Why China Wants Greenland

The real reason President Trump wants Greenland (as does China) is access to critical minerals and rare earths. Meanwhile, the people of Greenland want to control their own destiny. See how these three interact as the global race for REEs heats up in the Arctic.

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★ NOTE ON SOURCING IN CAPTIONS:

At the end of a sentence with sourcing, something like this will appear:

"The sky is blue. The ocean is blue (17,89)."

The 1st number represents the source number in this description. The 2nd number represents the page number. If the numbers are separated by a semicolon ie (2;3), the numbers represent two different sources.

1. “Greenland gives EU-backed critical metals” Reuters. June 2025

2. Reuters. “Rare earth access is…” June 2025. Blenkinsop, Chen

3. Reuters. “EU picks 13 new” June 2025. Payne.

4. “America in the Arctic” 2025. ThompsonJones

5. Presence Before Power. Clingendael. Dams et al. June 2020.

6.

7. “The Handbook on Geopolitics…” Weber 2024

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9. “Who Owns the Arctic?” Byers 2009

10. IISS. Critical Raw Materials and European Defence. Hackett et al. March 2025

11. “International Law and the Arctic” Byers 2013

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15. The Economist. “China and Russia have chilling plans” June 2024

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18. Carnegie. “Russia and China in the Arctic” Trenin March 2020.

19. Foreign Affairs. Conley. “The Arctic Great Game” June 2025

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21. Foreign Affairs. “Greenland’s Rare Earths..” October 2013.

22. “China-Russia Relations…” RAND. Nov 2024. Tinsgard et al.

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25. “Canada May Be” CSIS June 25 Hernandez-Roy, Ziemer.

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31. May 2024. Brown Political Review. “On Thin Ice?” Madden.

32. Aalborg Uni. “Why Does China Seek Arctic Minerals?” Anderrson. 2021.

33. March 2020. “China's win-win strategy…” Arctic Institute. Murkins.

34. Oct 2024. Congress Research Service. “Changes in the Arctic”

35. Reuters. “US lobbied Greenland” Jan ‘25 Burton

36. China’s Arctic Policy. The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China January 2018 First Edition

37. FT. “China Arms Itself..” June 2025 White and Leahy.

38. CNBC “Mineral-rich Greenland” June 2025. Meredith

39. Context News. “Trump's Greenland grab”. Gill. Jan 2025.

40. Britannica. “The Largest Islands…” Vaughn Updated: June 2025

41. “Global Rare Earths” Ore Geology Reviews Volume 157, June 2023, 105428

42. “The rare earth element potential” Gov of Greenland. 2018

43. PM of Greenland Office. “Greenland” (Act on Greenland Self-Government)

44. CIA World Factbook. Greenland. Accessed June 2025

45. LOC. “Greenland: Ban on Uranium”. Jan 2022. Hofverberg, Elin

46. “The Arctic Spring” Foreign Affairs. September 2019

47. Cobalt Red. Kara. 2023

48. HNN. “The USA Awards New Contract”. Bye.

49. Reuters. Jan ‘25. “Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose”

50. Fritz July 2023. “Revisiting the China-Japan…” CEPR

51. “China scraps quotas” Jan 2015. Guardian via AP.

52. CSIS. “China Imposes Its Most” Dec 2024. Baskaran and Schwartz

Mapping software licensed through MapTiler,and GEOlayers. Thanks to OpenStreetMap and Natural Earth.

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