The consolidation of U.S. foreign policy around “great-power competition” against China (and, to a lesser extent, Russia) may prove to be one of the Trump administration’s most durable legacies, effectively coordinating the activities of a sprawling defense community around a singular (if vague) idea. But in the Arctic, great-power competition is too narrow and too confrontational a strategy to be the overarching U.S. approach to the region. The Biden administration, which faces its share of challenges around the Arctic, should address them under a rubric not of competition but of positively reinforcing regional governance and rules.
Sustaining the status quo may not be the kind of flashy, novel policy goal that typically appeals to a new administration, but it would help set a clearer agenda for what forms of competition are necessary in the region, and where coordination may be the wiser course.
