What’s New Podcast – The United States in the Arctic

In this What’s New Episode, Serafima Andreeva and Gabriella Gricius talk about the Arctic represent for the United States in 2025. Photo: Serafima Andreeva

What’s New? is a podcast on Arctic geopolitics, governance, and security. Created and hosted by Serafima Andreeva, and supported by The Arctic Institute and the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. The podcast brings together leading experts from various fields of Arctic geopolitics and many Arctic and non-Arctic states to unpack key developments, challenge common misconceptions, and discuss the current dynamics of todays changing Arctic.

In this episode of What’s New?, Serafima Andreeva speaks with Gabriella Gricius (University of Konstanz; The Arctic Institute; NAADSN) about how Washington approaches the Arctic as a space of security competition, domestic politics, and strategic uncertainty. The conversation spans US interest in Greenland, the symbolic politics of icebreakers, shifting priorities under the current administration, and what these changes mean for the Arctic Council. It also examines why global superpower status does not automatically translate into regional Arctic leadership, how climate and environmental change shape security in Alaska, and why alliances with Canada and other Arctic states remain central. The episode challenges simplified narratives of great-power rivalry by showing how power, restraint, and insecurity coexist in US Arctic policy.