Greenland’s reserves of rare earths, gold and diamonds are the reason behind Donald Trump's interest in annexing the island. Photograph: Carsten Snejbjerg/BloombergIt’s quite surreal to see the Trump administration invoking international co-operation to address a genuine problem in a not obviously irrational way. Yet looking at its plan for a coalition of countries to create a reliable supply of critical minerals independent of China, here we are. China has a unique multi-stage rare earth supply chain, whose high technical and financial barriers to entry certainly justify state intervention to create competitors abroad. Building rare earth mining and refining capacity is at least a decade-long project.

Source: The Irish Times February 14, 2026 15:31 UTC