Politics and views in the United States.

President Donald Trump approves 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Democrats who oppose dismantling the agency have been denied access to the Department of Education. And some places buck policy trends on sex education and immigration.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

US Steel was one of our great companies and through a lot of stupidity and bad government and also bad management of the company, it lost that luster, but it's going to gain it back and tariffs are going to help.

Tariffs are going to make it very successful again.

President Donald Trump is imposing 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to take effect immediately.

The only countries where the levies would hit are Mexico and Canada, where higher tariffs on all goods are already planned.

Economists say higher metals prices could bring greater domestic steel production, though aluminum depends on factors like energy costs.

They also say the tariffs would inflate the prices of products like cars that use most of these commodities.

Democratic members of Congress opposed to Trump administration plans to dismantle the Department of Education are being denied access to the agency.

Oregon Congresswoman Susan Bonamici was blocked by armed guards from a meeting with the department's acting director.

She intends to defend department support for schools in her state with programs for students who are low income, have disabilities or require special education.

I'm going to fight the privatization of public education.

I'm going to fight cuts to public education and I'm definitely going to fight the proposed elimination of the Department of Education.

The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has imposed a complete stop work order at the agency created after the Great Recession.

The CFPB has long drawn opposition from banks, the financial industry and their Republican allies.

And with its possible closure, states like Minnesota are bolstering their consumer protections.

Cathy McLear with AARP Minnesota says ordinary families need the protection.

In many cases, these are bad actors who are overseas.

You can't track them down.

And it's very difficult for anyone who has been defrauded to get even some of those resources back.

Meanwhile, New Mexico is a rural state bucking the trend towards less sex ed.

Groups in the state are backing Senate Bill 258 requiring comprehensive human sexuality education for public school students.

Equality New Mexico's Nathan Saavedra says even in the states requiring sex ed, there's no guarantee it's high quality or covers topics like HIV needed to keep young people healthy.

Our hope mostly is to save lives.

We know that sex education does save lives and it improves the health of all youth.

It decreases bullying and harassment.

Sex education is harm reduction from our perspective.

Conversely, New York is a blue city pulling back from previous migrant sanctuary policies.

Mayor Eric Adams is letting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers enter all city properties including schools and shelters without a warrant if a city worker reports any safety threats.

This comes as Adams has been making overtures to Trump and the new leaders at the Justice Department are directing prosecutors to drop bribery charges against the mayor.

Trump's controversial pick to lead intelligence has cleared an important hurdle.

On a party line vote, the Senate has advanced former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to the floor for final consideration.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.