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Trump Goes Geopolitical: Entangling China and Russia is the Base of His Imperialistic Move

Ricardo Martins, January 26, 2025

Donald Trump’s geopolitical strategy during his next presidency will reflect an overt attempt to reinforce US hegemony at the seas by entangling rival powers China and Russia.

This is going to be the century of the seas. Naval conflicts and the dominance of different sea routes is going to happen, and we will see it as shaping the next level of commerce around the world.

Supplying and exporting routes for what China consumes and produces is crucial for the country’s existence. The Arctic Silk Road is one of these crucial routes for the Chinese, along with the Panama Canal and the Strait of Malacca. The Russians call the arctic route the Northen Sea Maritime Route. This is a post-Suez Canal geostrategic environment, as distance, time and costs will be cut considerably. That is why much is at stake.

Since 2013, the U.S. has sought to overextend Russia by escalating tensions in regions like Eastern Europe and the Arctic

The concept of Entanglement

Central to this strategy is the concept of entanglement—forcing these nations into resource-draining confrontations on multiple fronts while expanding US influence globally.

The concept of “entanglement” as a geopolitical strategy, particularly in the context of overextending adversaries, has been prominently developed and articulated by institutions such as the RAND Corporation. RAND’s Extending Russia report (2019) outlines how the United States can exploit vulnerabilities in rival nations like Russia to force them into costly and unsustainable commitments. This report emphasises the strategic use of political, economic, and military measures to drain resources (including brain drain), divert attention and promote regime change.

Stranglehold: The Context, Conduct and Consequences of an American Naval Blockade of China (2013) by the Carnegie Endowment explores strategies for weakening China’s economic resilience through maritime blockades. It highlights the interdependence of military and economic tactics in modern entanglement strategies.

In a broader sense, the roots of “entanglement” can also be traced to Cold War-era containment strategies. Figures like George Kennan, the architect of the US’s containment policy against the Soviet Union, laid the groundwork for modern approaches to entangling adversaries through calculated pressure on multiple fronts, please refer to the Long Telegram (1946) and The Sources of Soviet Conduct (published in July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs). This concept has since been adapted to target emerging powers like China and Russia, reflecting continuity in US strategic thinking.

Further, Zbigniew Brzezinski published The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives (1997), where he discusses the strategic importance of controlling Eurasia to maintain US global hegemony. His approach involves engaging and manipulating regional conflicts to serve broader geopolitical goals.

While not limited to a single individual, the development of entanglement as a deliberate strategy reflects contributions from think tanks, policymakers, and military strategists who aim to sustain US dominance in an increasingly multipolar world.

The strategy of entanglement underscores a shift from traditional warfare to economic, informational, and proxy conflicts. While these strategies offer a means to counter rivals without full-scale military confrontation, they are often criticised for escalating tensions and creating long-term instability.

Greenland, the New Cornerstone for the U.S. Entanglement Strategy

Greenland and the Arctic region became focal points in this approach, as they offered both resource potential (rare earth minerals, oil and gas) and strategic access to emerging Arctic trade routes, as well as a privileged anti-intercontinental missile defence site. Trump’s interest in “purchasing” Greenland underscored a serious agenda of securing the region to counteract China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Russia’s dominance in Arctic shipping lanes.

The Arctic, with melting ice caps opening new shipping routes, provides an alternative to traditional maritime chokepoints like the Malacca Strait and Panama Canal. Control over Greenland positions the US to monitor and potentially disrupt these routes, targeting China and Russia’s trade flows.

Meanwhile, the Arctic strategy was complemented by pressure on Greenland to reject Chinese investments in rare earth minerals, vital to modern technology and weapons systems, and privilege an American lower offer. By ensuring American dominance in Greenland, the US seeks to isolate China from crucial resources and reinforce its own supply chains.

Since 2013 the U.S. has sought to overextend Russia by escalating tensions in regions like Eastern Europe and the Arctic, compelling Moscow to commit significant resources to counter NATO presence. This approach mirrored long-standing US strategies, such as those detailed in the RAND Corporation’s Extending Russia report, which advocated provoking costly Russian responses through military and economic pressures.

These moves were part of a broader imperialistic agenda—encircling adversaries, monopolising strategic resources, and maintaining control over global trade routes.

Recent Trump’s geopolitical manoeuvres may have appeared unconventional, but they aligned with the United States’ long-standing aim of eliminating peer competitors and securing its status as the world’s dominant power

In conclusion, the melting Arctic ice due to climate change has opened new maritime routes, which drastically shorten shipping times between Europe and Asia. Greenland, positioned strategically along this route, has become a critical focal point. It offers potential control over access to these waters, prompting renewed interest from global powers like the US, China, and Russia. Greenland’s vast untapped resources and its strategic defence location further heighten its geopolitical importance.

 

Ricardo Martins PhD in Sociology, specializing in policies, European and world politics and geopolitics

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