US' Greenland push rattles NATO alliance, experts say

Not for sale

While, for many, the US president's renewed interest in Greenland was puzzling. In 2019, during his first presidential term, Trump made an offer to buy the island, but was told by Denmark it was "not for sale".

Several other factors make Greenland, a semi-autonomous region of Denmark, highly coveted. The foremost one is while covered in ice, it has a wealth of natural resources.

In 1850, the mineral cryolite, which has a very high melting point, was found in southwest Greenland and mined by settlers. During World War II, the Allied forces were supplied with cryolite mined from Greenland to produce the aluminum needed to make warplanes.

After World War II, geological mapping in Greenland began in earnest. Rare earth minerals — highly sought worldwide for use in smartphones, fossil fuels and defense industries — were found there.

The 2023 Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland also found other critical minerals including graphite, niobium and titanium exist on the island.

China, the world's biggest producer of rare earth minerals, has recently tightened its export controls, driving the US to start looking for alternative sources.

The US had control of the rare earths market from the mid-1960s after deposits were found in the California desert at Mountain Pass in 1949, according to geology monitors.

But by the 1960s, China had recognized the minerals' value and later improved the technology involved in their mining and processing.

While details of the "framework" of a future Greenland deal remain sparse, Trump told reporters in Davos on Wednesday that it gave the US "everything it wanted".

"It's a deal that everybody's very happy with. It's the ultimate long-term deal, and I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and anything else," he said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will "report" to him on the progress of negotiations, he added.

Greenland might also be home to large oil reserves. A newly released report has positioned Greenland's Jameson Land basin as one of the most significant undeveloped onshore oil plays in the world, Energy, Oil and Gas Magazine reported.

An independent prospective resource evaluation by energy advisory and technical consulting firm Sproule ERCE estimated the basin contains about 13.03 billion barrels of recoverable oil.