Trump increase pressure on Greenland as US VP set to visit
US Vice President JD Vance said that he will accompany his wife Usha on a trip to Greenland on Friday, putting additional pressure on the self-governing Danish territory Donald Trump wants to annex.
Vance, who has emerged as Trump’s attack dog on foreign policy issues, said he would see if he could visit US Space Force members stationed there, but also to “check out what’s going on with the security” of Greenland.
“There’s so much excitement about Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” Vance said in a video Tuesday.
His announcement followed criticism from the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, who said earlier on Sunday that the visit of the US Second Lady put “unacceptable pressure” on both the territory and her country.
The White House previously said Usha Vance would visit Greenland from Thursday through Saturday to attend an annual national dogsled race in Sisimiut, on the northwestern coast of the island.
Since assuming power in January, Trump has maintained that he wants the United States to annex Greenland for reasons of national security and has declined to rule out using force.
In his video announcement, Vance claimed other countries wanted to use the territory to “threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and, of course, to threaten the people of Greenland.”
Trump also spoke in recent days about annexing Canada, suggesting it should become the United States’ “51st state.”
“Speaking for President Trump, we seek to re-establish the security of the people of Greenland,” Vance added.
And that both the US and Danish leaders had “ignored Greenland for far too long” and that “we think we can take things in a different direction,” he added.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is also visiting Greenland this week, according to the outgoing Prime Minister of Greenland Mute Egede, while US media have stated Energy Secretary Chris Wright will also visit.
Greenlandic media reported that the US consulate largely sponsored the dogsled race.
That has angered politicians in Denmark and in the semiautonomous region of Greenland.
“You can’t arrange a private visit with official representatives of a country,” Frederiksen said at a news conference.
The visit comes during a period of political flux in Greenland, where parties are still jockeying to form a new coalition government after a March 11 election.
A self-ruling Danish territory that is looking to liberate itself from Copenhagen, Greenland has huge underdeveloped mineral and oil reserves, though exploration for oil and uranium is prohibited.
It is also strategically placed between North America and Europe at a time of growing U.S., Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where climate change has opened new sea lanes.