From Harvard case to tariffs, Trump's policies under scrutiny

Harvard University urged a federal judge on Monday to order U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to restore about $2.5 billion in canceled federal grants and cease efforts to cut off research funding to the prestigious Ivy League school.

However, a lawyer for the Trump administration told the judge the canceled grants reflect a government priority not to send money to institutions that practice antisemitism.

"Harvard prioritized campus protesters over cancer research," said Michael Velchik, a senior lawyer at the U.S. Justice Department.

Steven Lehotsky, a lawyer for Harvard, said the government has made wholesale cuts to research under the guise of combating antisemitism, but hasn't identified any connection between the two.

"The administration has given no consideration to patients, the public at large and the harm of all this research being cut off," Lehotsky told the court.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said she had problems with the government's argument that it has the ability to terminate Harvard's federal funding grants for any policy reasons.

"That's a major stumbling block for me," Burroughs said.

The court hearing before Burroughs in Boston lasted more than two hours, but ended without a ruling.

The case marks a crucial moment in the White House's escalating conflict with Harvard, which has been in the administration's crosshairs after it rejected a list of demands to make changes to its governance, hiring and admissions practices in April.

Harvard has become a central focus of the administration's broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at U.S. universities, which Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and "radical left" ideologies.

The Harvard case has been one of media focus during Trump's second term. Another highly debated one is tariff. 

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that August 1 is the deadline for countries to begin paying reciprocal tariffs to the United States, though adding that "nothing stops countries from talking to us after August 1."

The country-specific tariffs include a 50-percent tariff on Brazil, a 35-percent tariff on Canada, a 30-percent tariff on the EU and Mexico, and 25-percent tariffs on Japan and South Korea. Each of those countries is among the top exporters of goods to the U.S.

The latest tit-for-tat tariff response could be from Canada as the country's Prime Minister Mark Carney said in June that Canada would adjust steel and aluminum counter-tariffs on Monday, depending on how the trade negotiations with Trump were going.

Reducing costs was a major Trump and Republican 2024 promise, but the president's unpredictable back-and-forth on tariffs have been hurting consumers.

"Costs are increasing, especially rent," Jacob Dials, an Arizona Democrat, told CNN.

"Across the board tariffs are not a good approach," Cynthia Sabatini, a suburban Philadelphia Republican who supports many Trump policies, told CNN.

Those complaints are not alone. An AP-NORC poll, which was conducted in mid-July with issues ranging from economy to government spending and healthcare, found that only about one-quarter of U.S. adults said that Trump's policies have helped them since he took office.

And roughly half of U.S. adults report that Trump's policies have "done more to hurt" them since his second term began six months ago, according to the survey.

Timothy Dwyer, of Dyersburg, Tennessee, a 26-year-old self-described independent who works in retail sales and leans Republican, said Trump's work on the economy, especially his tariffs, has "really sucked."

"He's turned us into a toilet and has absolutely made us the laughing stock of the world," Dwyer said of Trump's trade policies.

The reviews on Trump's policies come as he struggles to follow through on key campaign promises, including lowering costs for working-class Americans, preserving popular social welfare programs like Medicaid and lowering government spending.

What's behind Trump's efforts is that inflation rose last month to its highest level since February, 11.8 million more Americans becoming uninsured and adding $3.3 trillion to the national debt, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

Elsewhere, more than 40 percent of businesses that use imported goods in both the manufacturing or services industry have so far reported a decrease in net incomes, according to a recent New York Fed survey.

(With input from agencies)