Why Critical Minerals Are the Crown Jewel of Trump’s Bid for Greenland

Article Highlights:

• Since the president started talking about the annexation in early 2025, the Trump administration’s justifications for taking control of Greenland have varied. But they generally orbit around the goal of building up defense infrastructure in the region, as well as securing access to the vast deposits of rare earth minerals present in Greenland. 
• In a theoretical case where the U.S. assumes sovereignty over Greenland under a Trump administration, it’s possible that many of the nation’s regulatory requirements could be significantly loosened within a matter of days. This deregulation would eliminate the largest barrier stopping Greenland’s vast critical mineral sites from being mined. 
• Even if Greenland becomes part of the equation, though, there’s still a significant amount of work the U.S. needs to do if it wants to establish processing and refining of REE and critical minerals independent of China. 

Since his first term in office, President Donald Trump has expressed continued interest in the U.S. taking control of Greenland. This is despite international condemnation, a sweeping chorus of global leaders that voice full-throated disapproval of Trump’s geographical ambitions. Nevertheless, in December 2025 and January 2026 Trump took several escalatory actions that signified a marked transition from rhetoric to action. 

In December 2025, Trump appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a “Special Envoy to Greenland” to negotiate a potential transfer of sovereignty. Then, in January 2026, Trump used aggressive language to threaten Denmark while also announcing a 10% “Security Tariff” on several European nations for their presence in Greenland’s waters (while threatened, the security tariff was not ultimately implemented). Despite the disorienting flurry of actions, it remains clear that acquiring Greenland represents a legitimate policy priority for the Trump administration in 2026—one that the administration is willing to devote significant political capital to achieve.

Why Does Trump Want Greenland?

Since the president started talking about the annexation in early 2025, the Trump administration’s justifications for taking control of Greenland have varied. But they generally orbit around the goal of building up defense infrastructure in the region, as well as securing access to the vast deposits of rare earth minerals present in Greenland. The latter focus on rare earth and critical minerals fits into a larger policy objective of the Trump administration: secure critical minerals for the U.S. economy and national security interests. The administration has already devoted hundreds of billions of dollars across numerous projects to achieve this objective, and acquiring Greenland as a U.S. territory would likely boost their fortunes in seizing this goal. 

But even if the U.S. were to acquire the largest island on the planet, it’s worth evaluating what the US would actually gain from such an acquisition—and the realities just how challenging processing and refining these coveted minerals actually are.

What Is the State of Critical Mineral Extraction in Greenland Today?

Greenland is rich in critical minerals as they are defined by both the U.S. and EU governments. It’s also rich in rare earth element deposits (many of which are also critical minerals) that occur in globally significant concentrations within the region. Accessing these high concentrations of valuable resources would certainly turbocharge America’s ore production outside of China, providing a scale large enough to replace a substantial portion of Chinese mining efforts globally. Despite this high potential for mineral extraction in the region, however, there are many challenges to such an undertaking. 

Accessing these high concentrations of valuable resources would certainly turbocharge America’s ore production outside of China, providing a scale large enough to replace a substantial portion of Chinese mining efforts globally.

The Uranium Obstacle 

Alongside many of the mineral deposits in Greenland lie significant amounts of uranium, which Greenland banned the extraction of in 2021. In Greenland’s Parliament Act No. 20 of 1 December 2021, the region banned the extraction of any material that had a uranium content less than 100 ppm, which prohibits the extraction of any minerals from a multitude of sites across the country. This includes the Kvanefjeld site in South Greenland, which is often cited as having one of the largest undeveloped REE deposits in the world. The Kvanefjeld site is estimated to have about 226 ppm of uranium. Many other sites in Greenland with significant critical mineral and REE deposits are also believed to contain uranium at quantities above 100 ppm—a meaningful obstacle that could freeze any extraction efforts. While some sites in Greenland are actively producing material below this 100 ppm threshold, many of the largest undeveloped sites cannot be exploited due to this law.

Greenland’s Permitting Process

Greenland’s mineral extraction permitting process has pros and cons when compared to other countries, but its centralized nature means that all of Greenland’s exploitation permits are controlled centrally. Because of this regulatory structure, no province in Greenland can create their own Uranium or due diligence processes to incentivize mining in their region. This stands in stark contrast to many U.S. states, which set their own laws around mining, processing, and extraction.

Lastly, while there is ongoing mining in Greenland for various minerals, the region’s challenging cold, rugged terrain, and logistical challenges for moving equipment to the region present myriad challenges for companies looking to kick-start mining the nation’s mineral resources. Despite these clear obstacles, however, there’s no shortage of companies looking to enter Greenland’s unforgiving terrain to begin exploiting its vast resources.

Why Access to Minerals in Greenland Isn’t Enough

As discussed in the previous section, mining critical minerals in Greenland clearly has its challenges. But it also comes with myriad opportunities. In a theoretical case where the U.S. assumes sovereignty over Greenland under a Trump administration, it’s possible that many of the regulatory requirements could be significantly loosened within a matter of days. This deregulation would eliminate the largest barrier stopping Greenland’s vast critical mineral sites from being mined. Under that scenario, companies could start flooding in to exploit the vast natural resources in the region. The next challenge, however, would be what to do with all the mineral ores once they are mined out of the ground.

It’s well known that China dominates the processing of REEs, and that the processing of these minerals often leads to large amounts of pollution and/or toxic waste. While the U.S. does have a few REE processing facilities, the capacity would need to greatly expand to account for the material that could be extracted from Greenland. These facilities also take months or years to build, and much of the equipment required to process and refine critical minerals is highly specialized. Additionally, China is now a global leader in turning out the niche engineers and manufacturing the sophisticated equipment capable of processing and refining critical minerals. These factors pose additional obstacles to a Trump administration focused on rapidly establishing a new processing facility without assistance from China.

Because it’s one thing to extract minerals from a country replete with valuable natural resources. But it’s another challenge entirely to find a way to efficiently, cost-effectively process and refine all those materials in a way that will be sustainable in the intense competition that defines global markets.

Then there’s the challenge of cost. Chinese companies have created massive advantages in economies of scale when it comes to processing minerals—business models that are not currently matched anywhere else in the world. Coupled with China’s looser environmental regulations, and the “China Price” is going to be difficult to beat by non-Chinese companies. While US President JD Vance recently proposed price floors for critical minerals to be used by a coalition of countries during a recent meeting, there’s still a long way to go from a policy perspective. 

Ultimately, there’s still a significant amount of work to do if the U.S. wants to establish processing and refining of REE and critical minerals independent of China—even if Greenland is part of the equation. Because it’s one thing to extract minerals from a country replete with valuable natural resources. But it’s another challenge entirely to find a way to efficiently, cost-effectively process and refine all those materials in a way that will be sustainable in the intense competition that defines global markets.

Domestic Policy Steps Won’t Yield Critical Mineral Sources Immediately 

Many companies may not fully realize their exposure to critical minerals and REE in their supply chain. As a result, they remain vulnerable to supply chain shocks stemming from Chinese export restrictions. While it’s clear that the U.S. and EU governments are taking real action to shore up their supply of critical minerals, domestic manufacturers that aren’t aware of the REEs in their supply chains remain susceptible to part shortages. 

Further, domestic alternatives to the critical minerals and REEs currently sourced from China will take time—likely 5-10 years at the earliest. Many of the minerals that will be produced in the U.S. will be initially earmarked for defense or other high-priority government purposes, given various federal agencies’ investments in domestic mines and processing facilities. What this means for companies is that even as domestic production—including both mining and processing—of critical minerals and REEs gains a foothold and starts to grow, there may be limited supply available for purchase for some time. 

How SCRM Tools Can Help Companies Reduce Critical Mineral Risk

For companies that think they may have high dependencies on REEs or critical minerals, the first step is to identify which components contain which minerals. This can be done by collecting the Full Material Disclosure (FMD) for each part. Software tools like Z2Data can greatly accelerate FMD collection and analysis, thanks to the millions of out-of-the-box FMDs that are accessible to users from day one of their subscription. 

After analyzing which parts contain critical minerals or REE, the next step is to understand which of those minerals could be vulnerable to Chinese export restrictions. This is where tools like Z2’s Minerals Database and its insights can help, allowing customers to quickly identify the minerals that pose the largest risk to their manufacturing continuity. Lastly, customers can use a supply chain risk management (SCRM) tool to search for alternate components that have lower risk profiles. Z2, for example, features a database of over one billion components, each with a list of crosses classified into three tiers according to the closeness of the match. 

When it comes to critical minerals, sudden supply chain fluctuations—whether via geopolitical actions, raw material issues, or other factors—can cripple supply chains. Don’t let your company be caught flat-footed by new export restrictions from China or exposed to the growing list of REE chokepoints. 

To learn more about Z2 and its comprehensive suite of critical mineral and REE capabilities, schedule a free trial with one of our product experts.