Why does Trump want to keep China away from Greenland?

By Paul Weisko

President-elect Donald Trump's proposal to annex Greenland may seem unconventional and damaging to the Greenlandic people, but it aligns with U.S. national security priorities in the face of growing competition with China.

Although China is geographically distant from Greenland, it has declared itself an “Arctic power” and has significantly increased its involvement in Arctic affairs.

This engagement includes scientific expeditions, investments in strategic Arctic locations and joint military exercises with Russia, with the aim of boosting China's global influence and competing with the United States in this increasingly contested region.

Trump's proposed annexation of Greenland reflects a strategic attempt to remove a critical part of the Arctic from US security concerns.

China's interest in Greenland is evident in its investments in several mines and its interest in Greenland's vast mineral resources, including rare earth elements.

These elements are vital to the modern electronics industry and global supply chains, a sector heavily dominated by China.

Rare earths have become a strategic focus for U.S. policymakers, given Beijing's history of leveraging its near-monopoly on their export to exert leverage in geopolitical disputes.

Greenland's untapped rare earth reserves could potentially reduce Western dependence on China and mitigate the risk of a Chinese embargo, turning the island into a significant strategic asset.

Greenland's mineral wealth extends beyond rare earth elements to include uranium and other critical resources.

However, a moratorium on uranium mining and fossil fuel extraction imposed by the Greenland government, heavily influenced by an environmentally-focused indigenous party, has kept these resources underground.

While the United States and Denmark successfully pressured Greenland to reject Chinese extraction proposals, the moratorium also prevented the West from accessing these resources.

Securing Greenland could ensure that the United States and its allies gain access to these critical materials while also protecting them from Chinese influence.

Geopolitically, Greenland sits at a crucial choke point for naval and submarine traffic in the North Atlantic.

Control of Greenland would bolster U.S. defense capabilities in the Arctic, particularly to monitor and counter potential Chinese or Russian military activity in the region.

China’s growing ambitions in the Arctic, combined with its military partnership with Russia, amplify Greenland’s strategic importance to the United States.

So while a takeover of a country dependent on the Danish welfare state would be disastrous for the Greenlandic people, Trump is not wrong when he says that annexing Greenland could help US national security.

Source: INSS – The Institute for National Security Studies