The World As His Oilfield - Trump's Dangerous Game

Back in October, I wrote about how, under the Trump administration, the United States government opened the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to plans for prospective oil and gas drilling. While some locals support this decision under the pretense of sustaining northern economic livelihoods, contention surrounds the significant effects it might come to have on subsistence hunting, sacred cultural associations with the land, and rare bird migration sites. 

Three months later, those changes to his own country's legislature seem small compared to his current ventures.  

Over the years, Trump has not tried to hide his intentions to dominate resource-rich territories. In his first term as president, he spoke of wanting to purchase mineral-rich Greenland, an idea that, shockingly, most Greenlanders found disrespectful at best. Sound familiar? Our own country, rife with natural resources including oil, critical minerals, timber, and fish, did not respond all that differently to his fantasy of Canada becoming the 51st state. 

Trump's obsession with Greenland became a topic of interest again in January of 2025, when United States Vice President JD Vance visited the territory, and accused Denmark of failing to provide Greenland with ample protection. For a while, Trump's threats surrounding acquisition of Greenland, as well as the Panama Canal, which became a topic of interest for him in December of 2024, were empty. Instead, he focused his government's energy on controlling trade through tariffs on countries that previously held good relationships with the United States. 

By now, you've almost certainly heard about Trump's overnight takeover of Venezuela earlier this month. Home to the largest oil reserves in the world, the United States president has alluded to expecting financial return on his involvement in the Venezuelan government through access to its natural resources. Shocking to many, this major, military-enforced move appears to have only boosted his confidence in acquisition of lands that are not exactly on the market for purchase. 

Greenland has yet again returned to the forefront of Trump's list as a strategic way to control access to valuable minerals and other resources. Earlier this month, at a press conference with oil executives, he threatened to obtain Greenland "the hard way", were he not to reach a congenial agreement with Denmark. Hours before I wrote this, BBC reported a slight change of tactics, in which Trump stated he is going to refrain from using violence to overtake Greenland, though, he made sure to emphasize that if he wanted to use force, he could. He also acknowledged that he doesn't expect to "get anything unless I decide to use excessive force". Currently, Trump seems to hope that world leaders will allow him to take full control of Greenland without interference. As an incentive, he threatened more tariffs on European countries, which would only be lifted once a deal for the United States to purchase Greenland is reached. 

To what end does Trump endeavour? Clearly, he is confident in his ability to create what, up to this point, have been fictional business opportunities through his political, economic, and militaristic tools. But, if he actually acquires these resources he so unrelentingly bargains for, what then? What happens next? 

Despite climate-change associated warming of Greenland potentially freeing up access to previously impenetrable mineral deposits, researchers consider there to be many logistical issues in the prospective mining of Greenland. Between the territory's extensive polar night, the remoteness of many mineral deposits, and their depth beneath thick polar ice sheets, were Trump's annexing dreams to come true, he may not find Greenland to be as fun of a toy as he expected.

Unfortunately for his vision of the world, other plans for resource acquisition may, as they get closer to fruition, start to pose similar logistical and financial concerns. While reality slows down his operations, the consequences of his condescending behaviour towards dozens of sovereign countries will likely start to catch up to him.