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--:-- Michelle Martin: Good morning, I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm A. Martinez. This is Up First from NPR News. Violent crime is at a 30-year low in Washington, D.C., but President Trump has launched a federal takeover of local police and deployed the National Guard. Many D.C. residents are skeptical. It's going to cause more damage. How is this actually going to work?
--:-- Michelle Martin: I'm E. Martinez. That's Michelle Martin. And this is Up First from NPR News. European leaders are scrambling to get Trump to sit down with them ahead of his planned meeting with Russia's leader to end the war in Ukraine. Will these peace talks be more successful?
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Ford is building a cheaper electric truck. It will have amazing range. It can power your house for six days. And we're going to start the vehicle at $30,000. Can it compete with Chinese models? Stay with us. We've got news you need to start your day.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from NPR's sponsor, Odoo Business Management Software. Some say Odoo is like fertilizer because it promotes growth. Others say it's a magic beanstalk, scaling with efficiency. Odoo, exactly what a business needs. Sign up today at odoo.com.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from BetterHelp. It's only human to ask others for advice, like turning to your barista, hairdresser, or a taxi driver for life advice. But when you're looking for help about relationships, anxiety, depression, or other clinical issues, they may not have all the right answers. Instead, get guidance from a licensed therapist online with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from Doctors Without Borders. People are living through a moment defined by unrelenting crises and need. Civilians are caught in the crossfire of violence and war. Malnutrition threatens the lives of children. Communities depend on life-saving humanitarian aid. Doctors Without Borders is meeting this moment of overwhelming need with action. But they can't do it alone. Help provide life-saving care around the world. Learn how to donate today at doctorswithoutborders.org slash NPR.
--:-- Michelle Martin: President Trump says he'll use the National Guard and Metropolitan Police to target criminals in Washington, D.C. Yeah, but criminals aren't his only targets. Trump also called for the nation's capital to be purged of people without housing. Much of his toughest rhetoric was aimed at young people.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Pierce Brian Maness with us now to tell us more about all this. Good morning, Brian.
--:-- Brian Maness: Good morning, Michelle.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So Trump has compared this crackdown to his aggressive effort to target migrants. Who is Trump focused on now?
--:-- Brian Maness: Yeah, Trump often uses really harsh language to describe foreign people living in the U.S., especially those without legal status. During this press conference at the White House yesterday, he used similar rhetoric to describe groups of Americans he accuses of destroying the nation's capital.
--:-- Brian Maness: Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people. Violent crime is at a 30-year low, according to the Justice Department in Washington. But Trump says he wants city residents dealt with harshly.
--:-- Brian Maness: He said metropolitan police are going to operate a lot more aggressively under federal control for at least the next 30 days. In his words, cops will be able to, and I'm quoting Trump here, do whatever the hell they want.
--:-- Brian Maness: So obviously, we're going to hear more about that. But first, let's break down that list of people that Trump mentioned. Tell us more about who he seems to be talking about.
--:-- Brian Maness: Well, first, Trump is talking about criminals. And in this case, that often means teenagers, many of them black. Washington has struggled at times with violence caused by young men and boys and some girls riding ATVs, motorcycles, and four-wheelers.
--:-- Brian Maness: Trump spoke about them at length yesterday. The city Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith was asked about this issue at a separate press conference yesterday. We want young people to be safe in our city. We want them to be able to enjoy the activities of our city. But we're not going to tolerate that kind of criminal activity that we've seen in the past.
--:-- Brian Maness: Now, Michelle Smith says before yesterday's federal takeover of Metropolitan Police by Trump, the city had juvenile curfews and other policies that were working. Again, crime is down here.
--:-- Brian Maness: So during this press conference, Trump lumped criminals together with homeless people, many of them mentally ill, some experiencing addiction. How could tougher policing tactics affect those groups?
--:-- Brian Maness: Experts I've been speaking to say if Trump does as he's threatened here, forcing unhoused people out of Washington, away from families and support networks and their health care, it really could be devastating. Many of these people are severely ill.
--:-- Brian Maness: I spoke with a man named Will in one of the homeless camps here. He's in his 60s. He asked NPR only use his first name because he fears authorities will punish him for sleeping on the street. Only thing we ask for a fair job, fair housing, and we can't get that. We stuck out here. We don't enjoy dinner. Where are we supposed to go?
--:-- Brian Maness: And Michelle, that question, where are these people supposed to go? Trump hasn't answered that. He spoke yesterday not just of purging homeless people from Washington. He also said he plans to clear out what he described as the city's slums.
--:-- Brian Maness: So, Brian, you also spent some time talking to people, just people in the street about this crackdown. What do they tell you?
--:-- Brian Maness: There's a lot of skepticism that Trump's approach using tough police tactics to solve these complex social problems will work. J.U. King is an 18-year-old student at Howard University. Yes, every city has their crime, their gangs, their homelessness. But I don't feel like the displacement of those things are going to cause the solution. I think it's going to cause more damage.
--:-- Brian Maness: People told me they want safe streets, Michelle, but they don't want vulnerable people treated harshly.
--:-- Michelle Martin: That is NPR's Brian Mann reporting here in Washington, D.C. Brian, thank you.
--:-- Brian Maness: Thanks so much.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It will be the first meeting between a U.S. president and Russian leader Vladimir Putin since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago. It's planned for this Friday in Alaska. And President Trump says he's going there to, quote, see what Putin has in mind.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Now, European leaders think they know exactly what Putin has in mind. We go now to MPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz to hear more about this.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Good morning, Michelle.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Morning. So how are European leaders seeing this one-on-one between Trump and Putin?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Well, President Trump has framed the meeting as a discussion for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. But European leaders such as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are questioning that if this is a discussion to end the war, then why not include Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Merz and other European leaders wrote a joint statement this past weekend saying there can be no peace that rewards Russia's aggressive actions and encourages further actions.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: So say more about that. What are they getting at with that statement?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Well, first off, they're talking about the meeting itself. For the U.S. president to host a one-on-one meeting with Putin, a man who ordered troops to invade Ukraine more than three years ago, seems like a reward in and of itself.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: But they're also referring to President Trump's comments in the days running up to this summit that a path to peace would require Ukraine to give up territory to Russia.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: So how has Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelensky, reacted to that?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Yeah, he immediately rejected that. Last night, Zelensky posted a video on social media, an address to the Ukrainian public about this upcoming meeting with Trump and Putin. And here's what he said.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: And, Michel, he said here that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Putin is not preparing for a ceasefire to end the war. He said Putin only wants to present his meeting in America as his personal victory and then continue waging war on Ukraine exactly as before.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Zelensky said there is no indication the Russians have received orders to prepare for a post situation. On the contrary, he said they're redeploying troops in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations. If someone is preparing for peace, said Zelensky, this is not what he does.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: So Zelensky has many times rejected President Trump's suggestion of territorial concessions. Does it make it easier for Putin to convince Trump that Ukraine should be blamed for any failure to strike a peace deal?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Yeah, it sure does. And this is why European leaders want to be part of these discussions. They've had more experience dealing with Putin. They know his strategies in summits like these.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: And they're worried that Putin's goal here is to not only gain points at home with this meeting, but to also use it to drive a wedge between the Trump administration and Ukraine, essentially saying, you know, I've done all I can to make peace, but Ukraine doesn't want it based on Ukraine's refusal to give up territory.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: And this is why Meritz and other European leaders say they've convinced Trump to sit down and meet with them, including a meeting with Zelensky ahead of the Alaska summit.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Apart from warning Trump about what they consider Putin's real intentions here, what else will tomorrow's meeting focus on?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Well, European leaders will likely reiterate tomorrow that they will also need to be part of these peace talks because a lasting peace in Ukraine will involve them and their resources.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: It will require European Union investment, both in terms of money but also probably manpower. It may require NATO resources and more. European leaders have a big stake in all of this.
--:-- Michelle Martin: That is NPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz. Rob, thank you.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Thank you.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Ford Motor Company is investing billions in building a more affordable electric vehicle. At an assembly plant in Louisville, Kentucky yesterday, Ford CEO Jim Farley stood next to an old Model T pickup truck and boasted about the electric truck of the future.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It will have amazing range. It can power your house for six days. And we're going to start the vehicle at $30,000. That's what Ford is planning to build at that plant by 2027.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Paris' Camilla Domenoski was at this announcement, and she's with us now in our studios to tell us about it. Good morning.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: Good morning.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So what do we know about this new truck?
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: Well, there's a lot about the truck that is still pretty mysterious. Ford was promising a Model T moment here, but we didn't actually see the vehicle. Instead, we heard more about how they're going to build it.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: So the event was inside this factory, which is some 70 years old, very hot, very noisy inside. And the company's leaders announced that they're going to totally transform that plant from making Ford Escapes to making this new truck.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: And executives talked about how they're cutting costs. Things like assembling the truck in three separate chunks to put together and simplifying the design.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: You know, they did give that price target of $30,000, which is cheap even for a gas truck. And at least $20,000 less than most other electric trucks are going for right now.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: I'm always a little skeptical about these early price targets because companies have overpromised many times before, but we'll see if Ford can do it.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: So, Camille, say more about why Ford is betting on EVs and why now.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: Well, the company has been trying to crack EVs for years now, and it's been quite challenging. But executives think that they have to do it, and it's not just about the climate or the environment. Those were actually not mentioned at all in this event.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: It's about global competitiveness. Chinese automakers are making electric vehicles that are very good and very cheap, and they're selling really well around the world.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: So Jim Farley the CEO of Ford has said for years that this is an existential threat if companies like his which want to sell cars globally can keep up with that.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: Talking to reporters after this event in Louisville, he was really blunt about how hard it is to compete with Chinese automakers like BYD. Their battery is going to be cheaper than ours. They have 120,000 power trans engineers. We've got 1,200.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: The only way to compete with them is innovation. Innovation like stripping parts out and getting more efficient so the vehicle doesn't need as much battery in the first place.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So, Camilla, what could this mean for car buyers?
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: Well, it could mean that less expensive electric vehicles might be coming. And not just from Ford. Chevrolet is about to bring back the Bolt. Tesla is promising an entry-level version of the Model Y.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: All these vehicles have been in the works for years, but it just so happens that they're approaching the finish line now at a moment when the Trump administration is rolling back a whole bunch of policies that support EVs, including the federal tax credit for people buying them.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: And in the meantime, those super affordable Chinese EVs, they are not available in the U.S., right? So finding reasonably priced EVs is about to get harder.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: And that means if companies can pull off these new lower priced vehicles, that's going to be pretty good timing for American buyers, especially those who are looking to go electric.
--:-- Michelle Martin: That is. And P.S. Camilla Domenoski, thank you for keeping our coverage of this. OK, I'll say it. Charged up. Good one.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And that's up first for Tuesday, August 12th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm A. Martinez. How about listening to Consider This from NPR?
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Up First, we give you the three big stories of the day. Consider This takes a different approach with a focus on a single news story and what it means to you in fewer than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Gigi Dubin, Ryland Barton, Carol Platoni, Olivia Hampton, and Adam Bearn.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It was produced by Ziyad Butch, Destiny Adams, and Christopher Thomas.
--:-- Michelle Martin: We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange.
--:-- Michelle Martin: We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.
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--:-- Michelle Martin: With real-time insights and forecasting, you're able to peer into the future and seize new opportunities. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at netsuite.com slash story.
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