As melting glaciers in the Arctic open up new trade corridors, the U.S., China and Russia will continue to vie for northern supremacy
OTTAWA — When the U.S. trade commissioner called Canada’s claim to a major future Arctic shipping route “illegitimate” on Monday, it revived a long-standing feud that could become increasingly heated in coming years as new northern trade corridors open up.
Canada currently considers the Northwest Passage internal waters, which technically gives it control over what ships are allowed to pass through. The U.S. and others, meanwhile, consider it to be international waters, which would effectively make it available to most commercial vessels. Pompeo said the Arctic Ocean is “rapidly taking on new strategic significance” in the world, adding that the opening of the Northwest Passage and other trade routes could reduce shipping times between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days.
The Arctic will also increasingly become the battleground between the U.S. and China, as both superpowers vie for global trade dominance. Last year, the U.S. Defense Department intervened in a bid by Chinese investors to fund three commercial airports in Greenland — part of a plan that U.S. officials worried could give China a foothold on the island, which could then be used to build out military installations in the region.
In his speech, Pompeo said Russia was “already leaving snow prints in the form of army boots” in the Arctic, and accused the country of wanting to remilitarize its northern territory. The report laid out a number of recommendations about how Canada could protect its waters once the North becomes more readily accessible to commercial vessels.
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