The potential cost of a hypothetical deal on the purchase of Greenland by the United States could be up to $700 billion, a number of media outlets reported, citing NBC News. The publications claim that the assessment was prepared by experts and former U.S. officials, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was allegedly tasked to draft a proposal for the purchase of the island in the coming weeks.
At the same time, it is emphasized that this is not an official price position of the US government, but a calculation within the framework of discussions around the initiative of President Donald Trump. According to NBC News’ retelling of the story, the $700 billion amount is comparable to more than half of the Pentagon’s annual budget, illustrating the scale of the financial and political hurdles to any such “deal.”
The reaction from Copenhagen and Nuuk remains negative. Denmark and Greenland authorities have publicly stated that the island is not for sale and that the issue of the autonomous territory’s status is related to sovereignty and the right to self-determination. Reuters reported this week that after a meeting in Washington between Rubio and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, the Danish and Greenlandic sides, while not changing their “no-sale” position, agreed to set up a working group to discuss a wide range of issues related to security and cooperation around the island.
The new $700 billion estimate falls in line with a number of previous, highly divergent “paper” estimates that have appeared in recent years. For example, The Washington Post in 2019 within the hypothetical valuation called a very wide range of possible price – from hundreds of millions of dollars to $1.7 trillion.
U.S. interest in Greenland is usually explained by a combination of security and resource factors. The island occupies a key position in the Arctic and North Atlantic, and is also seen as a potentially significant territory in terms of access to minerals and strategic infrastructure.
At the same time, even if there is political will in Washington, the “purchase” scenario is constrained by basic legal and political limitations: Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, and its status and future, according to the position of local and Danish authorities, cannot be subject to external “bargaining”. Against this background, analysts call the most realistic continuation of the plot not a change of sovereignty, but bargaining around increased U.S. cooperation with Denmark and Greenland – on defense, infrastructure and investment – without formally changing the island’s status.
Japan’s exports in August decreased by 0.1% compared to the same month last year, according to the report of the country’s Ministry of Finance. The decline in exports was the fourth consecutive month of decline, but its pace was the weakest in the period. The volume of Japanese imports last month fell by 5.2% year-on-year.
Experts on average predicted a decrease in exports in August by 1.9% and a decrease in imports by 4.2%.
Japan’s trade deficit last month amounted to 242.5 billion yen ($1.66 billion) compared to 711.4 billion yen a year earlier. A deficit of 118.4 billion yen was recorded in July.
Exports to the U.S. fell 13.8% in August amid the imposition of U.S. duties on automobiles and microprocessors. Shipments to China fell by 0.5% and to ASEAN countries by 2.8%, while exports to the European Union rose by 5.5% and to Russia by 11.8%.
Imports from the US jumped by 11.6% and from China by 2.1%. At the same time, purchases of goods from South Korea fell 16.3%, from the EU 18.2%, from Russia 21.1%, from the Middle East 20.3%, and from ASEAN 4.6%.
South Korea and the United States began major joint military drills on Monday to bolster military readiness amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s missile tests and tougher rhetoric toward allies, Renhap news agency reported.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, “based on a total war scenario,” will include “contingency” drills, computer simulation-based command post drills, parallel field exercises and civil defense drills. They will continue until August 31.
According to a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Armed Forces, about 30 joint allied field training exercises are planned during the exercise period.
He stressed that the exercise is “designed as a tough and realistic training to strengthen the alliance’s joint defense posture and response capabilities based on scenarios reflecting various security threats.”
In addition to South Korean and U.S. participants, personnel from nine member countries of the United Nations Command (UNC), (a joint multinational military command established in 1950 to support South Korea): Australia, Canada, France, Britain, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand, will join the exercise, Renhap reported.
The agency noted that the South Korean military is stepping up its preparedness for possible military action by Pyongyang during the drills, as the DPRK has consistently called the U.S.-South Korean exercises a rehearsal for an invasion of North Korea.
South Korean intelligence agencies told parliamentarians last week that “the North is preparing various provocations during the joint drills, such as launching an intercontinental ballistic missile,” according to the report.
The agency said the CTAC report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the 2nd Guards Division of surface ships of the Korean People’s Army Navy’s Eastern Fleet Eastern Fleet and observed missile launches was “a clear expression of protest against the drills.”
The United States has added Alfa Bank’s co-owners to the sanctions list.
Thus, Pyotr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev have fallen under the restrictions.
The number of U.S. company bankruptcies in January-July 2023 reached 402, the highest number for the period since 2010, excluding the “covid” 2020, according to a report from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“High interest rates and a troubled operating environment continue to drive the collapse of U.S. companies,” the analysts wrote.
The number of bankruptcies in the seven-month period is nearly double the rate for the same period in 2022. In January-July 2020, the figure was 407 as the coronavirus pandemic caused many firms to close.
In July alone, 64 companies filed for bankruptcy in the U.S., the highest since March’s 70. The largest of them was the aircraft leasing company Voyager Aviation Holdings LLC, which owes more than $1 billion. In June, there were four companies with debts of more than $1 billion that filed for bankruptcy.
The number of houses, construction of which was started in the United States in June, decreased by 8% compared to the previous month and amounted to 1.434 million in terms of annual rates, according to the report of the Ministry of Commerce of the country.
According to the revised data, in May the number of new buildings amounted to 1.559 million, not 1.631 million, as previously announced.
Experts had forecast the figure to fall to 1.48 million from the previously announced May level, according to Trading Economics.
Construction of single-family homes fell 7% last month to 935,000. In the case of multifamily (including apartments and condominiums), a more volatile segment of the market, the number of new construction fell 11.6% to 482,000.
The number of building permits for new homes issued in the U.S. in June fell 3.7% to 1.44 million at an annualized pace from a revised 1.496 million a month earlier.
Analysts had expected the number of permits to fall to 1.49 million from the previously announced May figure of 1.491 million.
