The media and political creation figures mocked President Donald Trump’s proposal to buy Greenland in 2019. The Swedish prime minister, while quoted by The New York Times as calling the notion “absurd.”
However, there are many American officials who saw corporate opportunities before the social class grew. Trump’s logical conclusion was correct: America today needs Greenland more than ever as a crucial strategic advantage.
The Story of U. S. Interest in Greenland
Trump was far from the earliest American president to identify Greenland’s strategic value. As early as 1868, Secretary of State William Seward made the suggestion to acquire Greenland and Iceland. The United States immediately established military installations on Greenland during World War II to stop the Axis from using it, though Germany did manage to land and run four weather stations there. In 1946, President Harry Truman publicly offered Denmark$ 100 million for Greenland, recognizing its worth as a Cold War property.
Now, Greenland’s strategic value has only increased. Greenland is at the center of the emerging sea corridors between North America, Europe, and Asia since Arctic industry routes become more practical as a result of changing climate patterns.
The Real Prize in Greenland: Rare Earths
Beyond its strategic location in the Arctic, where the United States ‘ Pituffik Space Base ( previously the Air Force’s Thule Air Base ) is located, Greenland has some of the largest untapped rare earth element deposits ( REEs ) that are untapped. These nutrients are essential for modern security systems, electronics, electric vehicles, and unnatural intelligence-driven technology. The issue? China currently controls the Rh industry, refining more than 85 percent of global supply and using its near-monopoly as a political tool.
China has systematically tightened its stranglehold on international essential nutrients through state-backed funding, subsidies, and extreme acquisitions. In 2010 as a result of a diplomatic row, Beijing used this utilize to rescind a 2010 decision to restrict rare world exports to Japan. In 2023, it also restricted exports of chromium and germanium, which are essential for the manufacture of computer chips, and prohibited them from doing so in the United States in later 2024. If the U. S. remains reliant on China for these elements, we are putting our economy, power industry, and national surveillance at Beijing’s kindness.
Greenland offers an alternative. The region’s Kvanefjeld payment only holds an estimated 111 million metric tons of REE-bearing iron, including neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium — necessary for military uses, wind turbines, and electric cars. More is found in the greater Ilmaussaq Complex. If the U. S. were to gain immediate access to Greenland’s tools, we may reduce China’s economic coercion and create a stable, domestic supply network.
Unfortunately, the American business that owns the Kvanefjeld payment agreement is owned by Chinese interests. Washington may be woken up by the fact that China has now taken numerous steps to control the country’s mining industry.
Texas: The Ideal REE Processing Hub
Greenland’s tools are just half the equation. The U. S. needs to develop and produce rare earth materials internally, somewhat than sending them to China for running. Texas is the natural hub for this industry, offering deep-water ports, an energy infrastructure unrivaled in the nation, and an industrial workforce skilled in refining and high-tech manufacturing.
At its Mountain Pass, California facility, MP Materials has begun producing separated rare earth oxides, which is already a significant REE processing facility in Texas. However, to expand and compete with China’s industrial capacity, much more money is required. A Greenland-to-Texas rare earth supply chain would create thousands of high-paying jobs while fortifying America’s economic and military independence.
Policy Recommendations: How the U. S. Can Act
To counter China’s dominance and secure a Greenland-to-Texas REE supply chain, Congress and the administration should take decisive action: To start with, the U. S. should fast-track Greenlandic REE development by providing financial and diplomatic incentives for American firms to invest in Greenland’s mining sector. Beyond that, we should look into a route that would lead to a transition from local autonomy under Danish rule to independence via a plebiscite to a partnership with the United States similar to that enjoyed by the freely associated states in the Pacific like the Republic of the Marshall Islands or the Republic of Palau.
To compete with China’s rapid industrial expansion, the United States must speed up approvals for domestic REE refining and processing in terms of environmental and permitting laws. Finally, the United States needs to increase its national stockpiles of crucial minerals, and the Department of Defense and Energy should give stockpiling REEs a top priority as a matter of national security.
The Right Time to Act Is Here.
America relies heavily on China for rare earth elements, which threatens to undermine both our economy and national security. Greenland offers a historic opportunity to break free of this dependence and establish a dependable, Western-controlled REE supply chain. President Trump saw the potential in 2019 and reaffirmed it in his first few days back in the White House. Will the rest of the Beltway establishment have the willpower and will it wait until it’s too late?
Greenland is more than just an Arctic landmass; it is also a strategic economic and military asset that America cannot afford to ignore. The moment has come to secure it.
