President-elect Donald Trump is the latest U.S. leader to attempt to bring Greenland and its population of over 50,000 among its territories. As Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Waltz said this could be the latest move in a tug-of-war with Russia and China over the Arctic.

“Look, this is not just about Greenland. This is about the Arctic. You have Russia that is trying to become king of the arctic with 60 plus icebreakers, some of them nuclear-powered. You know how many we have Jesse? We have two, and one just caught on fire. This is about critical minerals,” Waltz said while on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime. “This is about, as the polar ice caps pull back, the Chinese are now cranking out icebreakers and pushing up there as well. So it’s oil and gas, it’s our national security, it’s critical minerals.”

The minerals found in Greenland are used in the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and military equipment. In 2023, the most recent year the data was collected, mineral production in the U.S. alone made $105 billion.

Greenland geolocation is also a concern for Russian naval activity. The Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap could prove to be an obstacle for any possible offenses.

This comes after Donald Trump Jr. visited Greenland but did not declare it a diplomatic mission on his father’s behalf. While there, the president-elect’s son promised a “symbiotic” relationship with all free nations.