Tim Nichols Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy

Greenland’s harsh environment, lack of key infrastructure and difficult geology have prevented anyone from building a mine to extract the sought-after rare earth elements that many high-tech products require. Those challenges won't go away even if President Donald Trump takes control of the Arctic island. Trump has made it a priority to break China’s stranglehold on the global supply of rare earths and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to do that. Now the president is again pitching that taking over Greenland could solve the problem. But Greenland may not ever produce many rare earths because of the inherent challenges. Tim Nichols, from the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, joined Jeff Hamlin to discuss the potential intervention of Greenland.