. So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He suggested that the only way out of the surcharges would be for auto companies and other manufacturers to relocate to the U.S. I would just say this to people in Canada or Mexico. If they're going to build car plants, the people that are doing them are much better off building here because we have the market, where they sell the most.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The tariffs are already sending shockwaves through the economy. The stock market had its biggest drop-off of the year when it became clear they were about to take effect. And economists say Americans will probably see higher prices on a wide range of products.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The first place they're going to feel it is the grocery store. Much of the fresh produce in the U.S., everything from tomatoes to avocados, is imported from Mexico. Prices could start to climb in the next few weeks.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Beef, grain, and maple syrup from Canada will also likely get more expensive. And over time, prices could also go up on cars, toys, smartphones, and a whole range of consumer goods.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In response to Trump's tariffs, Canada immediately slapped its own surcharges on American imports. And China also moved quickly to retaliate, putting tariffs on American food and agricultural products and blocking a number of American companies from doing business in China.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In another major move from the Trump administration, the president temporarily suspended all U.S. military aid to Ukraine, three days after he berated Vladimir Zelensky in the Oval Office.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Officials say the suspension will be in place until Trump determines that Ukraine has made a good-faith commitment to peace negotiations with Russia. The order affects more than a billion in arms and ammunition that were on order or even already en route.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Analysts say Ukraine can keep its war effort going for weeks, even a few months, without U.S. support. It did that last year, when Republicans in Congress temporarily blocked assistance.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But the cracks did start to show. Without well-stocked air defense systems, more Russian missiles got through, hitting cities and power plants. And without enough supplies on the front lines, Ukrainian commanders told the Times they had to ration ammunition.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Effectively, Trump's new pause is an ultimatum for Zelensky. Either get on board with ceasefire terms that Trump dictates or prepare to face larger battlefield losses without U.S. support.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In the meantime, analysts say the pause will help Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose troops could make gains against a weakened Ukraine.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: On the heels of his aid freeze and the new tariffs, President Trump will give his first big address to a joint session of Congress tonight. It's at 9 p.m. Eastern, and it'll be his largest televised event since he returned to office.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Presidents usually use this moment to lay out their plans for their time in the White House. Trump's expected to tick through his work on immigration, spending cuts, and a host of executive orders.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Many Democratic lawmakers say they plan to protest Trump's actions so far by inviting fired federal workers as their guests to the speech.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Times will have live coverage of Trump's comments at nytimes.com.
--:-- Ashley Southall: What New York set out to create was a program that could be a national model to bring in people that they once targeted for selling marijuana or growing it and help them to become successful business owners in this newly legal industry.
--:-- Ashley Southall: But it failed pretty spectacularly. After recreational cannabis was legalized there in 2021, the state backed a $200 million fund to give people who'd been prosecuted for drug offenses a leg up in the new market.
--:-- Ashley Southall: It was supposed to launch 150 small cannabis shops, providing property and loans. Only 22 have gone up, and Ashley says many of the participants in the program told her they feel they've been caught in a debt trap.
--:-- Roland Conner: One of the people I talked to was Roland Conner, who was the first person to open a dispensary under this program. And what he described was a program that was one in which he had very little control.
--:-- Roland Conner: Conner and others told Ashley that the loans they got from the fund were so tightly restricted, they had almost no say in how their stores were designed and built, and no oversight of construction costs.
--:-- Roland Conner: That effectively handcuffed them as they were trying to compete with a flood of new illicit cannabis shops that started popping up across the state.
--:-- Roland Conner: For his part, Conner ended up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. So you have a guy like Conner who has every reason to be skeptical of the government because he has been prosecuted for selling marijuana.
--:-- Roland Conner: But he casts that aside and decides to take the government up on its promise of first dibs on a windfall from legalization. And he ends up facing financial ruin.
--:-- Roland Conner: It got so bad for him that at one point he was starting to wonder if this whole program was smoke and mirrors.
--:-- Publicist: In response to questions from the Times, a publicist for the fund said criticism of the program was, quote, absurd, claiming it had given opportunities to people other lenders wouldn't have taken a chance on.
--:-- Roland Conner: Recently, Connor and other participants in the program asked the governor to shut the program down altogether and refinance their debt.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally, Who the sweatiest person on the rugby team?
--:-- Ilona Marr: Let me think. Hello? A lot of people who first saw Ilona Marr on social media had never watched a rugby match. But the American athlete and TikTok favorite has been giving the sport a bump.
--:-- Ilona Marr: It started during the summer's Olympics when Marr shared a lot of videos of giant croissants, but also footage of her on the field, helping Team USA take the bronze. A stunning result from the United States!
--:-- Ilona Marr: Since then, she's built a massive following, 8 million people and counting, with her mix of the goofy and the confessional, lip-syncing to the Kardashians, and also talking body positivity.
--:-- Ilona Marr: I have cellulite everywhere. It is completely normal, completely natural. It does not take away from your athletic ability.
--:-- Ilona Marr: This season, she took her newfound fame to England, playing for the Bristol Bears in the country's top women's rugby league.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And here is Ilona Marr. Oh, she's going to do it! It is quite simply marvellous.
--:-- Ilona Marr: She just wrapped her stint with the Bears this past weekend, and her presence was transformative. Team merchandise sales went through the roof. They had record attendance and even had to temporarily move stadiums from a 2,000-seat venue to one with 27,000 seats.
--:-- Ilona Marr: Overall, it was a major boost for a league where many of the players have to work other jobs to support themselves. And Marr herself said she hopes the momentum behind the sport will continue to build.
--:-- Ilona Marr: Women's rugby is changing, and it's really, I think, making the world and people a better place. I don't know what I'm saying, but please keep coming out and supporting and fill these seats.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Marr is planning to be back in England this summer, though in an American jersey, for the Women's Rugby World Cup.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, the Department of Government Efficiency claims it's cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending so far. A look at how that math does not add up.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That's next in The New York Times audio app. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.
