Does "Direct File" have a future at the IRS?
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Will personal electronics from China get to dodge U.S. tariffs for long? I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. Tech stocks are pointing upward on news over the weekend that the Trump administration will exempt imports of smartphones, laptops and other electronics from the highest tariff rates. Apple's stock is up 5 percent in pre-market trading now, but the Trump team is also issuing conflicting signals as Marketplace's Henry Epp reports.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that electronics from China will still face a 20 percent import tax. That's much lower than the 145 percent tariff the administration has imposed on other imports from the country. Most iPhones sold in the U.S. are made in China, so the lower tariff rate gives Apple something of a reprieve.

Stocks rallied on the news. Some analysts interpreted the move as a sign the administration could continue to carve out exemptions for different sectors of the economy. But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stressed over the weekend that additional tariffs are coming for electronics imports soon.

The administration plans to announce new tariffs on devices that use semiconductors within the next month or two, Lutnick told ABC. He said those additional taxes are needed to, quote, reshore manufacturing of computer chips in the U.S. I'm Henry App for Marketplace.

And it's the time of year it falls to me to be that guy who nudges you that tomorrow is the tax filing deadline. Depending on the complexity of your taxes, one option might be the IRS Direct File Program. Now, if you qualify, you can file your taxes electronically for free. Third parties can also do it, but it's often not free. The Direct File Program is in its second year, and it's now open to people in 25 states. Here's Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes.

Direct file is for taxpayers with relatively simple federal returns. You can't use the program if you, for example, get income from the gig economy, or you itemize your deductions. And IRS spokesman Anthony Burke says so far, If they qualify for it, what we have heard is that taxpayers like direct file. About 141,000 people successfully filed with the pilot program last year, an estimated 19 million were eligible. We're

We're still waiting on the count for this season, but... It's still unclear to me what the future of the program will be. Joe Hughes is with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. He points out some Republican lawmakers have pushed to end direct file, saying it's not a good use of resources.

The IRS said in a 2024 report that the agency spent about $25 million through the end of the pilot. They've also discussed whether or not the IRS actually has the authority to administer such a program. In his confirmation hearing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged to keep Direct File up and running this year, but didn't make any promises about the future.

I'm Stephanie Hughes for Marketplace. There's new data this morning showing crafty businesses got out ahead of possible new tariffs last month by importing from China like mad before new import taxes hit. In March, we didn't know who and how high, but new tariffs were coming on April 2nd. No secret. The numbers today show China exports shot up 12.4%.

That month in March compared to a year earlier, that'll now change amid the tariff walls on both sides. We already know that China's exports of rare minerals fell 11 percent in the first quarter as Beijing tightened its controls of these materials, critical for electric vehicles and other tech.

Some Democrats on Capitol Hill have called for an investigation into whether President Trump or other members of the administration engaged in insider trading in the hours just before the president's big turnaround on most tariffs last Wednesday.

In the hours before the big turn, the president, apparently referring to stocks, wrote on his Truth Social platform, This is a great time to buy. We reported that in real time, but I hadn't noticed the detail. The post was signed DJT, the president's initials, of course, but also it's now been pointed out the ticker symbol for Trump media's stock.

A White House spokesperson said, quote, it is the responsibility of the president of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering, unquote.

But is there an issue of cheerleading the president's own company based on non-public information? And did others make trades who might have known the tariff turn was imminent? Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, is among those asking questions. I asked him if this really is all that strange. Well, it would be strange for any other presidency. It's even a bit strange for this presidency, because

So there are both issues of potential market manipulation as he's trying to push people to buy stock, including his own.

But probably the more serious concern is this spike in call volume right before he made the announcement of this massive reversal in tariff policy. What accounts for that? It certainly appears on the surface that someone knew, maybe a lot of somebody's knew. And the question it begs is, were any of these people in the administration, were they trading on insider information?

This is a crowd that feels completely immune from accountability. There's really no oversight at the Justice Department. It's populated by Trump's criminal defense lawyers. So in that kind of a lawless environment, you have to be deeply concerned about this kind of corruption, and we're demanding answers. Okay, but you're not going to bust any president for insider trading for making a public statement. It sounds like you're even more interested in how come –

Some people were trading securities in advance of the announcement in a way that seemed too anticipated. Yes. But in a normal world, if you had a president that was trying to manipulate the market to benefit his own company, that is something that would be prosecuted. But, of course, we're not in that world anymore, thanks to Chief Justice Roberts.

We are now in a world where a president can engage in criminality as president and be immune from prosecution. Senator Adam Schiff of California. If you look back at the DJT stock, it was up 6.7 percent in the hours after the president's it's a great time to buy message at a time stock indexes were generally down hard.

DJT stock would close up about 21 percent that day, but that jump was in line with so many other stocks on the Wednesday of the tariff turnaround. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio. It's the Marketplace Morning Report from APM American Public Media.

For years, a responsible investing strategy known as ESG had been a darling of Wall Street until a recent backlash. But ESG's roots go way beyond corporate America. Going back 100 years, some religious organizations felt that their faith and values had to be reflected in their investments, too.

I'm Amy Scott, host of How We Survive, a podcast from Marketplace. And this week, we trace the religious roots of climate-conscious investing. Listen to How We Survive wherever you listen to podcasts.