Republicans accuse NPR, PBS of bias at House hearing; Democrats rebuke it as a partisan attack
NPR CEO Katherine Maher, PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Republicans accused public media outlets NPR and PBS of bias at a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, while Democrats defended the organizations and criticized the event as a distraction from the ongoing controversy regarding the Trump administration’s use the Signal messaging app for the communication of sensitive information.
PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger and NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher rebutted allegations of bias, saying the outlets abide by journalistic standards and serve a diverse audience that includes rural viewers.
The hearing, titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” was held by the Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, the name of which echoes the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiative overseen by Elon Musk.
House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., criticized NPR and PBS during the hearing for alleged liberal bias, pointing to federal funding for the outlets as the target of potential cuts.
“NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives,” Greene said.
Minutes later, House Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Ma., defended the public media outlets and criticized the hearing as a distraction for more important issues often taken up by the House Oversight Committee, the larger body to which the DOGE subcommittee belongs.
“I’m sad to see this once proud committee — the principle investigative committee in the House of Representatives — has now stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater to hold a hearing to go after the likes of Elmo and Cookie Monster and Arthur the aardvark,” Lynch said.
Later in the hearing, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Ca., said sarcastically: “Is Elmo now, or has he ever been, a member of the Communist Party?”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City.
(NEW YORK) — Stocks futures were again showing jitters early Thursday, after a reprieve for the S&P and NASDAQ on Wednesday amid President Donald Trump’s trade war.
A back-and-forth over international tariffs is hanging over the U.S. economy, along with a looming government shutdown with a deadline on Friday.
Dow futures evened out ahead of Thursday’s open, after earlier trading down about 0.3%.
Federal officials said Wednesday that consumer prices climbed 2.8% in February over the same year-earlier month, meaning inflation cooled more than economists expected.
After initially modest gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed on Wednesday down about 0.2%, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ticked increased 1.2%.
Markets may look on Thursday to a smaller inflation report called the Produce Price Index, which is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with weekly jobless claims, for an indication of the health of the larger economy.
Still, its news out of Washington that is likely to have the biggest impact on the direction of stocks.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Autoworkers, farmers and alcohol distillers are among a set of U.S. workers who risk losing their jobs as a result of potential tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico, experts told ABC News.
The U.S. president was expected to sign executive orders on Tuesday putting in place the 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on those from China, according to the White House.
Trump announced on Monday that the proposed tariffs on most goods from Canada and all products from Mexico would be paused for one month, putting the policies on schedule to take effect in early March. The postponements came following conversations Trump had with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump said Monday afternoon he plans to talk to China in the next day or two about tariffs on that country.
Some U.S. shoppers and economists have raised alarm about the potential for tariff-driven price increases, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of the higher taxes to consumers.
A lesser-known effect of the potential tariffs, however, could arise as some retailers struggle to sell imported goods at competitive prices while manufacturers reckon with higher costs of raw materials such as car parts and lumber, experts said. Sales could wobble, they added, leading directly to job cuts.
Potential retaliatory tariffs slapped on U.S. exports could prove another cause of layoffs, the experts said, since U.S. firms dependent on selling products overseas risk weakened performance.
“It’s like Trump took a grenade and threw it into the economy, and he walked away to see what happens,” Rob Handfield, professor of operations and supply chain management at North Carolina State University, told ABC News.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
In a series of social media posts over the weekend, Trump said the tariffs target Canada, Mexico and China for hosting the manufacture and transport of illicit drugs that end up in the United States. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump urged the three countries to address his concerns, while acknowledging the tariffs may cause some financial hardship within the U.S.
“WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID,” Trump wrote.
In recent days, some trade associations and labor unions voiced warnings about tariff-related job losses.
Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said small- and medium-sized firms in the sector employing millions of Americans risk “significant disruptions” as a result of potentially high energy prices and costly supply chain workarounds.
“Manufacturers will bear the brunt of these tariffs,” Timmons said, adding that the policies would put “American jobs at risk.”
Distilled Spirits Council, a trade association representing alcohol makers across North America, cautioned that tariffs would harm business in all three countries. “Maintaining fair and reciprocal duty-free access for all distilled spirits is crucial for supporting jobs and shared growth,” the group said.
The risks for U.S. workers are perhaps best demonstrated by the auto industry, which employs about 4 million people, experts said.
U.S. automakers hold deep ties to Canada and Mexico, since products often snake back and forth between the countries before a car reaches full assembly, Christopher Conlon, a professor of economics at New York University who studies trade, told ABC News.
Mexico and Canada make up the top two U.S. trading partners for both finished motor vehicles and car parts, according to a Cato Institute analysis of data from the U.S. International Trade Commission.
“The supply chains involve shipping parts back and forth over the border five times, six times, seven times. If every time a part crosses the Canadian border it gets taxed at 25%, that will add up really quickly,” Conlon said, noting the added costs could hike car prices by as much as $10,000 and, in turn, weaken sales.
“The companies will have to scale back production, and that will mean fewer shifts,” Conlon added.
The production slowdown may lead to job cuts at companies indirectly impacted by the tariffs, such as car dealerships and auto-part sellers, experts said. More than 550,000 workers at car dealerships representing international brands risk losing their jobs if the industry falters due to the tariffs, the American International Automobile Dealers Association told ABC News in a statement.
To be sure, employment may grow in some domestic industries protected by the tariffs, such as the steel and energy sectors, some experts said. Even those businesses, however, may contend with challenges if the tariffs limit consumer demand, they added.
Potential job gains in some sectors would not outweigh the losses in others, Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.
“It’s very difficult to see a net positive of this in terms of employment for the U.S.,” Miller said.
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump has vowed to issue a fresh round of tariffs on April 2, presenting it as an inflection point for the economy weeks after a previous set of duties roiled markets and incited recession fears.
Trump has repeatedly referred to April 2 as “liberation day,” saying a wide-ranging slate of reciprocal tariffs would rebalance U.S. trade relationships.
Trump’s plan for reciprocal tariffs next week, however, is expected to be narrower than he previously vowed, though the plan remains under discussion, sources told ABC News this week.
The news of a potentially softer approach to forthcoming tariffs rallied U.S. stocks earlier this week, recovering some of the losses suffered earlier in March.
While key details remain unknown, new duties would ratchet up the global trade war, raising prices for an array of consumer goods and risking an economic slowdown, experts told ABC News.
“This certainly will be an escalation,” Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who studies trade policy, told ABC News. “We know the direction of travel, if not how far this will go.”
Here’s what the latest round of tariffs could mean for prices and the economy, according to experts:
Will the tariffs on April 2 raise prices? In setting tariffs for April 2, the U.S. will target countries that have major trade imbalances with the U.S., sources said.
“It’s 15% of the countries, but it’s a huge amount of our trading volume,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week, describing the countries as a “Dirty 15.”
Last year, according to federal census data, the U.S. had its biggest trade deficits with China, the European Union, Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Canada and India, among other nations.
Reciprocal tariffs could raise prices for imported goods from those countries, since importers typically pass along a share of the tax burden to consumers.
The tariffs could hike prices for furniture and consumer electronics from Vietnam, fresh fruits and vegetables from Mexico, and cars from South Korea, experts told ABC News.
“This is going to mean prices will ultimately go up,” Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.
The scale of price increases will likely depend on the tariff rate set by the Trump administration, which remains unclear, the experts said.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said the reciprocal tariffs could fall short of the rate that target countries impose on U.S. goods.
“I may give a lot of countries breaks,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’m embarrassed to charge them what they’ve charged us.”
Kyle Handley, a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, said he expects consumer prices to rise enough for consumers to identify the change.
“Depending on what tariff rates they put in place, it could be pretty massive,” Handley said. “It will be a non-trivial increase in the price of imports. People will notice.”
What do the tariffs on April 2 mean for the economy? Experts told ABC News the fresh tariffs would put downward pressure on U.S. economic growth, since the additional tax burden for importing businesses and uncertainty about additional duties could deter private sector investment.
“A lot of the uncertainty about tariffs very likely has firms sort of frozen in place as they’re waiting to evaluate and see what happens,” Miller said.
Looming tariffs also risk unease among shoppers, threatening to undermine a key engine of the U.S. economy, some experts said. Consumer attitudes worsened more than expected in March, dropping to their lowest levels since 2021, a Conference Board survey on Tuesday showed.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, could weaken if shopper sentiment sours, Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at eToro, told ABC News in a statement.
By some key measures, however, the economy remains in solid shape. A recent jobs report showed steady hiring last month and a historically low unemployment rate. Inflation stands well below a peak attained in 2022, though price increases register nearly a percentage point higher than the Fed’s goal of 2%.
Still, recession fears are mounting on Wall Street as businesses and consumers weather the trade war. Goldman Sachs earlier this month hiked its odds of a recession from 15% to 20%. Moody’s Analytics pegged the chances of a recession over the next year at 35%.
“These tariffs will be very detrimental for economic performance and business growth,” Handley said. “It may not take long for us to start seeing some of those effects.”
