Undersea Alaska-Russia tunnel pitched by Elon – Business News
President Donald Trump stated Friday he would contemplate a far-fetched proposal for Elon Musk’s Boring Company to construct an undersea rail tunnel connecting Alaska and Russia — an concept pitched by an envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I just heard about it — a tunnel from Russia to Alaska. I just heard about that one. That’s an interesting one. We’ll have to think about that,” Trump informed reporters as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the White House.
Apparently out of the blue, a Russian investment envoy named Kirill Dmitriev urged on X on Thursday that Elon Musk’s tunneling company construct a hyperlink between the rival international locations, with partial funding from Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
A particular envoy to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week proposed Elon Musk’s tunneling company construct an undersea rail tunnel connecting Russia and Alaska. X/kadmitriev
The envoy wove in some flattery, saying the “70-mile link symbolizing unity” may very well be named the “Putin-Trump Tunnel.”
“Let’s build a future together!” Dmitriev wrote, tagging Musk’s personal account and his Boring Company.
Zelensky, whose nation has been preventing a Russian invasion for over three years, was not amused.
When Trump requested the Ukrainian president what he thought of the thought, he replied, “I’m not happy with this.”
Trump laughed and stated, “I don’t think you’re going to like it! I don’t think he likes it!”
Elon Musk owns The Boring Company, a tunnel construction firm. Getty Images
Musk’s lawyer and The Boring Company didn’t instantly reply to The Post’s requests for remark.
“Traditional costs” would place the associated fee of building the tunnel at over $65 billion, Dmitriev conjectured, however The Boring Company’s “tech could reduce it to” much less than $8 billion.
The tunnel speak adopted a Thursday call between Trump and Putin in regards to the battle in Ukraine.
Trump informed reporters “we’ll have to think about” the proposed tunnel connecting Russia to Alaska. REUTERS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and different White House officers will meet with Russian counterparts subsequent week earlier than Trump and Putin meet in Budapest, Hungary, at a later date, the US president stated.
An undersea tunnel close to the Bering Strait can be a large enterprise, requiring employees to operate in below-freezing temperatures in a area with frequent, intense earthquakes.
Musk’s company has usually accomplished tasks in sizzling, dry climates, like a tunnel in Las Vegas.
The Boring Company was just lately fined by environmental regulators in Nevada for an “extraordinary number of violations” because it labored on the tunnel, in keeping with ProPublica.
President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in August. AFP by way of Getty Images
The Boring Company can be engaged on a 10-mile, high-speed transit system in Nashville, Tenn. The project – generally known as the Music City Loop – would join the downtown space to town’s airport.
Some locals have protested the project, arguing that it’ll benefit builders more than anybody else and lacks transparency.
Several of Musk’s firms have already got ties to Russia. Tesla’s provide chain has hyperlinks to Russia, and SpaceX has launched Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station, alongside NASA astronauts.
Musk has reportedly spoken with Putin a number of occasions prior to now, together with secret talks in 2022, in keeping with the Wall Street Journal. Putin allegedly pressured Musk to withhold Starlink, his satellite tv for pc web service, from Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping, in accordance the Journal reported.
