Alex Osil (3:11)

Do we know any details about this framework of a future deal, as he says?

Robbie Grammer (3:17)

So the news just broke. We're still waiting for more details on what this framework looks like. This was proposed after Trump took a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Many in Europe see him sort of as a Trump whisperer. There's a lot of really complicated legal questions here, and it's one that European officials, legal experts, didn't really have to think of before this because no one thought that an American leader would try to buy an island in the same way that countries did in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries. Here there is a framework that the United States has proposed. It's called cofa, or Compact of Free Association. That's a model that the United States has used with a few small Pacific islands, including Micronesia and Marshall Islands. These islands are allowed to self govern and the US Pays them, underwrites a lot of their their governance services. And in exchange, the US Basically has free reign to be in charge of its defense and security. But again, anything that undermines Greenland and Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland, these Danish and Greenlandic leaders say is an absolute red line. They're not willing to cede Greenland's territory or sovereignty. They're saying this island, our people, are not for sale. And these are just two irreconcilable differences between the American side and the European side here. And we don't know how or if this framework that Trump proposes have really addressed that yet.

Alex Osil (4:42)

That was WSJ national security reporter Robbie Grammer. Thanks, Robbie.

Robbie Grammer (4:46)

Thanks for having me.

Alex Osil (4:53)

The U.S. supreme Court today heard oral arguments in the case of Lisa Cook, the member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who President Trump tried to fire last year. And the sess rough going for the Trump administration. The court's decision could have consequences beyond Cook's individual case determining whether the Fed will keep setting monetary policy independent of presidential meddling. A huge matter of concern for investors and the broader economy. For more on the hearing, I'm joined now by WSJ chief economics correspondent Nick Timoros. Nick, coming into today's hearing, the Supreme Court had signaled that it wanted to protect the Fed from political interference. For example, there was a decision last May in which the court said Trump could fire federal commissioners, but made it clear that the Fed was off limits. How did this play out during today's arguments?

Nick Timoros (5:39)

Well, the arguments today were unusual because they focused a lot on sort of technical elements of Lisa Cook's dismissal. So the president attempted to fire Cook in August. He did it in a letter that he posted on his Truth Social social media account. So that was something the president's attorney was asked about today. Was the nature with which you did this satisfying what the law says you can fire somebody for cause? Was Lisa Cook given a chance to defend herself? Was she given a hearing? Should she have been given a hearing?

Alex Osil (6:12)

Which way does it seem like the justices are leaning right now?

Nick Timoros (6:15)

Well, the legal analysts that I spoke with after the hearing thought the justices sounded inclined to let Lisa Cook stay in her job, at least while her broader legal challenge plays out. So this has all unfolded on what's known as the emergency docket or kind of an expedited process. And so at a minimum, even if Lisa Cook ultimately loses her case, it sounds like she has another year or two before you would get there because they just weren't inclined to rule against her. At this moment, the most skeptical questions were targeted towards the Solicitor General. The Trump administration's envoy at the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, asked him about concerns around independence and the Fed and what is to stop a Democratic president in 2029 or 33 from doing exactly what Donald Trump has done here. And so you could see concerns at kind of a policy level what this would mean for an interest rate policy in the markets.

Alex Osil (7:18)

That was WSJ chief economics correspondent Nick Timiros. Thanks, Nick.

Nick Timoros (7:22)

Thanks for having me.

Alex Osil (7:27)

A House committee has voted to find former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress after the Clintons declined to appear for depositions regarding sex offender Jeffrey Epps Epstein. The committee is led by Republicans, but the vote drew significant Democratic support to pass. The measure now goes to the full House. The Clintons have said that the subpoenas demanding their appearance were invalid and that they had no personal knowledge of Epstein's criminal activities. Coming up, why struggling white collar workers might want to consider switching to blue collar careers. And Amazon goes big on big box stores. That's after the break. Foreign.

Christopher Mims (8:10)

Hi, I'm Christopher Mims.

Tim Higgins (8:13)

And I'm Tim Higgins.

Christopher Mims (8:14)

We're the hosts of the Wall Street Journal's Bold Names podcast.

Tim Higgins (8:19)

On our show, we bring the bold.

Robbie Grammer (8:21)

Name companies featured in the pages of the Wall Street Journal to life through.

Christopher Mims (8:25)

Real conversations with the people that lead them. If you're looking for more news and insights that bring you inside the C suite, consider becoming a subscriber to the Wall street journal. Visit subscribe.WSJ.com boldnames to subscribe now.

Alex Osil (8:54)

US Stocks rallied in the afternoon after Trump called off the tariffs on Europe. Major US Indexes ended the day higher, with the Dow, the S and P, and the Nasdaq all adding 1.2%. Speaking of wall street, we've got a special bonus episode that dropped earlier today. In the latest what's News and Earnings, we dive into what's behind the booming Wall street operations of the country's biggest banks and the risks bankers are looking at this year. That's in your what's News feed now. In other earnings news, Charles schwab says its fourth quarter profit rose 34% to almost $2.5 billion. A surge in activity from individual investors, particularly young ones, helped boost Schwab's trading revenue by 22% for the quarter, while Johnson and Johnson reported higher revenue and profit for the latest quarter with a boost from higher sales of drugs that treat cancer and autoimmune conditions. The company also issued a forecast for 2026 that topped Wall street expectations. And Amazon is going big on bricks and mortar, launching its largest ever store. The proposed store will be outside Chicago and at 230,000 square feet, will dwarf the average Walmart and fit almost two whole average sized Target stores. It'll sell groceries and other goods in half the store and the other half will be used for fulfilling orders, which shoppers can make online or in the store itself. The store could open as soon as next year, and people familiar with the matter say Amazon is also planning to open other big box stores in the US A tough job market has a lot of white collar workers feeling stuck. At the same time, America's traditional blue collar industries are facing a labor shortage. So is it time for some white collar workers to consider another path? Our producer Daniel Bach asked the Journal's on the Clock columnist Callum Borchers about what it would take to make the switch.

Tim Higgins (10:45)

So I think people know that you can be a master electrician or plumber and make good money, but you're thinking, oh Geez, I have to put in so much time to get there. That's not a realistic path for me. You take an example. Instead of being, say, a service advisor at an auto repair shop like this. Crash champions that I looked at, right? So this is a PE backed, fast growing company. They had something like 13 shops, you know, five or six years ago. Now they got over 600. They're growing so fast that people get promoted quickly. And if you're a service advisor, you have to know a lot about the cars, but you're not the one who's sweating under the hood doing the repairs yourself. So you basically go through a six month apprenticeship. You're making $60,000 a year during that period. That's a step probably for a lot of white collar workers, but you could double those earnings within a year and a half. That can be a path into management. And I'm told that those are jobs that pay over $200,000 a year. So if you're a white collar worker who's feeling kind of stalled, you might say, well, geez, am I willing to take a little step back in the short run to really boost my earnings in the longer term?

Christopher Mims (11:44)

And the artificial intelligence factor plays in here too, right? Where blue collar jobs may be seen.

Tim Higgins (11:49)

As more AI proof, that's a big factor that I think the youngest workers are waking up to. They do see AI's potential to automate a lot of entry level white collar jobs, and they're concerned about that. I think it's a tougher kind of mental hurdle to get over though, when you're 30 or 40 versus 20.

Robbie Grammer (12:08)

Right?

Tim Higgins (12:08)

Like it's one thing when you're 20 to say, I'm going to bypass college. It's a different kind of thing to have already invested in college and then sometime into your career take a different path.

Alex Osil (12:19)

That was on the clock columnist Callum Borchers speaking to producer Daniel Bach. And that's what's news for this Wednesday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Pierre Vienna with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Alex Osola for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.