Upcoming Usha Vance visit to Greenland sparks backlash
Greenland’s prime minister said an upcoming visit from Second Lady Usha Vance and members of the Trump administration is a “provocation.”
Greenland’s government flatly denied a claim made by President Donald Trump that officials from the island invited a U.S. delegation led by Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, to visit the Arctic territory this week.
Vance and her son are expected to land in Greenland on Thursday, alongside Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The Vances will watch a dogsled race and “celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity,” the second lady said in a statement. Waltz and Wright plan to visit a U.S. military base.
Some officials in Greenland, including outgoing Prime Minister Múte B. Egede, have described the trip as a “provocation” and “highly aggressive,” given Trump’s stated desire to acquire the Danish territory.
“We are now at a level where this cannot in any way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician’s wife,” Egede, said Monday. “The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”
Trump told reporters on Monday that the visit was no such thing.
“It’s purely friendship,” he said, and insisted that officials in Greenland had in fact invited the American delegation.
But Greenland’s government said that characterization was patently false.
“Just for the record, Naalakkersuisut, the government of Greenland, has not extended any invitations for any visits, neither private nor official,” the government said in a post on Facebook late Monday.
The post added that Greenland’s government is in a caretaker period while it is awaiting the formation of a new coalition government and “kindly requested all countries to respect this process.” The Democrats, a pro-business party that favors a slow approach to independence from Denmark, won a general election earlier in March.
Trump has called acquiring Greenland an “absolute necessity” for national security. Greenland has vast amounts of untapped mineral resources. It is also strategically located for U.S. ballistic missile systems. Trump has refused to rule out using military force or economic coercion to annex it. Polls show Greenlanders are opposed to becoming part of the U.S. They favor independence from Denmark, but on terms that preserve Greenland’s welfare state.
In recent weeks, crowds of Greenlanders have gathered in the capital Nuuk waving Greenland’s flag and holding signs with messages that read, “Respect Greenland’s sovereignty,” “We are not for sale” and, in a reference to Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again”campaign slogan: “Make America Go Away.”