The Framework of a Future Deal.
Betrayal of the Kurds, again.
“I start every day pretty much the same way: Coffee and News Items.” — Richard Haass, president emeritus, The Council on Foreign Relations.
1. The Wall Street Journal:
When President Trump arrived in the snow-covered Swiss Alps on Wednesday afternoon, European leaders were panicking that his efforts to acquire Greenland would trigger a trans-Atlantic conflagration. By the time the sun set, Trump had backed down.
The about-face followed days of back-channel conversations between Trump, his advisers and European leaders, including NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to people close to the talks. The Europeans, who stood united in their opposition to Trump acquiring Greenland, employed a mix of enticements, such as offers to boost Arctic security, and warnings, including about the dangers to the U.S. of a deeper rupture in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The exact contours of the framework are still in flux, but negotiations are expected to center on several areas, according to officials in Europe familiar with the discussions. They include a potential U.S. agreement with Denmark about stationing forces at bases in Greenland and expanded European efforts to boost security around the Arctic. The U.S. could receive a right of first refusal on investments in Greenland’s mineral resources—a veto aimed at preventing Russia and China from tapping the island’s wealth—and in exchange Trump would take tariff threats off the table, the officials said.
Speaking to reporters, Trump called the framework “really fantastic,” but offered few details. He said he assumes Denmark, which controls Greenland, had been informed about the potential deal. (Source: wsj.com)
2. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard:
The only constraint on Trump Unleashed is the global bond market. If you have a structural fiscal deficit of 6-7 percent of GDP, a savings rate near zero and a reliance on the goodwill of foreigners to fund an explosive increase in debt issuance, you might wish to treat global creditors with a little care.
The US treasury sold $654 billion of federal debt over the four days from Jan 12-15, about the same in one week as the annual GDP of Argentina or the United Arab Emirates.
It did not go well. The market yields on long-term bonds are refusing to come down as the Fed cuts rates, and it is the long end that sets the borrowing cost for mortgage debt, car loans, student loans and corporate debt securities.
