As the new president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump insists on taking over Greenland. A source close to the president revealed that the plan is expansionism in response to conflicts with China.
A source close to the Trump transition told the New York Post that the Arctic expansion measure is a "strong and deliberate message to Beijing".
The point is that over the last few years, China and various parts of Asia have been a source of rare earth minerals for the United States, which are used to manufacture electronic products and certain weapons.
“Washington has traditionally been too dependent on China for rare earth minerals, which are most commonly found in the Arctic, as well as Asia — and are used in everything from cell phones to weapons of mass destruction,” The Post reports.
In addition to China, Greenland (rich in rare earth deposits, gold, graphite, lithium, iron, rubies, cobalt, graphite, oil, gas, and uranium) stands out as an important source of resources. So, could it be that Trump wants to intensify his policy against the Chinese government and that's why he wants to be prepared with the large island?
China's dependence is "unsustainable," which is why Trump is targeting Greenland.
Alex Plitsas, a non-resident member of the Atlantic Council, told the aforementioned outlet that this dependence on Beijing is "unsustainable given geopolitical realities". There are other important deposits in Afghanistan, but "it is also unfeasible for several reasons," he pointed out.
Based on this, Plitsas indicated that there are two strong reasons why Donald Trump would want the United States to take control of Greenland. "The first reason is the large deposits of rare earth elements necessary for critical defense and electronic product manufacturing. Second, Greenland has a legitimately large claim to the Arctic and that would provide the United States with a stronger position as competition heats up there for navigation and resources," he explained.
The expert emphasized that without these resources from China, the United States would be vulnerable in terms of defense manufacturing as tensions with the Asian nation continue to escalate.
The Wilson Center, a group of experts focused on foreign policy in Washington, stated in a press release in 2023 that "with the increasing demand for electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and advanced electronics, the United States relies heavily on critical materials to drive innovation and maintain its global economic competitiveness."
Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, stated that rare earth minerals "are involved in most forms of national defense, technologies, missiles, tanks, satellites, warships, fighter jets, and as a result, securing them becomes a national security imperative."
In the United States, they continue to build plants to process rare earth minerals, but without raw materials due to the clashes with China, these would be useless. "Now we need to obtain those rare earth minerals from somewhere to process at home ... Which makes Greenland somewhat attractive, because it could be a source of rare earth minerals," says Baskaran.
Greenland authorities maintain that their territory is not for sale. Tensions have escalated with Trump’s recent statements that he does not rule out military force to take over the island.