Speaker 1: President Trump has re-expressed his desire to take Greenland, this time refusing to rule out the possibility of using military or economic coercion to achieve his goals. It's an idea he's been pushing since 2019, when he first suggested purchasing the island from Denmark.

Speaker 2: Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. I've been told that for a long time. It's in the North Atlantic and is considered to be part of the North American Arctic rather than the European Arctic. So if you're Trump, you might reasonably look at a map and say, why isn't this a territory under either direct American control, in other words, a 51st state, or in some kind of closer relationship?

Speaker 1: However, the United States isn't the only country with an eye on the region. In 2018, a Chinese state-owned company bid roughly $550 million to expand two airports in Greenland. But efforts from the Pentagon forced it to back out. Meanwhile, Russia has been reopening old Soviet military bases across the Arctic since 2015, including Nagorskoye, located just 600 miles off the northern coast of Greenland. So how did this island with a population of just 56,000 and an ice sheet covering about 80 percent of the territory gain such geopolitical significance? And why is President Trump so eager to acquire it? Greenland's location is a major factor behind its rising prominence in global geopolitics. To start, the sea around Greenland is part of what's known as the GI-UK gap, a strategic transit route located between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom. Securing this chokepoint has been essential in America and NATO's efforts to contain Russia's naval forces and stop a potential threat.

Speaker 3: That was a connection or a waterway that would allow the Soviets coming out of their Murmansk bases and naval bases to project naval power into the Atlantic to cut the United States off from its allies in Western Europe during the Cold War. This is still an arena of very active undersea activities. The Russians have been modernizing and continue to put at the forefront of all of their defense dollars, at least in their Navy, in their nuclear submarine and undersea capabilities. Now, the potential of adding in the Chinese Navy is not something to be forgotten.

Speaker 1: As China and Russia expand their influence in the Arctic, Greenland's location has also become vital to America's ballistic missile warning system.

Speaker 3: When we were in a locked in a Cold War with the Soviet Union, the bases in Greenland, which were radar as well as air bases, Thule being the most notable, allowed us to have early warning of a Soviet missile launch or bomber attack against the United States.

Speaker 1: Today, thanks to a 1951 defense treaty with Denmark, the U.S. still operates one military base in northern Greenland, renamed Bidufik Space Base from Thule Air Base.

Speaker 3: Now, in the recent past, with China's rise and it tripling the size of its ICBM ballistic missile arsenal, once again, Greenland plays a national defense role because of its geography. And that base is extremely important to the defense of the United States and, quite frankly, of North America, to include Canada.

Speaker 1: Greenland's location also poses a unique economic opportunity thanks to its proximity to Arctic shipping routes. Shipping over Arctic routes saw a 37 percent increase between 2013 and 2023.

Speaker 3: As the Arctic ice flow has changed in the recent past and is projected to continue changing, opening up Arctic shipping routes, you have several lucrative potentials there. For Greenland's role in geography, it's the Northwest Passage that would connect the Pacific all the way over into the North Atlantic. Of course, there's an alternative, which the Chinese and the Russians have been using, the Northern Sea Route. That's basically the same places on either ends, but just goes along Russia's coastline.

Speaker 1: In 2018, China also announced its intention to construct a polar silk road linking China and Europe through the Arctic Ocean.

Speaker 2: All in all, Greenland is almost, if you like, a kind of ground zero for how the Arctic has become more and more geopolitically and strategically significant.

Speaker 1: Greenland is also home to a massive deposit of valuable natural resources, particularly in the central and southern parts of the island.

Speaker 2: There is considerable potential in things like uranium, iron ore, cobalt, zinc, lithium, even precious stones like rubies, for example. And the key area of interest is these critical minerals that are sometimes called rare earths that are used particularly in things like electric cars, wind turbines, the very thing that makes the electrification, if you like, of the economy possible.

Speaker 1: Of the 34 minerals considered critical raw materials by the European Commission, 25 are found in Greenland. The country is estimated to have 1.5 million tons of rare earth reserves, compared to 1.8 million tons in the United States.

Speaker 2: The other thing that organizations like NATO have drawn attention to, that if you look, for example, in the composition of modern weapon systems, it is absolutely staggering how many minerals are integral to things like tanks, missiles, ships and the like. And most of those minerals would be considered to be either at high risk or extreme risk in terms of security of supply. And in terms of rare earths, China is absolutely a dominant player.

Speaker 1: China is the largest reserve of rare earth elements, accounting for about 60 percent of the world's production. In recent years, China has banned certain rare earth exports and technology to foreign countries.

Speaker 3: The Chinese have invested significant amount of money to control the uranium assets that are that are there in Greenland. But having that control, even if they can't pull the minerals out, their ability to control the activities at these mines allows them to have a control over our market space.

Speaker 1: Mining companies around the world have operations in Greenland, including the New York-based Critical Metals Corp., a publicly traded company, and Cobalt Metals, a privately owned exploration firm backed by big names like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

Speaker 2: In essence, when Donald Trump talks about Greenland, one of the things he is interested in is how can the United States and other friendly nations ensure that Greenland's mineral potential, if exploited further, is exploited for our benefit. Or he is also preoccupied with stopping China develop a foothold in Greenland and then dominating Greenlandic resources and then creating a further stranglehold on rare earth supplies globally.

Speaker 4: I think it's important for us to say that Greenland is not for sale, never has been for sale and it will be for sale.

Speaker 2: I think a very unlikely possibility is Greenland becoming a 51st state of the United States or Greenland joining Alaska and becoming an even larger 50th state. I think that's not likely to come to pass.

Speaker 1: In January 2025, Greenland's prime minister said he wanted to strengthen defense and mining ties with the U.S., but made it clear it would be on Greenland's terms.

Speaker 2: There appears to be a growing demand in Greenland for becoming an independent nation state and no longer part of the Danish kingdom.

Speaker 3: And if the Greenlanders vote for independence, the very next question is, what will their relationship be with the world, specifically the United States?

Speaker 1: Greenland's economy heavily depends on the roughly $511 million worth of annual block grant from Denmark, which accounts for about 20 percent of Greenland's GDP and more than half of the country's public budget.

Speaker 2: So whatever happens, an independent Greenland will have to think hard about where that kind of money comes from in one form or another. So the options might include one is an independent Greenland seeks a free association with the United States.

Speaker 3: The Compact of Free Association, which the United States has had since 1986, these compacts allow a local autonomy, but with defense and national security obligations, but also assurances by both to to the United States at the same time.

Speaker 1: The European Union could also intervene.

Speaker 2: The European Union might say to Greenland, can we possibly get you to rejoin the European Union, possibly remaining as a member of the Kingdom of Denmark? But then we will throw additional resource towards you in order to ensure a kind of maximum autonomy, but still remain within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Speaker 1: Ultimately, experts question whether acquiring Greenland is truly in the best interest of the United States.

Speaker 2: In part, the history of the United States is is a history of territorial acquisition and purchasing. And I can well imagine if Trump is seeking to seal his place within U.S. history, then the Greenland purchase, if I can put it like that, would be considered a coup of some proportion.

Speaker 3: Is it really an imperative that the United States possess Greenland? I would say that's not as clear nor necessary from my calculation. For one, the driving concern here is a national security one. And as long as the base in Thule is allowed to operate and not be encroached by hostile presence, the Chinese economic presence is one that does cause concern from an intelligence and even a military operational perspective. As long as those those minimum standards are not crossed, I think the United States' number one concern is addressed.