Although D. Trump’s plans to take control of Greenland from Denmark, control the Panama Canal and even join Canada with the United States may be shocking and at first glance appear to be the statements of a delusional self-important dictator, such rhetoric nevertheless allows for a fairly clear identification of the national interests of the United States in the face of global geopolitical competition. .
As the world rapidly transitions to advanced technologies, nations need specific, critical raw materials, which are abundant in Greenland and the Arctic region in general. However, in this tumultuous period of geopolitical tension, the Arctic is becoming an equally important aspect of military power and security.
Trump in the Arctic
Greenland’s position in terms of military security in the US is strategically important due to the Pituffik space base located on the island, which, in addition to space observations, also performs a particularly important function of monitoring Russian missile launches and early warning of attacks.
The potential expansion of the base would provide significant geopolitical advantages and strengthen US military power, opening up more opportunities to monitor potential Russian missile movements and warship maneuvers in the Arctic Ocean.
Due to the war in Ukraine caused by Russia, the sanctions applied to it and international isolation, the Kremlin’s cooperation with China has increased recently. Even in the fall of last year, the US chief ambassador for Arctic affairs, Michael Sfraga, noted that the “frequency and complexity” of the recent military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the region “sends worrisome signals.” As examples of alarming signals, the ambassador at that time named the joint flights of Russian and Chinese bombers off the coast of Alaska and the joint maneuvers of coast guard ships in the Bering Strait.
The importance of the Arctic for the United States is demonstrated by the fact that in December 2024, for the first time in half a century, the construction of a new heavy coast guard icebreaker was announced. Despite construction delays and a series of technical difficulties, more ships of this type are planned. Currently, the US Navy has only one heavy icebreaker, which is aging and therefore increasingly difficult to maintain; America is far behind China and Russia in this area.
What does climate change have to do with it?
With geopolitical tensions growing rapidly in the world, the attention of global rivals – the USA, China, Russia and the European Union – is turning to the Arctic also because, due to climate change, the polar ice is rapidly melting, which in turn creates opportunities for new shipping routes and easier extraction of energy resources and critical raw material. As predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Arctic Ocean will remain practically ice-free by the middle of the century.
According to the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Greenland’s glaciers lost 80 gigatons of water in 2023 – per second, the island’s glaciers lose about an Olympic-sized pool of water, and such rapid ice melting opens up new opportunities for the extraction of fossil fuels and critical raw materials, fishing, the development of military bases, etc.
15-minute montage/Donald Trump
With the rapid development of advanced technologies, Greenland is becoming the object of a global power struggle for the critical raw materials required for the production of these technologies, the deposits of which are becoming more accessible due to the rapidly melting ice in the Arctic. With the limited supply of critical raw materials in the world, and the exponential growth of demand for some of them, the countries that control access to them gain enormous advantages in the arena of geopolitical competition.
Reports recently surfaced that last year, before Trump’s plan to take control of the island became public, U.S. and Danish officials pressured the developer of Greenland’s largest deposit of rare earth elements not to sell it to companies linked to China, until the project was eventually sold to a U.S. corporation.
Greenland is rich in strategically important resources, such as lithium used in battery production or rare earth elements, which are essential for the production of computers, smartphones, electric cars and many other modern devices. In terms of reserves of rare earth elements, Greenland ranks among the top ten in the world – the island’s reserves of rare earth elements amount to about 1.5 million tons. tons, roughly equivalent to US stocks. Greenland could meet about 25 percent. global demand.
Power competition
It is not surprising that Greenland attracted the attention of D. Trump, who strives to lead the global power competition at any cost and to “make America great again”, even during the last term of his presidency. The 2023 strategic partnership memorandum on cooperation in the field of critical raw materials with Greenland has already been signed by the European Union.
NASA/Kathryn Hansen/In the last three years, the thickness of Arctic sea ice has decreased by 16 percent.
Meanwhile, the US’s biggest geopolitical rival, China, aims to create the so-called “Polar Silk Road” with its Arctic strategy, opening up new promising trade routes by melting glaciers. Such routes would help to shorten supply chains, reach foreign markets faster and gain significant competitive advantages.
By exploiting the Arctic, China also seeks to diversify its supply of energy resources and rare earth elements, and to develop various infrastructure projects, technological innovations, scientific research, etc. in the region.
China’s focus on the Arctic is worrisome, especially since it is already firmly in the lead in the global race for advanced technologies and critical raw materials for their production. For example, China produces as much as three-quarters of all lithium-ion batteries, and those produced elsewhere also require Chinese components, since the country is the world’s largest producer of these components. In addition, Beijing controls most of the elements needed to make batteries, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and manganese.
All major electric car manufacturers, including Tesla, Volkswagen and Hyundai, are dependent to some extent on Chinese companies for batteries and/or components. Despite large US and EU investments in this sector, it is predicted that by 2030, 70% all batteries will still be made in China.
Thus, access to Greenland’s resources would at least partially offset China’s dominant position and provide competitive advantages and security for US supply chains, especially since the US has been highlighting the threats posed by China for some time, highlighting Beijing’s technology sector subsidies and other unfair practices that distort global competition and creating unequal economic conditions.
Freeze/Donald Trump Jr. visits Greenland
Why is Trump’s plan not a good idea?
Trump’s efforts to gain control of Greenland at any cost – especially in the context of the war in Ukraine – create an extremely dangerous precedent that returns the world to the times of colonialism, creates anarchy, destabilizes the international system, raises unnecessary tensions and undermines the right of free self-determination of nations and other principles of international law.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, so in this case the right to decide on the control of the island belongs to Denmark, but since 2009, Greenland has gained the right to decide on its independence by referendum. Thus, regardless of the island’s strategic importance in the arena of geopolitical competition, it is primarily the local communities of Greenland themselves who should decide on their future.
D.Trump’s latest extractive capitalism strategy can be treated as a real example of revived colonialism, based on coercion and exploitation of resources and local communities, for undefined benefits and even without a clear plan.
I wonder if D. Trump will care that the extraction of resources in Greenland is highly complicated not only due to the natural conditions, but also due to environmental norms – from 2021, the extraction of oil and natural resources is prohibited here, and the mining sector faces serious opposition from local communities.
Prime Minister of Greenland Mute Egede / MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN / AFP
It is quite ironic that the great climate change skeptic D.Trump was one of the first to rush to use the opportunities provided by this global crisis to seek unilateral economic benefits, turning local residents into hostages of geopolitical competition and international power games.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called such economic opportunism, trade wars, industrial protectionism and aggressive geopolitical competition with all the resulting consequences a global “race to the bottom”.
On the other hand, D. Trump’s Greenland appropriation plan clearly demonstrates that the power relationship formed in the colonialist system based on exploitation, based primarily on the economic interests of states in a position of power, remains relevant in the 21st century.
This text was prepared by “Climate Reporters”. This is a new, independent, civil media initiative founded by non-governmental organizations in Lithuania, the goal of which is to eventually become a climate news agency.
“Climate reporters” is one of the activities of the ŽALINK project. The project is funded by the Climate Change Program, which is administered by the Environmental Project Management Agency of the Ministry of the Environment.
Source: www.15min.lt
