Everyone is talking about Trump wanting Greenland, but no one is asking why Trump wants Greenland... ☢️
So why does Trump want Greenland so much? 💡
The answer is not in Greenland; it is in China. 🇨🇳
Let's begin:
China stopped selling rare earth metals to Japan; as a result, Japan went looking for a needle in a haystack and started dismantling old air conditioners to recycle them...
Trump said last Friday that Greenland would come under American control before the end of his term. ☢️
The two things seem disconnected, but they stem from the exact same problem.
First, let's look at what's happening in Japan, because that's where the Greenland issue begins:
China restricted the sale of rare earth metals to Japan after the Japanese Prime Minister's statements on Taiwan. 🇹🇼
The materials that were stopped are dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, and gallium; these are essential materials for manufacturing magnets, chips, and defense systems.
Japan receives about 60% of its rare earth needs from China, and for dysprosium and terbium metals used in electric vehicle motors, its dependence on China is absolute.
The numbers are as follows:
A three-month halt costs Japan 660 billion yen; if the halt lasts a year, the loss will reach 2.6 trillion yen.
But the real problem is not in the numbers.
If car factories do not find magnets, they will be forced to slow down production.
And if it continues, to stop it.
China's revenge: China understands there is no need to send an army to stop Japan's industry, simply to halt the export of critical metals. 🇨🇳
Japan did not expect this.
Most old air conditioners have a strong magnet in the compressor; inside it are neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, meaning the metals that China no longer sells to Japan. 💡
In various places across the country, old air conditioners are collected and dismantled, the magnets are removed, and then the metals are separated through a chemical process. 🏭
The company managing the program is one of Japan's largest defense companies, which manufactures missile systems and radars. 📡
It seems strange that a defense company collects old air conditioners for dismantling, but it's not strange; it's a critical necessity.
During that period, Japan signed mining agreements with India,
And also, decided to send a delegation to Greenland.
This is exactly where the situation changes,
Now let's move on to what's happening there:
Greenland has the 8th largest rare earth deposit in the world: 1.5 million tons. Deposits in the US itself have 1.9 million tons, and Canada has 830 thousand tons. 💡
Meaning, Greenland alone is a source of rare earth metals on an American scale.
Here, a distinction needs to be made:
Rare earth metals are a group of 17 elements, and within it, 2 groups.
The light ones are found in many places around the world, the heavy ones much less so.
The dysprosium and terbium that were stopped for Japan from China are from the heavy group. The magnet found in electric vehicle motors, missile guidance systems, and radar components require this group, and it has no substitute. 📡
Heavy rare earth production is mostly in China's hands, and there's also the processing side.
China performs about 90% of the refining and processing of rare earth extracted globally; it is the world leader in 19 out of 20 critical minerals. ⛔️
Now let's go down to South Greenland:
There lies the Kvanefjeld site, containing over 11 million tons of rare earth, including about 370 thousand tons of heavy rare earth.
Meaning, the metal that Japan no longer receives from China and that the US depends on is located exactly there... ☢️
Now comes the real part of the matter,
The Kvanefjeld site belongs to an Australian company. 🇦🇺
The second largest shareholder of this company is the Chinese resource company Shenghe,
According to an agreement signed in 2018, the buyer of the rare earth extracted from the site will be that same Chinese company.
China is both a partner and a customer in the same mine. 🇨🇳
At the door where the US wants to enter, China's signature has been hanging for eight years. ✍️
So why is there still no production? 💡
The answer is neither in the US nor in China, but in Greenland's parliament. 🇬🇱
Greenland's parliament banned uranium exploration in 2021 and imposed a limit on the percentage of uranium in the Kvanefjeld quarry,
Rare earth and uranium are found in the same soil, so the project was effectively halted.
The site is locked, and the key is not with either of the two superpowers,
Trump's insistence comes from here; the decision to unlock it is made by the island's council. ⏳
Now look back at recent months: China cut off the sale of rare earth to Japan.
Japan returned to its trash bins to look for these metals there, and sent a search delegation to Greenland.
Last week, Trump imposed a restriction on the export of his country's trash bins abroad; with one order, they are looking for old batteries, magnets that have reached the end of their lifespan, and tin with tungsten,
And now he wants Greenland. ☢️
And the magic: none of these moves were carried out by military force. 💡
The Chinese emperor Sun Tzu saw defeating the enemy without battle as the height of sophistication; China turned it into a matter of a signature. ⛔️
We are following the chess game between China and the US; we will continue to update 🔎