Week In The News: Zero Tolerance At Border, U.S. Leaves U.N. Human Rights Council, Trade Tensions

With Anthony Brooks

Trump’s about-face on family separation. Immigration battle in Congress. Retaliatory tariffs. The roundtable dives in.

Lisa Desjardins, correspondent for the PBS Newshour. (@LisaDNews)

Kevin Diaz, Washington correspondent for the Houston Chronicle. (@DiazChron)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

New York Times: "Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart" — "President Trump caved to enormous political pressure on Wednesday and signed an executive order meant to end the separation of families at the border by detaining parents and children together for an indefinite period.

'We’re going to have strong — very strong — borders, but we are going to keep the families together,' Mr. Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. 'I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.'"

Wall Street Journal: "U.S. Withdrawing From U.N. Human Rights Council" — "The U.S. said Tuesday it was withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council, delivering on a long-running Trump administration threat to leave the panel unless it adopted major changes.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the U.S. withdrawal in an appearance at the State Department. Mr. Pompeo said the Council had a poor record of defending human rights and criticized it for allowing some of the world’s worst offenders, including Iran and Venezuela, to remain as members."

Bloomberg: "Trump’s Tariffs Could Deliver a Sizable Hit to China’s Economy" — "Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese imports could cut as much as half a percentage point from the nation’s economic growth, according to economists.

The warning comes amid signs that the world’s second biggest economy — and biggest contributor to global growth — is already slowing down as a simmering trade dispute with the U.S. risks spiraling into a protracted trade war. China’s economy grew by 6.9 percent in 2017 and the government has set a growth target of 6.5 percent for the current year."

Immigration and family separation - and President Trump’s shifting explanations and policies dominated the news this week. Congress struggled – again – to pass immigration reform and postponed it – again. Also, Europe strikes back with billions in tariffs stoking fears of a global trade war. And the Supreme Court punts on gerrymandering.

This hour, On Point: the weekly news roundtable.

- Anthony Brooks