Over the past few years, energy and mining have ceased to be mere parameters of foreign policy and have become the very core of competition between great powers. Oil and gas remain crucial, despite growing climate warnings, but rare earths and agricultural land are now also becoming the objects of large-scale strategic acquisition by major states in the name of energy and food security. This is no longer simply a struggle for market control, but a race to secure resources that have become absolutely strategic: hydrocarbons, rare earths, and critical minerals essential for artificial intelligence, the energy transition and military power. Geopolitics is no longer the backdrop of the global economy; it has become its architecture.
Strategic resources at the heart of global rivalries
The most striking recent example comes from Venezuela. The American operation aimed at toppling Nicolás Maduro is as much driven by energy logic as by security considerations. Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, at a time when energy security has once again become a vital issue for the United States. Behind the discourse on fighting drug trafficking and regional instability lies another clear priority for Trump: securing direct access to strategic resources in an increasingly conflictual international environment, even at the cost of dealing with obsolete infrastructure and heavy crude that is extremely complex to refine.
This logic extends far beyond Venezuela alone. Over the past decade, natural resources have returned as instruments of power. Oil has not disappeared from the equation, but it is now complemented by another category of raw materials: critical minerals and rare earths essential for batteries, semiconductors, advanced military systems and digital infrastructure, as well as agricultural land.
Rare earths, artificial intelligence and new front lines
Rare earths have become the nerve center of contemporary economic warfare. Without them, there are no efficient wind turbines, no electric vehicles, no data centers and no advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. Whoever controls these resources controls a decisive part of the economy of the future. China understood this early and invested massively not only in extraction but above all in processing and refining, making itself indispensable within global value chains. This dominance is not only industrial but geopolitical: it allows Beijing to exert structural influence over partners and rivals alike, while securing its own technological rise.
The United States, and Europe as well, are now trying to catch up from a major strategic delay. Partial reshoring of supply chains, bilateral agreements with producing countries and massive public investment in extraction and processing are now underway — a race unfolding in an increasingly tense geopolitical context.
Greenland, the Arctic and new frontiers of power
The sudden strategic interest in Greenland illustrates this shift perfectly. Long seen as a frozen periphery, the island now appears as a major strategic territory that Trump does not want to see fall into Russian or Chinese hands — knowing that Denmark lacks the military capacity to prevent that on its own. Greenland concentrates critical mineral resources, energy potential and a key geographical position in the Arctic, a region becoming central as ice melts and new maritime routes gradually open. Trump’s public remarks about strengthening American control over Greenland were therefore not mere provocation but a reflection of a deeper strategic reality: climate change is turning the Arctic into a new arena of competition between the United States, China and Russia, where military, energy and commercial interests intersect.
Africa, the Middle East and the new economies of predation
The race for resources is not limited to major industrial powers. Regional actors also play a central role. The United Arab Emirates, for instance, have become a major hub in the global gold trade, including gold originating from conflict zones such as Sudan. Behind the commercial façade lies a predatory economy in which access to resources directly fuels war dynamics and power struggles. Russia, for its part, relies on its vast energy and mineral reserves to maintain its strategic rank despite sanctions, strengthening partnerships in Africa, the Middle East and Asia in exchange for mining concessions, port access or diplomatic support. Its interest in Ukraine is not only military but also economic, as the country is often described as Europe’s breadbasket.
An economic war more than a military one
The conquest of resources in the 21st century does not primarily take the form of conventional wars. It unfolds through sanctions, bilateral agreements, economic pressure, infrastructure takeovers, targeted investments and hybrid operations. Territories are no longer conquered for their populations, but for their subsoil, their logistical position or their role in global supply chains. This transformation profoundly changes the nature of conflict and of power itself. Power is no longer measured mainly in military divisions, but in the ability to secure critical resources over time, to control flows and to prevent adversaries from accessing them.
We are witnessing a brutal return of geopolitical reality. The global economy is no longer a pacified space of regulated cooperation, but a field of rivalry in which natural resources have once again become instruments of domination. Oil, rare earths, critical minerals for artificial intelligence and the energy transition, and agricultural land are the new territories of conquest. Understanding this dynamic is essential to make sense of the sometimes brutal decisions of major powers, particularly those of Donald Trump, who cannot “make America great again” without sufficient energy and food security and sovereignty. This is not simply a return to classical imperialism, but a strategic adaptation to a world in which economic, energy and technological security have become conditions for the survival of states themselves.
