Key Takeaways
- Greenland holds 25 of the 34 minerals the EU deems critical—and China’s October 2025 export controls on rare earths have made finding alternative sources more urgent than ever.
- President Trump says he’ll acquire Greenland “the easy way” or “the hard way,” with the White House confirming military force remains an option—but 85% of Greenlanders reject becoming American.
President Trump says he’ll take Greenland “whether they like it or not,” and the White House has confirmed military force is on the table.
The reason? Beneath the island’s melting ice sits a fortune in rare earth minerals that power everything from electric vehicles to fighter jets. China controls about 70% of global production and 90% of processing, and its October 2025 export restrictions have Western governments scrambling for alternatives.
The Geopolitics of Greenland
The push to unlock Greenland’s rare earth deposits is playing out against a complex backdrop of international relations. Denmark provides about $570 million annually to Greenland—more than $10,000 for each of the island’s 57,000 residents—making the world’s largest island heavily dependent on Danish support. However, this hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from eyeing its strategic value.
But Greenland’s value extends far beyond its mineral wealth. The island’s location along the shortest route between Europe and North America makes it crucial for U.S. military interests, particularly for ballistic missile warning systems.
The U.S. already maintains a permanent presence at Pituffik air base in northwest Greenland under a 1951 agreement with Denmark. The treaty gives the U.S. access to much of the continent and the ability to expand its military footprint to monitor Russian naval activities in the waters between Greenland, Iceland, and Britain—without the need to fully occupy the landmass.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has made the island’s position clear: “We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders.” But that hasn’t cooled Trump’s interest, with Greenland possessing 25 of the 34 minerals the European Commission deems “critical raw materials.”
Critical Minerals Powering Tomorrow’s Technology
While China controls nearly 70% of global production of rare earths and about 90% of processing capacity, Greenland’s deposits represent a potential alternative source for these vital materials. The market for these minerals reached about $328 billion in 2024, with demand for some elements tripling since 2017.
These minerals serve diverse applications across industries:
- Neodymium and dysprosium are crucial for creating powerful permanent magnets used in electric vehicle motors and wind turbine generators.
- Terbium improves the temperature resistance of these magnets, making them more durable.
- Praseodymium strengthens the magnetic properties essential for high-performance motors.
Important
China controls almost 70% of rare earth production and 90% of processing. In October 2025, Beijing expanded export controls to require foreign companies to obtain licenses for products containing even trace amounts of Chinese-sourced rare earths, a move that sent shock waves through global supply chains.
However, developing Greenland’s resources presents challenges beyond Greenland and the EU’s opposition to any American takeover. The concentration of rare minerals in the region’s ore is relatively low—between 1% and 6%—making extraction more costly and technically challenging. The harsh Arctic climate adds further difficulties, with ice floes blocking transportation during winter months and requiring complicated ways to store what’s mined.
Even putting these concerns aside, experts put large-scale mining operations for these metals about 10 to 15 years away.