President Trump’s idea of annexing Greenland has garnered a variety of reactions. Why is he so interested in Greenland, and what would its annexation or purchase mean for our nation?

From The New York Post. President-elect Donald Trump revealed Tuesday that he would not rule out using military force to annex Greenland, leaving many Americans asking: “But why?”

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In fact, the ice-covered Danish territory, the largest island in the world, has long been a hot topic among strategists in Washington and elsewhere — despite Copenhagen’s insistence it is not for sale — due to its location along vital shipping routes and the presence of key raw materials that are rarely found anywhere else.

“Why? A few critical reasons,” a source close to the Trump transition efforts told The Post on Tuesday when asked about the president-elect’s goal. “Sending a strong, deliberate message to Beijing. Not just talk. Action. Making America Ambitious Again. …

“There are two main reasons [to annex Greenland]. The first is the large deposits of rare earth elements needed for critical defense and electronics manufacturing,” Atlantic Council nonresident fellow Alex Plitsas told The Post.

“Second, Greenland has a legitimately large claim to the Arctic and that would provide the US with a stronger position as competition there heats up for navigation and resources.”

Arctic access and resources

The US has been in a quiet contest with China and Russia over access to the Arctic for years, deploying military ice-breaker ships to the region on missions to explore the resource-rich frozen tundra.

Washington has traditionally been over-reliant on China for rare earth minerals, which are most frequently found in the Arctic in addition to Asia — and used in everything from cell phones to weapons of mass destruction.

According to Plitsas, this dependency on Beijing is “not sustainable given geopolitical realities.” …

“[Rare earth minerals] go into most forms of national defense, technologies, missiles, tanks, satellites, warships, fighter jets, and so as a result, securing them becomes a national security imperative,” explained Center for Strategic and International Studies critical minerals security program director Gracelin Baskaran. …

The competition over the Arctic has grown more fierce in recent years due to climate change, which has led to melting of the ice caps that previously made resources nearly impossible to reach. …

But the Americans so far have been outpaced by their adversaries, in part due to the US’ limited access to the region and relatively small number of ice-breaker ships. …

Additional icebreakers and the acquisition of Greenland are particularly attractive prospects now that the United States is constructing more rare earth mineral processing plants — part of the recent American push to lessen its reliance on China.

But with the US home to just 1.3% of the world’s rare earth minerals — compared to China’s up to 70% — “now we need to source those rare earths from somewhere to process at home … which does give Greenland some appeal, because it could be a source of rare earth minerals,” Baskaran said.

‘Not for sale’

Trump’s ambition has not been well received in Denmark, where Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated Tuesday that the territory is “not for sale.” …

The island only gained full autonomy in 2009, and since then its territorial government has been working to achieve sovereignty, Greenland parliament member Kuno Fencker told CNN on Tuesday. …

The transition source said Trump, 78, may be willing to discuss alternate arrangements with Greenland officials short of full annexation. …

What do you think of President Trump’s plans for Greenland? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from The New York Post. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Donald Trump, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=157318336)