Canada to hit U.S. with retaliatory tariffs. And, remembering music legend Dolly Parton
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Today’s top stories
Canada has announced retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., saying that it will match U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar.” Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the country would apply tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on a variety of U.S. exports starting Sept. 8. The countertariffs will target steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics, affecting nearly $20 billion worth of annual imports from the U.S.
Tractor trailers cross the Peace Bridge at the Canada-United States border in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, on Aug. 20.
Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images
- 🎧 The $20 billion in tariffed goods won’t significantly impact the U.S. economy, NPR’s Stephan Bisaha tells Up First. Canada is likely to feel the strain a little more. But if the trade war continues to intensify and goods like American cars and Canadian oil enter the mix, it would have a bigger effect. Bisaha adds that the $20 million figure is no coincidence; it’s also the value of Canadian goods the U.S. will impose tariffs on. Despite the minimal effect on the U.S. economy, the year and a half of fluctuating tariffs has caused considerable uncertainty for U.S. businesses.
In what may be the largest revocation effort in U.S. history, the Trump administration is planning to cancel 200,000 immigration visas nationwide, according to an administration source familiar with the policy who was not authorized to speak on the record. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott says the agency is identifying and revoking visas held by immigrants who entered the U.S. as short-term visitors for tourism or business but then filed for asylum. This revocation process is expected to occur on a rolling basis, not all at once, the administration source said.
- 🎧 NPR’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán says many immigration attorneys he has talked to see this move as performative. California-based attorney Nicolette Glazer called it “a completely empty effort” with no consequences. An immigrant who overstays their short-term visa is already breaking the law, so the new policy will revoke visas that are already invalid, Martínez-Beltrán explains. A 2015 Government Accountability Office report shows that termination of asylum cases due to fraud is extremely rare. Still, Martínez-Beltrán says the policy could lead to more people getting arrested. Last month, the Trump administration arrested 50,000 immigrants — a monthly record in the second Trump term, according to an Associated Press analysis.
The legendary country singer Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80. Her death was confirmed in a video posted on social media by her nephew Bryan Seaver, as well as her representatives. Over the course of her musical career, she earned dozens of top-10 country hits and delivered catchy songs like “9 to 5” and “Jolene.” The icon even has a theme park named after her likeness: Dollywood. After her post-touring years, she picked up several ventures, including new theater productions, clothing lines and baking mixes. Parton changed many people’s lives with her charitable projects, including the Imagination Library, a program that sends children a book a month from birth until age 5. Trump announced that flags would be lowered to half-staff for the next week to honor Parton’s death.
- 🎧 Parton once said her father told her that the Imagination Library is “probably the most important thing” she had ever done. Jeff Conyers, president and vice chair of the Dollywood Foundation, speaks to All Things Considered about what the library meant to her and the other people in her life.
- 🎧 Jad Abumrad got to know Parton while making his Peabody Award-winning podcast, Dolly Parton’s America. He speaks to Morning Edition about how the singer achieved such universal love.
The Trump administration has claimed to have found more than 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls for Nevada and three other states. But the Department of Homeland Security’s communication with those states since then indicates the numbers may have been inflated. In a meeting with Nevada officials, DHS acknowledged that an initial figure of around 16,000 potential noncitizens on the state’s voter list represented a preliminary maximum estimate rather than confirmed entries. A day later, the agency provided a list of 185 voter ID numbers it was confident were nonvoters and said that more than 14,000 Nevada voters still require additional review.
Deep dive
A woman walks in the shade in downtown Houston, Texas, on July 30, 2026, during a regional heat wave.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
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Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
Extreme heat is affecting millions of Americans this week as record-breaking temperatures spread across the South-Central U.S. and into the Southwest. NPR’s senior climate editor, Sadie Babits, often helps the newsroom better understand the role of climate change when extreme weather hits. Now she is sharing that guidance with readers. Here is some context on climate change’s role in extreme heat:
- 🥵 The burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change, which has led to an increase in both the frequency and intensity of heat waves compared to previous decades. On average, the number of heat waves in the U.S. has doubled since the 1980s.
- 🥵 Without human-caused climate change, extreme heat events like this summer’s intense heat in Europe would have been nearly impossible.
- 🥵 Scientists are able to increasingly link extreme weather to climate change. NPR’s Rebecca Hersher reported that “heat waves have the clearest connection to global warming.”
Do you have any questions about climate change? If so, let NPR know by filling out this form. Your questions could help shape future reporting.
Behind the story
by Jonaki Mehta, NPR education correspondent
Cody and Kaleigh Brendle sit together at their home.
Claire Harbage/NPR
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Claire Harbage/NPR
When the Justice Department first said, back in June, that it would no longer require states to provide community-based care for people with disabilities, it shook the disability rights community. Decades earlier, they had fought against a history of segregation in institutions and for a system of Medicaid-funded programs that serve disabled adults in their own homes and communities. Now, the Trump administration seems to be reversing course by challenging a legal principle known as the “integration mandate.”
It made me think about how an entire generation of young people had only known an America in which being integrated into their communities was standard procedure. I wondered how this action could change their lives.
Not long after the DOJ memo dropped, a message from Kaleigh Brendle landed in my colleague Hansi Lo Wang’s inbox. He passed it to the education team, and my eyes widened. Kaleigh, who’s 23, started a disability rights organization to push back against the Trump administration’s efforts to challenge the integration mandate. Kaleigh is blind and has other disabilities, so this work was personal for her.
As I chatted with Kaleigh on the phone, I could hear the voice of an impassioned advocate. Then, at one point, her voice softened, and suddenly I was listening to a sister. Kaleigh mentioned her 27-year-old brother Cody, who is blind and has autism. She said after high school, Cody was in limbo between school and what would come next for him — he was lost.
That is, until he was accepted into a Medicaid-funded community program for adults with disabilities, and Kaleigh said it was “a night-and-day change.” Cody was part of a vibrant social community of other disabled adults and was learning skills to become more independent, like job training and grocery shopping. She said the happy, energetic brother she’d always known was back.
Listening to Kaleigh, I was struck that beneath the legal story, there was the story of two siblings whose entire lives were shaped by the right to integration. She says she’s only able to go off to law school or consider becoming a parent one day, because of the integration mandate. For Cody, he finally has access to a program that he says is giving him lots of life skills, but most importantly, friendships.
They worry that all that could go away. I hope you’ll read and listen to these siblings tell their story.
3 things to know before you go
Adam Mosseri (C), head of Instagram, arrives at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building & United States Courthouse as Meta is on trial over social media addiction in Oakland, California, on August 25, 2026.
KARL MONDON/AFP via Getty Images
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KARL MONDON/AFP via Getty Images
- Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified in defense of Meta in a child-safety trial, saying that a 2021 feature intended to help teens manage their time on the app saw less usage than expected.
- American cineplexes are set to earn more money this summer than in the last decade. But even though the dollars are up, attendance is down, and fewer movies are playing in theaters.
- Two unvaccinated individuals in Pennsylvania have died after contracting measles. The outbreak now reaches nearly 400 cases across multiple counties. (via WHYY)
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
