A high profile trip in the United States to Greenland has been labeled “completely unacceptable” in what could be seen as the country’s last attempt to exercise control over the island’s territory.
The United States vice president, JD Vance, announced during the night he will visit the island as part of Donald Trump’s goal to “protect the security of the world.”
“I hope to visit Greenland,” Vance wrote in X.
He will join the second lady Usha Vance, who was already scheduled to visit Greenland on Thursday, along with senior White House officials, a measure that has already caused the condemnation of the Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen.
The delegation includes the National Security Advisor of the White House, Mike Waltz, and the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, who will visit an American military base while in Greenland.
In the days before the visit, Trump has again reiterated his suggestion that the United States should take care of Greenland as a issue of national security.
‘Unacceptable pressure’
Frederiksen told Danish Channel TV 2: “I have to say that it is an unacceptable pressure that is placed in Greenland and Denmark in this situation. And it is a pressure to which we will resist.”
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, not a country. Its population of approximately 56,000 are complete citizens of Denmark and, by extension, the European Union.
Although controlled by Denmark, the capital of Greenland, Nuuk, is more than 3,500 km of Copenhagen and is between the Arctic Oceans and the North Atlantic, off the North America coast.
Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in annexing the island, which dates back to its first term in 2019.
“President Trump is serious … Groenland wants. Therefore, you can’t see anything else,” Frederiksen told Danmarks Radio.
“Clearly, it is not a visit to what Greenland needs or what Groenland wants a visit. Therefore, it does not matter how we twist it, it is a completely unacceptable pressure on Greenland, the politicians of Greenland and the population of Greenland, but it is also in Denmark and, therefore, the kingdom.”
Trump’s son, Donald Trump JR, visited Greenland in January, a measure that was also criticized by Frederiksen.
‘Foreign interference’
The Prime Minister of Greenland, Múte B Egede, has described the visit of the United States delegation as “foreign interference.”
“It should be clearly said that our integrity and democracy must be respected without foreign interference,” he told reporters.
Egede said that the visit of the US delegation “cannot be seen as a private visit.”
Calling the “highly aggressive” visit in an interview with the newspaper Groenla Mestmitsiaq on Monday Aedt, he warned that American pressure on Greenland would intensify.
“What is the national security advisor in Greenland?
Why do Trump want to acquire Greenland?
Trump discussed the acquisition of Greenland during his presidential campaign and then wrote on his social truth platform that the US property of the territory is an “absolute need.”
“For the purposes of national security and freedom worldwide, the United States of America feels that Greenland’s property and control is an absolute need,” he wrote in December.
As the world’s largest island, Greenland is rich in natural resources.
According to the Institute of Natural Resources of Greenland, “there is great potential for the exploitation of oil in the waters” on the coast.
The island is also crucial for the interests of the United States due to its location on the shortest route between North America and Europe and its role as a home of a key American space installation.
Its surrounding waters are considered a “black hole” of security, with vast areas that lack government or military surveillance.
