How threats of a polar war are coloring virtually every aspect of Trump’s foreign policy

Multiple, seemingly disconnected touchstones of President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda underscore the Arctic’s emergence as an economic and potential military battleground.

Northern ice sheets are receding, which senior Trump administration officials tell the Washington Examiner is providing China and Russia with both the means and the incentive to expand their territorial claims in the Arctic. Officials noted more than a half-dozen “buzzings” of American assets off the coast of Alaska alone during Trump’s first year back in office as evidence of Beijing and Moscow’s plans for the region.

But China and Russia aren’t moving unopposed. Trump took several big swings of his own in 2025 to beef up America’s presence up north, most notably massive shipbuilding initiatives, a redoubled effort to acquire Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark,