Danish officials seem to be relieved after vice president JD Vance and Second Lady Ushha Vance changed their Greenland visit travel plan, which caused anger among residents.
The couple, along with national security adviser Mike Waltz and energy secretary Chris Wright, will visit the US spatial outpost at Pituffik, at the northwest of Greenland. The second lady was initially scheduled for a solo journey to the capital of Greenland, Nuuk, and the Avannaata Qimussersu dogs in Sisimiut.
The visit comes after President Donald Trump repeated his desire for the US to obtain Greenland and claimed earlier this week that the area was important for national security.
The travel change keeps the group away from highly populated areas and reduces the likelihood that they will cross roads with residents who oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to annex the vast Arctic island, a semi-autonomous Danish area.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen Dr Wednesday that the Vances updated travel plans are a good thing, which calls it a de-escalation.
Anne Merrild, a professor and Arctic Expert at Aalborg University in Denmark, said the recent protests against the US in Nuuk may have scared the Trump administration to review the journey to avoid interaction with Angry Greenlanders.
Merrild still said, even a visit to the space base shows that the US administration still believes that the annex of Greenland is on the table.
“It’s a sign for the whole world, it’s a strong signal for Denmark, it’s a sign for Greenland,” she said. “And of course it is also an internal signal to the US that it is something we are pursuing.”
The original itinerary was considered controversial because Greenland does not currently have a government after holding elections earlier this month, according to Marc Jacobsen, a professor at Royal Danish Defense College.
“Greenland and Denmark have clearly said that they do not want the US to visit now, when Greenland does not have a government in place,” Jacobsen said.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland in January and arrived on Trump Force a few weeks before his father held office.
Trump jr. Posted a video of himself there on Instagram and placed under a statue of the Lutheran missionary Hans one, which is credited with the first time the barren area in 1721, before turning his phone camera to showcase the ‘incredible scenery’.
The founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, also appeared under his entourage.
After the visit, Pipaluk Lynge, an MP of Greenland’s largest party and chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign and security policy, said the whole event was “staged”. A spokesman for Trump jr. Deny it.
The Danish MP Rasmus Jarlov was not satisfied with the visit and wrote on X: “This level of respect of the upcoming US president to many, many loyal allies and friends is setting up.”
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Additional reporting by AP.
