JD Vance to lead high-powered US visit to Greenland

The Trump administration seems like it just doubled down on Greenland.

Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday that he was headed to the island later this week, taking over a controversial visit that officials in Greenland have made very clear they don’t want at all.

This week, the Trump administration said that Usha Vance, the second lady, and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, were traveling to Greenland to promote ties with the semiautonomous territory of Denmark that President Donald Trump wants for the United States.

Officials from Denmark and Greenland immediately branded the trip as “aggressive” and part of the president’s plan to get the island, as he recently put it, “one way or the other.”

The White House issued a statement Tuesday afternoon changing the plan. And in a post on social platform X, Vance said that he would “just check out what’s going on with the security there of Greenland.”

He accused Denmark of ignoring the island, which, he said, was “bad for the security of the entire world.”

“We think we can take things in a different direction,” he added, “so I’m going to go check it out.”

Anti-Trump sentiment has been rising steadily on the island, and activists there are preparing to protest the arrival of the U.S. delegation, starting at the international airport in the capital, Nuuk.

Each day, the anti-Trump animosity in Denmark also grows. On Tuesday, a few hours before Vance made his announcement, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark called the trip “unacceptable” and vowed to “resist.”

Greenland officials have emphasized that they had not invited the Americans in the first place.

Initially, the plan was for Usha Vance and one of her sons to watch a dog sled race Saturday, a cherished Greenland tradition. But the organizers of the race made a pointed statement Sunday that while the race was open to the public, they had not asked the Vances to attend.

A spokesperson for Usha Vance denied that, saying she had received “multiple invitations.”

U.S. administration officials had also said that Waltz would visit a U.S. military base on the northern coast of the island. But with Waltz now embroiled in a controversy over his use of a mobile phone messaging application to discuss sensitive war plans, his participation seems up in the air.

In its new statement Tuesday, the White House said that the vice president and his wife would be visiting Pituffik Space Base, high above the Arctic Circle, “to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with U.S. service members.”

The U.S. government has a long-standing defense agreement with Denmark that allows it to station troops in Greenland and essentially have them come and go at will.

The statement also indicated that Usha Vance would no longer be going to the dog sled race. It’s not clear if the Vances will even pass through Nuuk on the way to the base, a missile defense installation, which is nearly 1,000 miles north of the capital.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2025 The New York Times Company