Why Greenland Matters: Strategy, Minerals, and NATO Risks

Washington — Greenland’s importance to U.S. strategy stems from geography, resources, and a changing Arctic. Sitting between Europe and North America and bordering the Arctic and North Atlantic, Greenland offers military vantage for tracking Russian and Chinese activity and control over emerging Arctic sea lanes as ice retreats. Those shifting routes increase the island’s value for trade and naval operations. Economically, Greenland ranks high in rare-earth potential: CSIS estimates about 1.5 million tonnes of reserves, including the large Kvanefjeld and Tanbreez deposits. No large-scale mining is underway, however, and converting deposits into reliable supply chains for defense and advanced technologies would take years and major investment. Politically and legally, Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Denmark is a NATO member. A forced U.S. seizure would legally implicate Denmark and pose an unprecedented challenge to NATO’s Article 5 collective-defense framework, raising questions about alliance cohesion if the U.S. were the aggressor. The U.S. already maintains substantial defense access under agreements with Denmark, but access differs from sovereignty: land decisions, legal control, resource development, and long-term governance remain Danish and Greenlandic prerogatives. Strategic logic is clear; legal, diplomatic and operational barriers remain significant.