Vice President JD Vance and other senior US officials are scheduled to arrive in Greenland on Friday. There, locals expressed deep anxiety about the visit after President Trump vowed to acquire “some way.”
Mr. Vance is on a day trip with his wife Usha Vance. Chris Wright, Energy Secretary. Michael Waltz, a national security adviser who fought. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, according to the White House.
The trip has recently changed after previous announcements were filled with repulsion in Greenland, Denmark's semi-autonomous territory. Initially, Vance, the second lady, was expected to visit with Waltz. Vance was also scheduled to attend a dog breed race in southern Greenland. Vance was not included in the plan.
One travel agency in Nuuk, Greenland's capital, said Vance would deny US demands for a visit to the office. The organizers of the dog sled race revealed that they were not inviting her. And Greenland's Prime Minister Mute B. Egede said in an insulting statement that there will be no meeting between US officials and the Greenland government.
After that backlash, in a video posted on social media on Tuesday, Vance said he had decided to accompany his wife. “I didn't want her to do that much fun on her own,” Vance said with a laugh.
The large delegation will now only visit the Pituffik Space Base, known as the Thule Air Base, a seven-year-old facility run by the US military in a remote area in Greenland, once within the Arctic. They are not expected to halt in the capital or other parts of the island.
President Trump has said the United States has security orders to acquire the world's largest island, which has been ruled by Denmark since 1721. Larger land than Mexico, Greenland has enough glaciers, ice mountains, rich earth minerals and a base of around 56,000 people to fill Dodger Stadium.
The president refused to rule out using military force to follow his own path.
“We'll go as long as we have to go,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “We need Greenland, and the world needs Greenland.”
Most of the islands would not like it. Recent polls have shown that the overwhelming majority in Greenland do not want to join the US.
The independence movement is gaining momentum, but the party that won parliamentary elections on the island this month is looking to ginger autonomy from Denmark. (The party, Democratit, was critical of Trump.)
According to his office, he will be highlighting the importance of Greenland's security infrastructure during Vance's visit on Friday.
“While US leaders are ignoring the safety of the Arctic, Danish rulers in Greenland ignore their safety obligations to the island,” Vance spokesman Taylor Van Kirk said in a statement Thursday.
The American delegation will visit US military and US Space Force members stationed at the base, known as Guardians. The world's most isolated and strategically valuable military locations have around 150 members of the US Air Force and Space Force stationed under an agreement with Denmark.
Since World War II, the United States has been keeping its military in Greenland. Still, visits by American delegations are very unusual, said Troy Bufard, an expert on Arctic defense in Alaska.
“This is a very unconventional approach,” Bouffard added, “This is probably one of the highest level delegations to go to Greenland.”
He said American officials are distributing typical customs for visiting delegations.
“They're just going straight to our territory and ignoring the rules,” he said of Trump administration officials. “These are indications of the seriousness of the United States and the conditions they want to pursue this.”
The presence of Mr. Waltz, a national security adviser, was a particular issue.
Waltz is undergoing intense scrutiny after the Atlantic reported that it had added editors to the Signal Group Chat.
The Greenland leader proposed that Mr Waltz's presence was considered an attack show.
“What are national security advisers doing in Greenland?” Prime Minister Eged told local newspaper Sermitsiaq on Sunday. “The only purpose is to demonstrate our strength.”
