Why Trump zeroed in on Greenland and why it matters, explained in 3 charts

Greenland rarely attracts global attention. But as the ice melted and the great powers approached, the world’s largest island became a strategic prize and caught the President’s attention. Donald Trump’s eye long before most Americans paid attention.

Semi-autonomous region of Denmark Greenland It hosts a major US military base and is increasingly important to global security and trade as melting ice opens up new shipping routes and access to natural resources.

This shift underscores the serious geopolitical calculations behind Trump’s interest in the island’s location, military value and rapidly changing Arctic.

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Greenland is divided into five municipalities, and most of its approximately 56,000 residents live in small coastal towns, leaving the island’s large interior largely uninhabited. In other words, there is approximately one person for every 1000 football fields of land in Greenland.

Greenland’s sparse population is largely a product of its geography. Approximately 80% of the island is covered by an ice sheet that formed approximately 3 million years ago, making large areas of the region uninhabitable.

Despite its small population, Greenland has a land mass comparable to global powers. By land area, it is among the largest regions in the world; This scale has attracted the attention of countries such as the United States, Russia and China as competition in the Arctic intensifies. It is almost the size of Alaska and Texas combined.

Greenland’s location off Canada’s northeastern coast places it at the center of Arctic defense planning. The United States has maintained a military outpost in northwestern Greenland since 1953 at the Pituffik Cosmodrome, currently operated by the US Space Force.

Russia also maintains numerous military facilities in the region, while China has sought greater access since declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018.

But geography isn’t the only reason Greenland attracts global attention. The retreat of Arctic ice opens shipping lanes around the island that could significantly shorten trade routes between North America, Europe and Asia, adding an economic layer to its strategic importance.

The changing landscape has also highlighted Greenland’s deposits of rare earth elements and other critical minerals essential for modern technology, renewable energy and military systems.

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Rare earth elements (a group of 17 minerals) are central to modern economies and militaries. They enable electronics to be smaller, more powerful and more efficient, and are particularly important in high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, generators and precision guidance systems.

Their importance is even more evident in defense, where rare earths are used in missile guidance, radar, sonar, satellites and advanced aircraft. Access to rare earths directly impacts military readiness and technological advantage, as many of these applications have no easy alternatives.

The world’s largest rare earth deposits are located in China, Vietnam, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Greenland and the USA. But China dominates the supply chain, accounting for nearly 60% of global mining and more than 90% of processing capacity.

The United States lacks a reliable, end-to-end supply chain for rare earth elements, making it dependent on foreign sources.

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As the United States and the European Union seek to reduce their dependence on China, Greenland has emerged as a potential counterweight to Beijing’s dominance and a focal point in competition over critical minerals.

It remains unclear whether the Trump administration can make a deal to take over Greenland. However, as the ice melts and competition in the Arctic intensifies, the strategic importance of the island will increase.