Tag: Renée Montagne

Joining us to talk about all of this is NPR's national political correspondent, Mara Liasson. Presidents don't always control the economy. But the fact is that presidents get the blame when the economy goes bad, so they should be able to take the credit when the economy is good. 4.1 percent is a really good number. MONTAGNE: Well, speaking of tariffs, let's talk about President Trump's announcement with the European Union on trade. They're also going to work toward lowering the tariffs they've already put on each other's goods. The other thing that made a big difference, according to a senior White, House official that I talked to, was that the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, came in with a specific deal. But I think that if the negotiations go well, and that leads to lifting the steel and aluminum tariffs and the retaliatory European tariffs that were causing farmers so much economic pain, that will help the president keep his base happy. MONTAGNE: Well, just finally, the president will be holding campaign rallies this week in Florida and Pennsylvania, both battleground states. MONTAGNE: That's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

The White House says President Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin next week is going on as scheduled, despite indictments announced by the Justice Department yesterday. MONTAGNE: The Justice Department says 12 Russian intelligence officers carried out a sustained cyberattack during the 2016 presidential race on the Democratic National Committee, on the Clinton campaign, state election systems and more. ELVING: Well, those calls are coming from Democrats primarily but also from Senator John McCain, of course, prominent Republican. Yet the meeting with Putin seems to be every bit as important to the president as the NATO summit or his visit to Great Britain. Now, the White House response has been that this list of 12 indictments on Friday did not name any Americans, does not indict anyone in the Trump operation. MONTAGNE: News of the indictments hit just as Trump was rolling up to Windsor Castle to meet Queen Elizabeth and after a less than smooth meeting, to say the least, with NATO leaders. MONTAGNE: You know, I wonder, though - do Trump's - of course, we were just talking about NATO - care about U.S. troop levels in Germany? ELVING: Yes. MONTAGNE: NPR's Ron Elving, thanks very much. ELVING: Thank you, Renee.