Trump says Greenland could help loosen China’s rare earth dominance, but experts say mining there may take years. If it happens at all.
President Donald Trump has once again raised the prospect of the United States taking control of Greenland , arguing that the Arctic island could help break China ’s dominance over rare earth elements critical to modern technologies.
But experts say Greenland’s harsh environment, limited infrastructure, and complex geology make mining those materials extraordinarily difficult, regardless of who controls the territory.Rare earth elements are essential for products ranging from electric vehicles and wind turbines to robots, advanced electronics, and military hardware. Trump has repeatedly framed Greenland as a potential solution to U.S. supply chain vulnerabilities, even suggesting military action if Denmark, which oversees the semi-autonomous territory, refuses to sell it. However, industry analysts and geologists caution that Greenland is far from a ready answer to America’s rare earth ambitions.Trump’s renewed focus on GreenlandTrump’s comments come amid heightened concern in Washington over China’s grip on the rare earth supply chain. After the U.S. imposed broad tariffs last spring, China sharply restricted who could buy these materials, prompting the Trump administration to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in alternative supply efforts and take stakes in several companies.According to the Associated Press, Trump has increasingly linked these concerns to Greenland, which holds significant but largely untapped deposits of critical raw materials. “We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not,” Trump said on Friday.The president has also framed Greenland as a geopolitical necessity, arguing that U.S. control is needed to prevent China and Russia from expanding their influence in the Arctic. “We don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland,” Trump said, adding that allowing either power to establish a foothold there “is not going to happen.”Trump’s interest in Greenland is not new. In 2019, he described acquiring the island as “essentially a real estate deal,” while in 1946, President Harry Truman unsuccessfully offered Denmark $100 million in gold for Greenland following World War II. Trump’s latest remarks come on the heels of U.S. involvement in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, fueling concern in Europe that rhetoric around Greenland could escalate further.Why mining rare earths in Greenland is so hardDespite Greenland’s estimated 1.5 million tons of rare earths locked in rock, no commercial mine has yet been built. A detailed Associated Press report by journalists Josh Funk and Suman Naishadham mentions that most projects have stalled at the exploratory stage, held back by geography, cost, and environmental risks.“The main challenge is, of course, the remoteness,” said Diogo Rosa, an economic geology researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. Even in southern Greenland, where population centers exist, there are few roads and no railways, meaning mining companies would need to build basic infrastructure from scratch. Power generation would also have to be created locally, while skilled workers would need to be flown in.Environmental concerns further complicate the picture. In the report, Patrick Schröder, a senior fellow at Chatham House, warned that rare-earth mining often involves the use of toxic chemicals to separate minerals from rock, posing serious risks to Greenland’s fragile Arctic ecosystem. Rare-earth deposits are also frequently found alongside radioactive uranium, heightening environmental and political sensitivities as Greenland seeks to grow its tourism industry.A risky bet compared with other supply optionsEven outside Greenland, rare earth mining is notoriously difficult to make profitable. Prices are highly volatile, and China has historically flooded the market with cheaper material to drive competitors out of business. Today, most rare earths are still processed in China, limiting the impact of new mining projects elsewhere.“The fixation on Greenland has always been more about geopolitical posturing than a realistic supply solution,” said Tracy Hughes, founder of the Critical Minerals Institute, adding that the economic and scientific challenges are often underestimated.Industry experts argue the U.S. would be better served by expanding production at existing projects in more accessible locations. The U.S. government has already invested in MP Materials, which operates the country’s only rare-earth mine, as well as in companies involved in lithium mining and in recycling rare-earth-containing products.While Greenland remains strategically important, analysts say its role in solving America’s rare earth problem is likely to remain limited for years, if it materializes at all.
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