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Chances are good that many investors are happy today is a holiday, and thus the stock markets are closed. Thats because over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced the threat of new tariffs levied against Americas most prominent European allies. But this time, Trumps tariff threats arent driven by trade imbalances. Instead, they center around the presidents desire to acquire ownership of Greenland. Heres what you need to know, including how assets that are trading todaygold and cryptocurrencyare reacting. Whats happened? On Saturday, Trump took to social media to announce that he would impose additional tariffs on eight European nations that have spoken out against his plan to acquire Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark. The president announced that, beginning on February 1st, goods from those nations will be charged an additional 10% tariff when they enter the United States. The nations Trump threatened to levy the additional tariffs against include: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. But Trump didnt stop there. He also announced that those additional 10% tariffs would rise to 25% on June 1 and will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland. Currently, there is already a 10% tariff on goods from the United Kingdom and a 15% tariff on goods from the other countries Trump cited. The additional Greenland tariffs would raise the levies on goods from those countries to at least 25% next month and at least 40% in June. Trumps stated reason for wanting Greenland to become part of the United States is its strategic national security importancethe landmass lies directly between North America and Russia. However, Greenland is also home to vast mineral deposits and other natural resources with significant market value. Trumps desire to acquire Greenland is deeply unpopular with the American public, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month, with just 17% of respondents approving of the goal. A 2025 Verian poll of Greenlanders found that an overwhelming 85% of respondents said they did not want their homeland to become part of the United States. How has Europe responded? European leaders are in crisis mode. Despite leaders on the continent telling President Trump that Greenland is not for sale, Trumps resolve on acquiring the Danish territory has only strengthened. On Sunday, the European Council (EC) of the European Union issued a definitive statement on the matter. Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law. They are essential for Europe and for the international community as a whole, European Council president António Luís Santos da Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen wrote. They added, The EU stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland. Dialogue remains essential, and we are committed to building on the process begun already last week between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US. Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty. How had gold reacted? Geopolitical uncertainties tend to send investors fleeing from more volatile assets, such as stocks, to safer ones, such as gold. And Trumps weekend escalation over Greenland is following this trend. While stock markets are closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, assets such as gold and other precious metals are being traded. Gold, particularly, is seen as a safe-haven asset that investors flee to in times of uncertainty. As of the time of this writing, gold is currently at an all-time high of $4,671.10 per ounce. Silver is also at an all-time high of $93.20 per ounce. How have Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reacted? Precious metals arent the only assets being traded today. Unlike the stock markets, which are closed on federal holidays, cryptocurrencies trade 24/7. And unlike gold, cryptocurrencies are generally not seen as safe-haven assets. Cryptocurrencies are historically volatile in the best of times. When geopolitical uncertainties hit, crypto tends to sell off as investors take profits and move into safe-haven assets. As of this writing, most major cryptocurrencies are retreating amid the rising geopolitical and economic uncertainty between America and its European allies. Crypto king Bitcoin is currently down more than 2% to $93,170 per coin. Ethereum is down nearly 3%, XRP is down nearly 4%, and Solana is down nearly 6%. Memecoin Doge is down nearly 7%. Where do things go from here? Right now, no one can say where Trumps Greenland escalations go from here. Most of the political establishment in America and the overwhelming majority of the international community are deeply concerned about the presidents insistence on acquiring the landmass. Numerous observers, including European leaders, have said that Trumps threats could undermine the very foundation of NATO, of which the U.S., Greenland, and European countries are part. Right now, European leaders are debating how to respond to Trumps threats if the president does not back down. If diplomatic efforts fail, the next most likely step would be for Europe to threaten economic countermeasures against America, including tariffs of its own on American goods, and perhaps even invoking what is colloquially called the big bazookaofficially known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI). As CNBC noted, the ACI is a trade policy tool in the EU’s arsenal designed to counter coercion by economically and militarily powerful countries. The ACI is a deterrent instrument that, if enacted, could restrict not just trade with a country, but also place a cessation on foreign investment and intellectual property rights. The ACI was created in 2023, but it has never been enacted before. All eyes will be on Trump when he is in Europe on Wednesday, where he will address world and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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Each year on the holiday that bears his name, Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered for his immense contributions to the struggle for racial equality. What is less often remembered but equally important is that King saw the fight for racial equality as deeply intertwined with economic justice. To address inequalityand out of growing concern for how automation might displace workersKing became an early advocate for universal basic income. Under universal basic income, the government provides direct cash payments to all citizens to help them afford lifes expenses. In recent years, more than a dozen U.S. cities have run universal basic income programs, often smaller or pilot programs that have offered guaranteed basic incomes to select groups of needy residents. As political scientists, we have followed these experiments closely. One of us recently co-authored a study which found that universal basic income is generally popular. In two out of three surveys analyzed, majorities of white Americans supported a universal basic income proposal. Support is particularly high among those with low incomes. Kings intuition was that white people with lower incomes would support this type of policy because they could also benefit from it. In 1967, King argued, It seems to me that the Civil Rights Movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income . . . which I believe will go a long, long way toward dealing with the Negros economic problem and the economic problem with many other poor people confronting our nation. But there is one notable group that does not support universal basic income: those with higher levels of racial resentment. Racial resentment is a scale that social scientists have used to describe and measure anti-Black prejudice since the 1980s. Notably, in our research, whites with higher levels of racial resentment and higher incomes are especially inclined to oppose universal basic income. As King well knew, this segment of Americans can create powerful opposition. Economic self-interest can trump resentment At the same time, the results of the study also suggest that coalition building is possible, even among the racially resentful. Economic status matters. Racially resentful whites with lower incomes tend to be supportive of universal basic income. In short, self-interest seems to trump racial resentment. This is consistent with Kings idea of how an economic coalition could be built and pave the way toward racial progress. Income is not the only thing that shapes attitudes, however. Some of the strongest supporters of universal basic income are those who have higher incomes but low levels of racial resentment. This suggests an opportunity to build coalitions across economic lines, something King believed was necessary. The rich must not ignore the poor, he argued in his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, because both rich and poor are tied in a single garment of destiny. Our data shows that this is possible. This approach to coalition building is also suggested by our earlier research. Using American National Election Studies surveys from 2004-2016, we found that for white Americans, racial resentment predicted lower support for social welfare policies. But we also found that economic position mattered, too. Economic need can unite white Americans in support of more generous welfare policies, including among some who are racially prejudiced. At a minimum, this suggests that racial resentment does not necessarily prevent white Americans from supporting policies that would also benefit Black Americans. Building lasting coalitions During his career as an activist in the 1950s and 1960s, King struggled with building long-term, multiracial coalitions. He understood that many forms of racial prejudice could undermine his work. He therefore sought strategies that could forge alliances across lines of difference. He helped build coalitions of poor and working-class Americans, including those who are white. He was not so naive as to think that shared economic progress would eliminate racial prejudice, but he saw it as a place to start. Currently, the nation faces an affordability crisis, and artificial intelligence poses new threats to jobs. These factors have increased calls for universal basic income. Racial prejudice continues to fuel opposition to universal basic income, as well as other forms of social welfare. But our research suggests that this is not insurmountable. As King knew, progress toward economic equality is not inevitable. But, as his legacy reminds us, progress does remain possible through organizing around shared interests. Tarah Williams is an assistant professor of political science at Allegheny College and Andrew Bloeser is an associate professor of political science; Director, Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Being a field dependent on big developer clients and even bigger sums of money, rarely do architects get to pick the projects they work on. Would they if they could? Absolutely. Fast Company asked architects and designers from some of the top firms working around the world to think about the kinds of projects they wish they could do, clients, budgets, and possibly reality notwithstanding. From the abstract to one very specific (and notorious) train station, seven architects shared building projects they’d love to tackle in 2026. Here’s the question we put to a panel of designers and leaders in architecture: What’s your dream project in 2026? An urban district reimagined The dream project for me isn’t a skyline object or spectacle, it’s a long-life systema project whose structure is reused, materials are upgraded and recycled rather than replaced, and performance improves over time. Where sustainable strategies arent hidden in basements, or rooftops, but become part of the architectural experience. A dream project would be an urban district reimagined, edited with a scalpel (rather than a sledgehammer) with its declining building stock given a new life through subtle upgrades, modest interventions, and attention to craft and building performance. Trent Tesch, Principal, KPF Solutions to current crises My dream project would be to design beyond the scale of a single buildingat the district scaleto define a new way of living. We have the ability to overcome the segmentation we have created in the built environment and move toward convergent places where people can not only live, work, and play in the same space, but also innovate, learn, and care for ourselves and each other. Embedded in this approach are solutions to current crises like housing, access to food and care, and more: to think about community-building and what people need around them to ensure a safe, vibrant, and supported life. David Polzin, executive director of design, CannonDesign An example of where design needs to go My dream project should break ground right near the end of the year the New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island. It will be arguably the most sustainable project ever undertaken in the city and an example of where design needs to go in the coming decade. Colin Koop, partner, SOM A tangible vision of a ‘heaven on earth’ A dream project with a design ethos grounded in simplicity, sustainability, and the clear expression of engineering functions, this project would function as a living laboratory at a district-to-regional, maybe even country scale, exemplifying human-centered, climate-responsive urbanism. It would demonstrate how architecture can create healthier built environments, advance decarbonization, promote human well-being, foster thriving ecosystems, and deliver scalable models for resilient cities worldwidea tangible vision of a heaven on earth in a built environment. Luke Leung, sustainable engineering studio leader, SOM Breaking down silos Our firm’s portfolio has always been shaped by the idea of architecture as social and civic infrastructure, rather than isolated objects. Our dream project in 2026 is one that will allow us to further break down overly prescriptive disciplinary and programmatic silos, to the benefit of those who use the spaces we create. This could take the form of a new kind of mixed-use district, a daycare-driven residential building, woodland cabins, or reinvented urban infrastructure, but it would be guided, as all our work is, by the idea of long-term stewardship and deep collaboration with community and our peers in architecture, engineering, and beyond. We are most interested in projects where design builds capacity and trust, and where success is measured not only by what gets built, but by what it enables over time. Claire Weisz, founding principal, WXY architecture + urban design Destinations for learning and gathering There is growing need for cultural and community catalysts that bring people together, especially in communities that are lacking destinations for learning and gathering. Design can support a sense of belonging and grounding to the physicality of architecture that is important in this day of instant gratification. Nick Leahy, co-CEO and executive director, Perkins Eastman A nightmare-turned-dream? Pennsylvania Station! Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder, PAU
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