Wildlife show wide range of responses to human presence in U.S. national parks

University of British Columbia

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The presence of humans and human infrastructure in U.S. national parks has lasting effects on the behaviours of the large animals that call them home, according to a new study.

“Wildlife all around the world fear people and avoid areas of high human activity, but it was surprising to see that this holds true even in more remote protected areas,” said Dr. Kaitlyn Gaynor, a zoologist at the University of British Columbia and lead author of the paper published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Researchers tracked 229 animals from 10 species across 14 national parks and protected areas using GPS collar data from 2019 to 2020, allowing them to study how animals navigated hotspots of human activity in parks before and during the COVID “Anthropause”. Species included grey wolves, mountain lions, black and grizzly bears, moose, mountain goats and bighorn sheep.

While overall, animals tended to avoid infrastructure such as roads, trails, parking lots, buildings and campgrounds, closer analysis showed responses varied across populations, species and individual animals. “This study reveals not only how wildlife respond to human presence but also why species respond differently, and the complex ways that animals balance risks and benefits associated with humans,” said co-author Dr. Forest Hayes, postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University.

“Some species are just more wary of people than others, like bighorn sheep and mountain lions, while others have learned to associate humans with some benefit,” said Dr. Gaynor. “The mule deer and elk in Zion National Park prefer being closer to developed areas and around humans. That could be because their predators might be avoiding people, so if deer and elk can learn to live with us, they can reduce the risk of becoming prey.”

Avoidance even during lockdown

The researchers found animals in more developed areas switched from avoiding human infrastructure when the park was open in 2019 to using it more when the park was closed in 2020. Without any people around, animals were apparently more willing to explore the developed areas of the park.

 

“We heard from managers in Yosemite National Park that when people came back, the black bears stayed, which caused a lot of problems because the bears got used to the abundant food in Yosemite Valley and didn't want to give it up,” said Dr. Gaynor.

But in most other parks, avoidance of human infrastructure persisted even during the lockdowns. “While some individuals and populations showed a strong response to the absence of people during park shutdowns, most did not,” Dr. Gaynor said. “Because a lot of headlines in 2020 implied that animals were taking back our national parks and were on the streets everywhere, we expected to see a bigger effect. But it takes just a few individuals to start changing their behaviour to create the perception of a larger impact.”

The researchers speculate that due to the relatively short duration of park closures—an average of 58 days —many animals may not have had enough time to perceive and respond to the change in human activity, particularly those with low exposure to human development in their home ranges. Additionally, risk-averse individual animals and species may have already been displaced prior to the pandemic, while those animals with a high exposure to humans were already habituated.

Balancing recreation and conservation

Human presence influences both the resources available to animals and the risk of using those spaces, with differing effects on animal species. The responses of animals may shape which species eat and compete with each other, changing ecological dynamics, the researchers say. These responses may also affect the ability of animals to persist alongside people in protected areas.

U.S. national parks, which hosted over 327 million visits in 2019, balance the dual mandates of human recreation and wildlife conservation.

“Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon are international destinations that are crowded at peak times of year, but the crowds are concentrated near the roads and visitor centres and parking lots,” said Dr. Gaynor. “The study provides evidence that conservation is compatible with recreation at low levels but that we do need to keep some areas exclusively for wildlife.”

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Journal

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2025.1013 

Animals in national parks remained wary of human footprint during 2020 COVID shutdown

Multinational group of scientists analyzed data from 10 species at 14 national parks and protected areas

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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A mountain goat grazes near a trail full of visitors at Glacier National Park in Monana 

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Credit: Courtesy Forest P. Hayes

Many summer visitors to America’s national parks hope for a glimpse of a moose or a bighorn sheep — or perhaps to spot a wolf or a bear. 

A newly published study by a multinational group of wildlife scientists took advantage of the opportunity offered by the 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns to better understand why such glimpses can be so elusive. 

Using GPS collar data, researchers tracked 229 animals from 14 U.S. national parks and protected areas. They compared the animals’ movements while the parks were closed to visitors during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to movements during a similar time frame in 2019. 

Some of America’s most beloved national parks were included in the study, such as Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Yosemite National Park in California, Zion National Park in Utah and Glacier National Park in Montana. The movements of five predator species — wolves, mountain lions, grizzly bears, black bears and foxes — and five ungulate species — moose, mule deer, elk, mountain goats and bighorn sheep — were tracked. 

John Benson of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln was part of the team of more than 60 scientists representing 13 universities and nearly 40 other entities, including the National Park Service and state agencies. Benson, an associate professor in the School of Natural Resources, helped conceptualize the study, which sought to tease out whether animals shy away from human infrastructure like campgrounds, parking lots, roads and trails even in the absence of human beings.  

“COVID provided ecologists with a valuable natural experiment,” he said. “We know that animals can respond strongly to humans, but it is often not clear whether they respond to the 'human footprint' of roads, trails and development, or to the humans themselves. Our study allowed us to separate the foot from the footprint to an extent."

Wide range of responses

The study showed that the presence of humans and human infrastructure has lasting effects on the large animals that call U.S. national parks home. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how human activity influences animal behavior within protected areas — an important step toward understanding how humans might influence their survival and reproduction.  

“Wildlife all around the world fear people and avoid areas of high human activity, but it was surprising to see that this holds true even in more remote protected areas,” said Kaitlyn Gaynor, a zoologist at the University of British Columbia and lead author of the paper published July 30 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 

While overall animals tended to avoid infrastructure such as roads, trails, parking lots, buildings and campgrounds, closer analysis showed responses varied across populations, species and individual animals. 

“There are so many factors that influence animal behavior: local environmental context, species, sex, age, seasons,” Benson explained. “In a large-scale analysis with many species across so many parks, it was important to separate variation in behavior resulting from all these other sources, from changes in behavior due to reduced human activity during COVID."

“Some species are just more wary of people than others, like bighorn sheep and mountain lions, while others have learned to associate humans with some benefit,” Gaynor said.  “The mule deer and elk in Zion National Park prefer being closer to developed areas and around humans. That could be because their predators might be avoiding people, so if deer and elk can learn to live with us, they can reduce the risk of becoming prey."

Avoidance even during lockdown

The researchers found animals in more developed areas switched from avoiding human infrastructure when the park was open in 2019 to using it more when the park was closed in 2020. Without any people around, animals were apparently more willing to explore the developed areas of the park.

“We heard from managers in Yosemite National Park that when people came back, the black bears stayed, which caused a lot of problems because the bears got used to the abundant food in Yosemite Valley and didn't want to give it up,” Gaynor said.

But in most other parks, avoidance of human infrastructure persisted even during the lockdowns.

“While some individuals and populations showed a strong response to the absence of people during park shutdowns, most did not,” Gaynor said. “Because a lot of headlines in 2020 implied that animals were taking back our national parks and were on the streets everywhere, we expected to see a bigger effect. But it takes just a few individuals to start changing their behavior to create the perception of a larger impact.”

The researchers speculate that due to the relatively short duration of park closures — an average of 58 days — many animals may not have had enough time to perceive and respond to the change in human activity, particularly those with low exposure to human development in their home ranges. Additionally, risk-averse individual animals and species may have already been displaced prior to the pandemic, while those animals with a high exposure to humans were already habituated.

A fox rests in the snow near Fort Collins, Colorado.

Balancing recreation and conservation 

Human presence influences both the resources available to animals and the risk of using those spaces, with differing effects on animal species. The responses of animals may shape which species eat and compete with each other, changing ecological dynamics, the researchers say. These responses may also affect the ability of animals to persist alongside people in protected areas.

"The national parks have a dual mandate to preserve natural and cultural resources, while also providing enjoyment of the parks to people,” Benson said. “This made national parks really interesting places to study animal behavior during COVID closures. While we often think of national parks as some of the last truly wild places on earth, some also receive intense visitation by humans.” 

U.S. national parks hosted more than 327 million visits in 2019, prior to the COVID closure. The number rose to a record 331.9 million visits in 2024. 

“Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon are international destinations that are crowded at peak times of year, but the crowds are concentrated near the roads and visitor centers and parking lots,” Gaynor said. “The study provides evidence that conservation is compatible with recreation at low levels but that we do need to keep some areas exclusively for wildlife.”

---

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2025.1013 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

The influence of human presence and footprint on animal space use in US national parks

Article Publication Date

30-Jul-2025

 

Osiris volume 40 considers the role of animal mobilities in the history of science

University of Chicago Press Journals

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The study of our animal cohabitants often provides valuable insight into the condition of humanity, but animals have also been a gateway to understanding the natural world. The latest volume of Osiris, entitled “Animal Mobilities,” collects articles on the subject of animal agency and the role of animals in human knowledge production. Studying the movements of animals as individuals, groups, and systems, write guest editors Tamar Novick, Lisa Onaga, and Gabriel N. Rosenberg, “may permit a reexamination of the ethical commitments of both scientific and historical inquiry,” encouraging scholars to more keenly attend to the lives of the creatures that surround them. It may also invite “a reconsideration of how, where, and by whom science is done.”

The first section in the collection, “Individual Animals,” gathers articles on human-animal relationships. Featuring papers on such topics as an escaped circus elephant, the first ever white rhinos exhibited in a zoo, the use of guide dogs, and a chimpanzee adopted into human families, “Individual Animals” challenges the common association of mobility with liberation and examines the political valences of animal care.

“Animal Groupings and Aggregates,” the second section in the volume, investigates the role of animals in the formation of political regimes. Articles in this section study the instrumentalization of migratory sturgeon in the effort to produce more hydroelectric power for the state of Oregon, the effect of visual media on understandings of climate catastrophe, the importance of izcahuitli larvae to the Mexica people, and the significance of camel breeding in the Ottoman Empire. Managing the mobilities of animal aggregates has been foundational for the formation of political projects and structures.

"Animals in and as Technological Systems,” the third of the volume’s three sections, studies both the possibility of discrete animal bodies to act as “biological technologies” and the inclusion of animals in large-scale technological apparatuses. This section examines such subjects as the effect of European methods of taxonomy on cattle husbandry during the Japanese Tokugawa period, the use of ducks to control locust populations in late modern and imperial China, the attempts to manage bird movement around Frankfurt Airport in Germany, and the impact of capturing and moving coral on scientific studies of the sea. Large-scale systems are continuously preoccupied with sustaining their animal components.

Since animal habits and movement patterns often defy standard scientific classifications, their study presents an opportunity to expand the boundaries of the history of science. “This volume is mobilized,” the editors conclude, “by a hope that a study of mobility in the history of science combined with an ethics of radical empathy can show how all animals, human and nonhuman alike, struggle still to move and rest freely.” Ultimately, through and with animals, this volume illustrates the crucial role of historical mobilities in science.

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Founded in 1936 by George Sarton, and relaunched by the History of Science Society in 1985, Osiris is an annual thematic journal that highlights research on significant themes in the history of science.

Founded in 1924, the History of Science Society is the world’s largest society dedicated to understanding science, technology, medicine, and their interactions with society in historical context.

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Journal

Osiris

 

Higher ultra processed food intake linked to increased lung cancer risk

Further research warranted, but limiting consumption may help curb global toll of the disease

BMJ Group

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A higher intake of ultra processed food (UPF) is linked to an increased risk of lung cancer, suggests research published online in the respiratory journal Thorax.

Further research is warranted in different population groups, but limiting consumption of these foods may help curb the global toll of the disease, say the researchers.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world. And in 2020 alone there were an estimated 2.2 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths from the disease worldwide, they note.

UPF typically undergo multiple processing steps, contain long lists of additives and preservatives, and are ready-to-eat or heat. High consumption has been linked to a heightened risk of several health conditions, and the researchers wanted to know if this might also include lung cancer.

They drew on data from the US Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trials, involving 155,000 participants aged 55–74 who were randomly assigned to either a screening or comparison group between November 1993 and July 2001. Cancer diagnoses were tracked until the end of 2009 and cancer deaths until the end of 2018.

Some 101,732 people (50,187 men and 51,545 women; average age 62) who completed a Food Frequency questionnaire on their dietary habits on entry to the trials were included in the present study. Foods were categorised as: unprocessed or minimally processed; containing processed culinary ingredients; processed; and ultra processed.

The researchers focused in particular on UPF that included sour cream, as well as cream cheese, ice cream, frozen yoghurt, fried foods, bread, baked goods, salted snacks, breakfast cereals, instant noodles, shop-bought soups and sauces, margarine, confectionery, soft drinks, sweetened fruit drinks, restaurant/shop-bought hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza.

Average energy adjusted UPF consumption was nearly 3 servings/day, but ranged from 0.5 to 6. The three types of food that featured the most were lunch meat (11%), diet or caffeinated soft drinks (just over 7%) and decaffeinated soft drinks (nearly 7%). 

During an average tracking period of 12 years, 1706 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed, including 1473 (86%) cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 233 (14%) of small cell lung cancer. 

Case numbers were higher among those eating the most UPF than they were among those eating the least (495/25,434 vs 331/25,433).

After accounting for potentially influential factors, including smoking and overall diet quality, participants in the highest quarter of energy-adjusted UPF consumption were 41% more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than those in the lowest quarter. 

Specifically, they were 37% more likely to be diagnosed with NSCLC and 44% more likely to be diagnosed with SCLC.

This is an observational study, and as such, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. And the researchers acknowledge that they weren’t able to factor in smoking intensity, which may have been influential. Dietary information was collected only once, so couldn’t account for changes over time, and the number of cancer diagnoses was small.

But the researchers highlight the low nutritional value of UPF and the excessive amounts of sugar, salt, and fats they usually contain.

“Worse still, over the past two decades, the consumption of UPF has significantly increased worldwide, regardless of development or economic status. The rise in UPF consumption may have driven global increases in obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, cancer and mortality, as these foods are confirmed risk factors for such conditions,” they suggest.

A high intake of UPF may effectively elbow out healthy foods, such as whole grains, fruit, and vegetables, which are known to protect against cancer, suggest the researchers, by way of an explanation for their findings.

“Industrial processing alters the food matrix, affecting nutrient availability and absorption, while also generating harmful contaminants,” they add, highlighting acrolein, which is found in grilled sausages and caramel sweets, and is a toxic component  of cigarette smoke. Packaging materials may also have a role to play, they suggest.

They conclude: “These findings need to be confirmed by other large-scale longitudinal studies in different populations and settings….If causality is established, limiting trends of UPF intake globally could contribute to reducing the burden of lung cancer.”

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Journal

Thorax

DOI

10.1136/thorax-2024-222100 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Association between ultra-processed food consumption and lung cancer risk: a population based cohort study

Article Publication Date

29-Jul-2025

 

Deep heat beneath the United States traced to ancient rift with Greenland

New research links a hot rock zone under US mountain range the Appalachians to Greenland and North America's split some 80 million years ago

University of Southampton

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Appalachian Mountains in northeastern North America

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Credit: University of Southampton

A large region of unusually hot rock deep beneath the Appalachian Mountains in the United States could be linked to Greenland and North America splitting apart 80 million years ago, according to new research led by the University of Southampton.

The scientists argue it is not, as has long been believed, the result of plate tectonic movements causing the continent of North America to break away from Northwest Africa 180 million years ago.

The hot zone in question is the Northern Appalachian Anomaly (NAA), a 350-kilometre-wide region of anomalous hot rock that sits about 200 km beneath the Appalachian Mountains in New England.

The research, published today in the journal Geology, suggests the NAA in fact developed about 1,800 km from where it is now, when the Earth’s crust began to break apart near the Labrador Sea between Canada and Greenland.

Over time, this area of hot, unstable rock deep under the Earth’s surface has slowly moved to where it is today – at a rate of approximately 20 km per million years.

The research was undertaken by the University of Southampton in the UK, the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (GFZ), Germany, and the University of Florence in Italy.

Tom Gernon, lead author of the study and Professor of Earth Science at the University of Southampton, said: “This thermal upwelling has long been a puzzling feature of North American geology. It lies beneath part of the continent that’s been tectonically quiet for 180 million years, so the idea it was just a leftover from when the landmass broke apart never quite stacked up.

“Our research suggests it’s part of a much larger, slow-moving process deep underground that could potentially help explain why mountain ranges like the Appalachians are still standing. Heat at the base of a continent can weaken and remove part of its dense root, making the continent lighter and more buoyant, like a hot air balloon rising after dropping its ballast. This would have caused the ancient mountains to be further uplifted over the past few million years.”

‘Mantle wave’ theory

The scientists turned to a new idea they recently proposed called ‘mantle wave’ theory, which was recognised as a finalist for Science magazine’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year.

The theory describes how hot, dense rock slowly peels away from the base of tectonic plates – much like blobs in a lava lamp – after continents break apart. These ‘waves’ ripple along the lower surfaces of the continents over tens of millions of years and can help explain rare volcanic eruptions that bring diamonds to the surface, and why some inland regions are unusually high.

Using advanced geodynamic simulations, seismic tomography data (like a medical ultrasound, but using seismic waves to image Earth's interior) and tectonic plate reconstructions, the research team traced the likely origin of the NAA to the breakup of the Labrador Sea, which occurred between 90 and 80 million years ago when Greenland separated from Canada.

Professor Sascha Brune, co-author of the study who leads the Geodynamic Modelling Section at GFZ in Potsdam, Germany, said: “These convective instabilities cause chunks of rock, several tens of kilometres thick, to slowly sink from the base of the Earth’s outer layer known as the lithosphere. As the lithosphere thins, hotter mantle material rises to take its place, creating a warm region known as a thermal anomaly.

"Our earlier research shows that these ‘drips’ of rock can form in series, like domino stones when they fall one after the other, and sequentially migrate over time. The feature we see beneath New England is very likely one of these drips, which originated far from where it now sits.”

If correct, the NAA has likely been slowly migrating south-westward across the North American lithosphere at a rate of approximately 20 kilometres per million years, which is broadly consistent with independent geodynamic predictions. The NAA’s current size (roughly 350 km across) and depth align closely with what models predict for such migrating instabilities.

Based on the team’s research, the centre of the anomaly is estimated to pass beneath the New York region within the next 15 million years.

A mirror of the NAA

The study also proposes that a similar anomalous hot zone beneath north-central Greenland may share the same origin, making it effectively a mirror image twin of the NAA – having emerged from the opposite flank of the Labrador Sea as it drifted apart.

Beneath Greenland, this thermal anomaly contributes to elevated heat flow at the base of the kilometres-thick ice sheet, influencing how the ice moves and melts today.

In this way “ancient heat anomalies continue to play a key role in shaping the dynamics of continental ice sheets from below,” said Professor Gernon.

Dr Derek Keir, study co-author and tectonics expert at the University of Southampton and the University of Florence, said: “The idea that rifting of continents can cause drips and cells of circulating hot rock at depth that spread thousands of kilometres inland makes us rethink what we know about the edges of continents both today and in Earth’s deep past.”

The team’s findings build on research indicating that deep Earth processes can continue to unfold for many tens of millions of years after surface plate boundaries have ceased to be active.

These long-lived instabilities can shape everything from regional uplift to patterns of volcanism and erosion, even across parts of the continental interiors previously thought to be geologically stable.

Professor Gernon added: “Even though the surface shows little sign of ongoing tectonics, deep below, the consequences of ancient rifting are still playing out. The legacy of continental breakup on other parts of the Earth system may well be far more pervasive and long-lived than we previously realised.”

ENDS

Map showing the origin of the Northern Appalachian Anomaly when Greenland and North America split, and its journey more than 80 million years to its location beneath New England, plus the mirror image twin of the NAA beneath Greenland.

Credit

University of Southampton

Journal

Geology

DOI

10.1130/G53588.1 

Article Title

A viable Labrador Sea rifting origin of the Northern Appalachian and related seismic anomalies

Article Publication Date

30-Jul-2025

UnitedHealth falls short of second quarter expectations and offers weak outlook for 2025

FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE US EXCEPTIONALISM

By The Associated Press
July 29, 2025 

The logo for UnitedHealth Group appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)

UnitedHealth delivered disappointing second-quarter earnings and went conservative with its 2025 forecast as soaring medical costs continue to swamp insurers.

The health care giant said Tuesday expenses that have jumped beyond what it expected when it set coverage prices will continue to pressure its performance. But the company expects a return to earnings growth in 2026.

UnitedHealth now expects adjusted earnings of at least $16 per share in 2025 after withdrawing its previous forecast in May. It had started 2025 with expectations of making up to $30 per share.

For the full year, analysts forecast earnings of $20.64 per share, according to the data firm FactSet.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. runs one of the nation’s largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. The Eden Prairie, Minnesota, company also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support.


In May, the company withdrew its 2025 forecast due to higher-than-expected medical costs, and CEO Andrew Witty departed the company abruptly. He was replaced by Chairman Stephen Hemsley, who was the UnitedHealth CEO for more than a decade until 2017.

That came after the company took the rare step in April of cutting its forecast. That pushed UnitedHealth shares down $130 in its worst single-day performance in over 25 years.

Hemsley promised in June that UnitedHealth would establish a “prudent” 2025 earnings outlook when it detailed second-quarter results. He also said the company had underestimated care activity and cost trends, but improvements were being made.

In the second quarter, UnitedHealth reported adjusted earnings of $4.08 per share on $111.6 billion in total revenue. Analysts expected earnings of $4.48 per share on $111.5 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

The company's profit fell 19% to $3.41 billion even as revenue rose 13%. Medical costs, the company's biggest operating expense, jumped 20% to $78.6 billion in the quarter.

UnitedHealth is normally the first insurer to report earnings every quarter. But this summer, it followed competitors like Elevance Health Inc. and Centene Corp. that have lowered their annual forecasts and delivered disappointing results.

Several insurers say they have been hit by medical costs that are growing faster than expected. Companies have seen a rise in expensive emergency rooms visits and growing prescription drug costs, especially from expensive cancer treatments and gene therapy.

They’ve also seen a rise in behavioral health care, which includes the treatment of mental health conditions and substance use disorders.

UnitedHealth shares slid about more than 3% to $272.30 before the opening bell Tuesday.

That price topped $630 last November to reach a new all-time high. But the stock has mostly shed value since December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the company’s annual investor meeting.

Shares are down 44% so far this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which UnitedHealth is a member, has climbed 5%.


Tom Murphy, The Associated Press

 

Report: To Avoid Tariffs, Korea May Invest $200B in US Shipbuilding

iStock / Klaas Slot

Published Jul 28, 2025 9:32 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

After Japan and the European Union both convinced the Trump administration to lower their base tariff rates to just 15 percent, South Korea is anxious to do the same - and like its economic competitors, it is thinking about putting cash on the table to get what it needs. Seoul is pinning its hopes on the strength of Korean shipbuilding, and is proposing a multibillion-dollar Korean investment in U.S. shipyards in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on Korean cars and other goods, according to multiple local media reports. 

The diplomatic effort is motivated in no small part by Korea's automotive sector. Its growth depends upon exporting crossover SUVs and sedans to North America, and it has built a strong market presence in the United States because Korean-made cars are cost-competitive - but with new U.S. tariffs, that edge could change.

After newly-announced trade deals with the White House, European and Japanese carmakers can look forward to doing business in the United States under a 15 percent tariff regime. If Seoul doesn't reach a similar deal with the Trump administration soon, South Korean automakers will be burdened by a 25 percent tariff while their competitors are paying 10 percentage points less. In this context, Korean lawmakers are anxious to secure a deal, and are said to be considering the EU and Japanese approach for a business deal with Washington: offer investment funding. 

To secure its trade deal, Japan pledged to put a total of $550 billion in foreign investment into strategic U.S. industries, including shipbuilding; the EU promised to buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy commodities before the end of President Donald Trump's current term. For its own deal, Seoul is said to be contemplating an investment focused squarely on shipbuilding, valued in the range of $200-400 billion (local reports vary). This would be a generational change in American shipyards, and not only because of the high dollar value of the pledge. Seoul has pressed the case that South Korea is the best possible business partner in shipbuilding because Korean yards can transfer cutting-edge technology.  

Of course, analysts were quick to note that success requires more. "Even if they invest, securing productivity will be difficult in the United States given the shortage of skilled labor," Yang Jong-seo, a researcher at the Overseas Economic Research Institute, told Korea JoongAng Daily. "This is something the government needs to resolve during negotiations." 

Any bold headline numbers during dealmaking might be subject to future revision, based on the "nonbinding" values put forth in the Japanese and European agreements. Japan has emphasized that its $550 billion pledge is a verbal commitment, and the EU Commission acknowledges that its own $600 billion investment promise is based solely on private-sector European business decisions. The EU's $250 billion annual energy purchase commitment is worth further scrutiny: it exceeds the value of all U.S. oil and LNG exports by more than $100 billion a year, according to commodities research house Gakeval. "It’s a nice number but it’s just not realistic," Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Bank, told the Wall Street Journal. "You’d essentially have to divert all energy trade. That’s just not possible."

Stellantis faces US$1.7B hit from U.S. tariffs this year

By The Associated Press
 July 29, 2025 

A Stellantis logo is shown at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Sept. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

MILAN — Stellantis has forecast that U.S. tariffs would cost it 1.5 billion euros (US$1.7 billion) this year, five times the hit taken in the first six months of the year when the carmaker tallied losses of 2.3 billion euros ($2.65 billion).

The maker of Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat and Peugeot cars said Tuesday that net profits plummeted from 5.6 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in the same period last year as it burned 3.3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in cash for the cancellation of a hydrogen fuel cell project, changes in the fine regime for U.S. carbon emission regulations, and write-downs on platform investments.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs cost the company 300 million euros ($346 million) in the first six months of the year, Stellantis said. During the period, U.S. shipments were down by nearly a quarter as the carmaker reduced the importation vehicles produced abroad.

Stellantis said it expected net revenues to increase over the next six months compared with the first half, when they dropped 13% to 74.3 billion euros ($85.7 billion). The carmaker also said cash flow would improve.

Incoming CEO Antonio Filosa, who was confirmed in the role last month, said the new executive team “will continue to make the tough decisions needed to re-establish profitable growth and significantly improve results.’’


“My first weeks as CEO have reconfirmed my strong conviction that we will fix what’s wrong with Stellantis,’’ Filosa said in a statement.