US delegation to visit Greenland as White House ramps up pressure on the island
Summary
Greenland’s prime minister called the trip by the U.S. national security adviser and vice president’s spouse “highly aggressive.”
WASHINGTON—U.S. national security adviser Michael Waltz and second lady Usha Vance will travel to Greenland this week, the White House said Sunday, further straining relations over President Trump’s improbable vow to acquire the Danish territory “one way or the other."
Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede called the planned visit days before local elections “highly aggressive." Energy Secretary Chris Wright is also expected to join Waltz, Vance and her son as part of the first high-level U.S. delegation to visit the self-governing island since Trump declared he wanted to take it over from Denmark.
“We are now at a level where it can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician’s wife," Egede told the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq. “What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us."
Both local lawmakers and the Danish government have expressed strong opposition to Trump’s overtures, insisting that the mineral-rich island of 57,000 residents, while open to stronger commercial ties with the U.S., isn’t interested in an American takeover.
In a three-day visit, the U.S. delegation will travel to historical sites to “learn about Greenlandic heritage" and attend the country’s national dogsled race, the Avannaata Qimussersu, which will feature more than 440 dogs, according to the White House.
“I’m coming to celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations and to express hope that our relationship will only grow stronger in the coming years," Vance said in a video posted to Instagram on Sunday. Vance visited Germany and France in February, along with her husband, Vice President JD Vance.
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the visit “should not be a surprise," given America’s security interests in the Arctic. Waltz and Wright will visit a U.S. military base in northern Greenland, he said, adding that it is an “opportunity to build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination and advances economic cooperation."
The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. visited the island in January in what local authorities referred to as a “private visit."
Local elections in Greenland are set to take place on April 1. “It is clear that the Trump camp doesn’t respect our right to self-determination without outside interference," Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish Parliament, wrote on Facebook.
Greenland leaders said they had been approached to meet with the U.S. delegation and declined. “I can confirm that they have approached me and wanted to meet," Malik Berthelsen, the mayor of Greenland’s second-largest city, Sisimiut, told local press. “As we are in the middle of the election campaign, I have kindly declined and suggested that we can meet after the election."
When Trump first floated the idea of purchasing Greenland during his first term it was rejected by Denmark’s government as an “absurd" idea. He has pursued it more aggressively since returning to the presidency in January.
“We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before," he said in his speech to Congress earlier this month. He also raised the idea of a U.S. takeover with North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Mark Rutte when he visited the White House this month.
In response, hundreds of Greenlanders took to the streets of the island’s capital earlier this month, waving the territory’s red and white flag, and holding signs that read “We aren’t for sale" and “Make America Go Away."
Some Republicans in Congress have backed Trump’s proposal, introducing legislation dubbed the “Make Greenland Great Again Act," that would authorize the U.S. government to acquire the territory, as well a separate measure, the “Red, White, and Blueland Act," which seeks to rename the island.
The vice president accused Denmark of “not being a good ally" and allowing Chinese and Russian access to sea lanes. “How are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security?" he said on Fox News last month. “If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do, because he doesn’t care what the Europeans scream at us."
Only 6% of Greenlanders support becoming part of the U.S., according to a poll commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske in January.
Write to Vera Bergengruen at vera.bergengruen@wsj.com
