AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
President Trump enjoyed a round of golf at one of his courses in Scotland yesterday during his five-day visit. But today, he's getting down to business and holding talks with the president of the European Commission about a possible trade deal. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith joins us now. Good morning.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So the president looked relaxed as he played on his Turnberry golf course, but it comes after a rough few days for him, right?
KEITH: Yeah, I mean, the president should have been taking a victory lap about his first six months in office, and he and his White House certainly tried to do that, but the questions about the Jeffrey Epstein files metastasized. This was a third week for a story that was proving so far to be kryptonite to the president's usual superpower of driving the national conversation wherever he wants it to go. You know, the House of Representatives even went on recess early because the debate about the files paralyzed Republicans.
And then there are the two wars Trump promised he could end as soon as he took office. There is no end in sight to Russia's war on Ukraine, and Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, left Gaza peace talks early because he said Hamas didn't appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. Trump sounded pretty defeated at the end of the week talking about the prospect of getting a deal to end fighting and get the last remaining hostages out.
RASCOE: The president has a chance to regain the narrative today, this time with tariffs. He's holding trade talks with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. What's on the table?
KEITH: Yeah, Trump said he was looking forward to the meeting, calling Von der Leyen a highly respected leader. This follows a real hot and cold escalation and deescalation earlier this year. And as it stands now, if a deal isn't cemented, those tariffs on goods the U.S. imports from the EU are set to jump to 30% starting this coming Friday. A reminder, it's not just the EU. Dozens of other countries could see high tariffs snap into place if deals aren't done before Trump's August 1 deadline.
RASCOE: But the continued back and forth over tariffs is feeding into the economic uncertainty we're seeing in the U.S. And then last week, President Trump visited the Federal Reserve, where he verbally sparred with Fed Chair Jerome Powell over renovation costs.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It looks like it's about 3.1 billion. It went up a little bit or a lot. So the 2.7 is now 3.1. And...
JEROME POWELL: I'm not aware of that, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Yeah, it just came out.
POWELL: Yeah, I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed.
RASCOE: Powell pushed back.
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POWELL: You're including the Martin renovations. You just added...
TRUMP: Entire capital.
POWELL: Yeah, you just added in a third building, is what that is. That's a third building. You're including the Martin building.
TRUMP: Well, no, but it's a building that's being built.
POWELL: No, it's been - it was built five years ago.
RASCOE: How should we view that moment?
KEITH: Yeah, I mean, this was all highly unusual. The Fed was designed to be politically independent, and here was the president in person applying immense pressure to the Fed chairman. That clip you played was about the very overbudget renovation of Fed headquarters, which is a pressure point that Trump and his allies are using against Powell, all while in the same breath demanding that he lower interest rates. The Fed is meeting this week and will decide whether to hold steady or cut rates. President Trump said he believes that after talking to Powell, he will, quote, "do the right thing." And by that, Trump very clearly means a substantial drop in interest rates. But a reminder - the Fed chair is just one vote in deciding rates. And a big part of the strength of the U.S. economy has been the independence of the Fed. There could be real economic costs if that independence is undermined.
RASCOE: And finally, Tam, President Trump is expected to hold talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tomorrow. Do we have any sense of what to expect?
KEITH: Well, Trump loves one-on-one diplomacy, and he loves Scotland and the U.K. He has golf courses there. His mom was from Scotland. Ahead of the trip, the White House said Trump and Starmer would talk about how to refine the trade agreement they signed last month. It was supposed to be a done deal. Not sure what needs to be refined - but Trump later downplayed that and said it would be more of a celebration than a workout.
RASCOE: OK, well, very interesting. We'll see how that goes.
KEITH: Yep.
RASCOE: (Laughter) That's NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Tam, thank you so much.
KEITH: Always a pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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