JD Vance to lead ‘provocative’ US trip to Greenland

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the US was applying ‘unacceptable pressure’ in its attempt to annex the territory and condemned the visit.

The U.S. vice president said he didn’t want to let his wife “have all that fun by herself.” Picture: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP

The US vice-president, JD Vance, will make a provocative visit to Greenland later this week as the Trump administration continues to lay claim to the Arctic territory.

Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, the second lady, will travel to the Pituffik space base for a briefing on “Arctic security issues” on Friday, the White House announced. The base is America’s most northerly military installation, and supports missile defence and space surveillance missions.

The White House condemned decades of “neglect and inaction” by Denmark, which owns Greenland. Trump has contested that claim as he ramps up threats to annex the territory, claiming it is critical to US national security.

“During the Cold War, the United States committed additional resources to Greenland to defend against Soviet missile attacks,” Vance’s office said, announcing the vice-president’s trip.

“In the decades since, neglect and inaction from Danish leaders and past US administrations have presented our adversaries with the opportunity to advance their own priorities in Greenland and the Arctic. President Trump is rightly changing course.”

The White House noted that the US had established more than a dozen bases on Greenland during the Second World War “to defend the North Atlantic from Nazi incursion”.

The Danish prime minister has pledged to take a stand against “unacceptable pressure” from the Trump administration in its efforts to annex Greenland.

In a departure from her previous strategy of diplomatic caution, Mette Frederiksen accused the US government of treating Greenlanders disrespectfully and condemned the imminent trip to the island by the American delegation, led by Vance.

Both Denmark and Greenland, part of the Danish kingdom but mostly autonomous, have been rattled by Trump’s campaign to seize the territory.

Up to now Frederiksen had taken great pains to avoid antagonising the White House and asked other European leaders to refrain from criticising Trump over the issue, while offering to discuss US military bases and mineral rights on Greenland.

Her hand has been forced by the announcement that Vance will travel to the island alongside Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, and Chris Wright, the energy secretary, on Thursday.

Ostensibly Vance will be there on a “private visit” to watch the annual Avannaata Qimusseru dogsled race, sponsored by the Americans, while Waltz and Wright are expected to visit the US military facility at Pituffik.

The Pituffik space base, which will be visited by Mike Waltz and Chris Wright. Picture: Thomas Traasdahl / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP

The trip has been interpreted in Copenhagen, and elsewhere in Europe, as a political provocation — coming in the middle of talks to form a new Greenlandic government and days before local elections.

“This is clearly not a visit that is about what Greenland needs or wants,” Frederiksen said. “Therefore I have to say that it is unacceptable pressure being put on Denmark in this situation. And it’s a pressure that we will stand against.”

She said both Denmark and Greenland regarded the US as a valuable ally and had no desire to alienate it, but added that Trump was “serious” in his threats to take Greenland.

Frederiksen has so far been careful to avoid antagonising the White House. Picture: Nicolas Tucat/AFP

“He wants Greenland,” she said. “When you make a visit like this and the Greenlandic politicians say they don’t want this visit, you can’t interpret that as respectful.”

Frederiksen took her more assertive stance after an appeal by Mute Egede, Greenland’s outgoing prime minister, for allies to support his territory against the arm-twisting from the US. Egede told a Greenlandic newspaper: “The very aggressive American pressure against the Greenlandic community is now so serious that the level cannot be raised any higher.”

The Times