What Trump Said Last Night, Trump On Immigration, China Tariff Confidence

Speaker 1 President Trump addressed Congress promising new waves of tariffs on products Americans buy and criticizing Democrats for not smiling or applauding.

Speaker 2 What did the speech reveal about the administration's next moves?

Speaker 1 I'm Michelle Martin. That's Steve Innskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News.

Speaker 1 The president also talked up a plan to let rich foreigners buy U.S. residency for $5 million.
He also spoke of current migrants as terrorists.

Speaker 3 Every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country.

Speaker 1 His Homeland Security Czar says they are short of resources, so what's the president's need from Congress?

Speaker 2 Also, how is China responding to U.S. terrorists? The Communist government has its own public ritual, the annual meeting of its one-party Congress.

Speaker 2 Our colleague John Ruich is there and helps us to listen in. Stay with us.
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Speaker 2 President Trump took the occasion of a speech to Congress to proclaim in his view that America is back.

Speaker 1 For more than 90 minutes, he talked of securing the border, slashing government, and imposing tariffs. And he said he did not expect much support from Democrats.

Speaker 3 These people sitting right here will not not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements. They won't do it, no matter what.

Speaker 1 The opposition party did spend most of his speech stony-faced, seated, or protesting.

Speaker 2 NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez was listening to all of those minutes and he joins us now. Franco, good morning.

Speaker 7 Good morning, Steve. What was it like? Yeah, I mean, there was always, you know, some kind of tension in these kind of speeches, but last night that tension was really so much higher.

Speaker 7 I mean, in the first five minutes, a Democratic congressman, Al Green of Texas, stood up in protest. He was waving his cane and calling out that Trump didn't have a mandate.

Speaker 7 And when he wouldn't sit down, House Speaker Mike Johnson actually had him escorted out of the chamber, which was a first as far as I can remember.

Speaker 7 And throughout the speech, Republicans were cheering. Democrats were holding up these signs that read things like false and save Medicaid.

Speaker 7 And just repeatedly, Trump would go after former President Joe Biden by name and and calling Democrats radical left lunatics.

Speaker 7 I mean, the partisan nature of this speech is really likely what this is going to be remembered for.

Speaker 2 Well, the president certainly celebrated some of his more divisive or partisan achievements.

Speaker 7 Yeah, Trump actually spent a lot of time touting the work of Elon Musk and his project to cut costs, known as the Department of Government Efficiency.

Speaker 7 And he got into some of the nitty-gritty, giving this long list of examples that he said were being cut. Here's a small part.

Speaker 3 $40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is.

Speaker 3 $8 million to promote LGBTQI plus

Speaker 3 in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.

Speaker 7 Now, Steve Trump's critics have said some of these cuts were for necessary services like aid for starving children. And in some cases, the White House did acknowledge this and rehired people.

Speaker 7 But NPR has also looked into some of the claims of savings posted on the Doge website, and documents show that most of those savings don't actually exist.

Speaker 2 Well, did the president talk about his plans for the year ahead? This can be a table-setting moment.

Speaker 2 Yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 7 He asked Congress to pass his tax cuts. He talked about a plan that he'll announce this week to expand production of critical minerals in the U.S.

Speaker 7 But he really spent most of his time talking about things that he's already done.

Speaker 2 Well, did he use guests in attendance to make his points as presidents often do?

Speaker 7 He did. He did.
And that kind of shows the priorities. A lot of the guests were victims of crime or worked in law enforcement.

Speaker 7 There was this really heartwarming moment when Trump honored a 13-year-old boy who has fought brain cancer. He was dressed in a police uniform, and Trump said he had a special surprise for him.

Speaker 3 Tonight, DJ, we're going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service Director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service.

Speaker 7 Trump's Secret Service Director then came out and gave him a badge and a hug.

Speaker 2 In this 90-minute or more speech, Franco, did anything go unsaid?

Speaker 7 Well, I mean, one of the biggest concerns Americans have is their grocery bills. And Trump promised to cut high prices, but we really didn't hear anything new about those plans.
He just blamed Biden.

Speaker 2 That's White House correspondent Franco Ordoñas. Franco, thanks so much.

Speaker 7 Thanks, Steve.

Speaker 2 Now, Democrats took note of what the president didn't say about prices. Senator Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan delivered the party's response.

Speaker 9 President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He's on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America.

Speaker 9 And to do that, he's going to make you pay in every part of your life.

Speaker 9 Grocery and home prices are going up, not down, and he hasn't laid out a credible plan to deal with either of those.

Speaker 2 Slotkin argued that Trump's tariffs and other proposals will raise prices the opposite of what voters said they wanted in last year's election.

Speaker 1 Another big issue in last year's election was immigration, and the president spoke last night of rounding up migrants that he described as terrorists.

Speaker 3 Every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country, or if they're too dangerous, put in jails, standing trial in this country.

Speaker 2 NPR's immigration policy reporter Jimena Bastillo is listening in and is is with us after a long night. Jimena, good morning.

Speaker 10 Good morning, Steve.

Speaker 2 Well, how did the president highlight immigration as you listened?

Speaker 10 There were several guests in the audience invited that showcased this priority not just for the administration but for Republicans.

Speaker 10 One was House Speaker Mike Johnson's guest, who was White House Borders R. Tom Homan.

Speaker 10 Homan is one of the key advisors designating and directing Trump's immigration policy through the federal agencies and has been one of the spokespeople for the administration's goals.

Speaker 10 Other guests of the White House included Roberto Ortiz, a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
And also there were family members of Lake and Riley.

Speaker 10 You might recall that she's a Georgia nursing student whose murder became a rallying cry for Republicans criticizing the Biden administration's immigration plans.

Speaker 10 The first law Trump signed in his second term was named after Riley, and it expanded the scope of who could be deported.

Speaker 2 Now, the president made a claim during the address that illegal border crossings are at the lowest level ever recorded. What do the facts show you?

Speaker 10 The agency has not reported the numbers for February yet. That's the customs and border protection.

Speaker 10 However, posts on social media by the president suggests the administration is on track to report about 8,500 arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border in the month of February.

Speaker 10 This could be the lowest number of crossings since Homeland Security started reporting the data in 2000.

Speaker 2 Okay, so that is a drop.

Speaker 10 Right, and these numbers can ebb and flow depending on various factors. During President Biden's administration, unlawful crossings nationwide peaked in 2022.

Speaker 10 There was another peak again in 2023, but they've been declining ever since and were on a downward trend when Trump took office.

Speaker 2 Now, the president, interestingly enough, also talked about letting people in to the country. Future action on visas.
What's he talking about?

Speaker 10 Trump recently announced a plan to create a so-called gold card, which he said would allow, quote, very high-level people to apply to become lawful permanent residents.

Speaker 10 His administration has pitched this as a replacement to the current EB5 immigrant investor visa. But the president can't solely create a new visa.
That power lies within Congress.

Speaker 10 So far, a formal proposal has not been issued by the Trump administration.

Speaker 10 And speaking of Congress, Trump also took this speech as a reminder to lawmakers that his administration is asking for more money to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Speaker 10 Speaking to reporters at the White House earlier in the day, Border Czar Tom Homan described the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency as being, quote, in the hole.

Speaker 10 And he said that they needed more money for detention beds and flights to send people out. But that money has to come from Congress.

Speaker 2 And Pierre Simena Bastillo, get some sleep.

Speaker 10 Thank you.

Speaker 2 Okay, President Trump was not the only world leader to give a big speech in front of a legislature in the past day.

Speaker 1 Yes, Chinese Premier Li Qi Yang delivered an annual government work report on the first day of the annual session of China's parliament.

Speaker 1 It's a State of the Union type address, and it gives us an idea of what's on the minds of the leaders of the world's number two economy.

Speaker 2 NPRS John Rewich was at the Great Hall of the People, big building in the middle of Beijing, to hear this, and he's on the line. John, hi there.
Hi, Steve.

Speaker 2 So did China's leaders use this occasion to respond to what President Trump was saying here, including about them?

Speaker 2 Well, no.

Speaker 8 Li Chang's speech was wrapping up as Trump was getting started. So we haven't really seen a Chinese response to Trump's speech yet.

Speaker 8 The Chinese government responded, though, to the new tariffs by Trump. You know, he ratcheted tariffs on Chinese imports up to 20% yesterday.

Speaker 8 They retaliated with their own tariffs on American chicken, wheat, corn, soybeans, and such,

Speaker 8 blacklisted about 15 U.S. companies.
The Chinese premier did not mention the U.S. by name in his address.

Speaker 8 It's the kind of document that's drafted over the course of months, doesn't change with headlines. But he did talk about, quote, an increasingly complex and severe external environment.

Speaker 8 Now, those are words we've heard from Chinese leaders before, and analysts say they're basically code for this confrontational situation they have with the U.S.

Speaker 8 On that front, Li flagged some concerns that that external environment may actually have a greater impact on China going forward.

Speaker 8 Rank-and-file delegates to the National People's Congress didn't seem too worried, though, about the tariffs.

Speaker 2 Oh, this is really interesting.

Speaker 2 I've been talking with economic and business figures connected with China who seem to think that tariffs will hurt Americans more than they're going to hurt the Chinese.

Speaker 2 But what are you hearing where you are?

Speaker 8 Yeah, well, we had a chance to talk to a handful of delegates on their way into the opening session today. One of them was Tian Shuen, who's a professor of finance, part of the Shanghai delegation.

Speaker 8 So he told me that China's basically in a better position to handle the tariffs now and to offset them than before. China has a huge domestic market, for instance.

Speaker 8 It's got comprehensive supply chains. He says the authorities are taking steps to stimulate domestic demand.

Speaker 8 And he says says the tariffs are also kind of a motivator for China to promote high-tech and to expand relations with other countries. Economists like you say

Speaker 8 say the tariffs will probably start to hurt, especially if they keep going up. But these hand-picked delegates to parliament were projecting confidence, as you might expect.

Speaker 2 Okay, so that's the spin, and there's not nothing behind the spin, but also China's economy has really been struggling, sputtering, and doing strange things the last couple of years.

Speaker 2 So how do they address that?

Speaker 8 Well, the premier flagged the risks like that that external environment, like sluggish domestic demand, but he also projected some confidence. He set a growth target of around 5% this year.

Speaker 8 It's about the same as last year. And to get there, announced some fresh fiscal stimulus, a willingness to pursue more accommodative monetary policy.

Speaker 8 to increase funding for industries of the future like quantum technology, AI, these type of things.

Speaker 2 Okay, so I just want to note,

Speaker 2 there's a one-party Congress, not likely to have a failed vote or a close vote on anything, but it does, I guess, signal where the government is going. So what do you expect in the coming days?

Speaker 8 Well, one interesting thing we'll be looking out for is that the NPC may pass some legislation that would support and protect private businesses.

Speaker 8 And that's pretty interesting because the leadership here seems to have renewed its interest in these companies as drivers of the economy and innovation, especially after the Chinese company DeepSeek released an advanced AI model in January that shocked the world.

Speaker 2 And Pierre's John Ruich with some insights from Beijing. Really appreciate it, John.
You're welcome.

Speaker 2 And that's up first for this Wednesday, March 5th. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Speaker 1 And I'm Michelle Martin. There is an easy way to stay connected to news and podcasts from the NPR Network, the NPR app.

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Speaker 2 Today's Up First was edited by Roberta Rampton, Kevin Drew, Ryland Barton, Alice Wolfly, and Mohamed El-Bardisi. It was produced by Ziad Bach, Nia Dumas, and Chris Thomas.

Speaker 2 We get engineering support from Nisha Highness, and our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Join us again tomorrow.

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