COPENHAGEN/WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) – Greenlandic leaders criticised a planned trip this week by a high-profile U.S. delegation to the semi-autonomous Danish territory that President Donald Trump has suggested the United States should annex.
The delegation, which will visit a U.S. military base and watch a dogsled race, will be led by Usha Vance, wife of Vice President JD Vance, and include White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Sign up here.
Trump has made U.S. annexation of Greenland a major talking point since his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., paid a private visit to the vast, mineral-rich island in January.
Greenland’s outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede called the delegation’s visit, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, a “provocation” and said his caretaker government would not meet with it.
“Until recently, we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working closely,” Egede told local newspaper Sermitsiaq. “But that time is over.”
The Greenlandic government, Naalakkersuisut, is currently in a caretaker phase following a March 11 parliamentary election won by the Democrats, a pro-business party that favours a slow approach to independence from Denmark.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the Democrats, called for political unity and criticized the timing of the visit during coalition talks with municipal elections due next week.
“We must not be forced into a power game that we ourselves have not chosen to be a part of,” Nielsen said on Monday.
Brian Hughes, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said the visit aims to “build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination and advances economic cooperation”.
“This is a visit to learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people and to attend a dogsled race the United States is proud to sponsor, plain and simple,” Hughes said.
U.S. Vice President-elect JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance arrive for a service at St. John’s Church on Inauguration Day of Donald Trump’s second presidential term in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
HEAVY SECURITY
Two U.S. Hercules military transport planes arrived in Greenland’s capital Nuuk late on Sunday, carrying security personnel and bulletproof vehicles, Sermitsiaq reported.
Around 60 police officers from Denmark also arrived in Nuuk on Sunday, state broadcaster KNR reported.
Waltz and Wright plan to visit the Pituffik space base, the U.S. military base located along the shortest route from Europe to North America, vital for its ballistic missile warning system.
They will then join Vance to visit historical sites and attend the national dogsled race.
Vance said in a video posted by the U.S. consulate in Greenland that her visit aimed to “celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations”.
Trump, who first floated the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, has renewed his calls for the U.S. to take over the island since his return to the White House in January, and he has not ruled out using force to achieve this aim.
Greenland is rich in raw materials, including minerals critical to advance new technologies.
The governments of both Greenland and Denmark have voiced opposition to any U.S. takeover.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a written comment reacting to news of the U.S. delegation’s visit that “this is something we take seriously”.
She said Denmark wanted cooperation with the United States, a NATO ally, but on the basis of “the fundamental rules of sovereignty”, adding that Copenhagen and Greenland’s future government would both be involved in any talks with the U.S. regarding the island.
Reporting by Steve Holland and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Additional reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Paul Simao, Edwina Gibbs, Gareth Jones and Sharon Singleton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Based in Copenhagen, Jacob oversees reporting from Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. He specializes in security and geopolitics in the Arctic and Baltic Sea regions, as well as large corporates such as obesity drug maker Novo Nordisk, brewer Carlsberg and shipping group Maersk. Before moving to Copenhagen in 2016, Jacob spent seven years in Moscow covering Russia’s oil and gas industry for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, followed by four years in Singapore covering energy markets for WSJ and Reuters.
