PRESIDENT Donald Trump is sending his top team to Greenland with JD Vance after insisting he’ll save the country from being treated like second-class citizens by Denmark.
The vice president will now join his wife, Usha, and Trump’s close advisors at a military base instead of the dog-sled race originally planned as the feud over Greenland heats up.
Before Vance and Usha embark on their trip to Greenland on Friday, a Trump official laid out some strong talking points that the vice president will drive home.
“Unfortunately, Danish leaders have spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair,” a senior White House official told the New York Post on Thursday.
The official added: “Expect the Vice President to emphasize these points as well.”
The Vances’ trip to Greenland comes after Trump vowed during his joint address to Congress earlier this month that the U.S. would gain control of the country—which is currently under the Kingdom of Denmark—“one way or the other.”
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it,” Trump said during his speech on March 4.
Greenland is located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, making it militarily strategic for the U.S.
As Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, put it during a Fox News appearance last month, ” If, God forbid, we got into a military conflict with Russia or with China, ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] would come right over the Arctic and Greenland is ideally positioned to defend the United States of America.”
The U.S. already has a military base, the Pituffik Space Base, in Greenland, which is where the Vances’ will be visiting when in the country.
“The Vice President and Second Lady are embarking on a historic expedition with their visit to Greenland, where the Vice President will emphasize the importance of bolstering Artic security in places like Pituffik Space Base,” the senior Trump official told the Post on Thursday.
The Vances’ will be joined on the military base by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Senator Mike Lee, per CNN.
Lee, a Utah Republican, serves as the chair of the Senate Energy Committee.
Denmark said Wednesday that “it’s very positive” that the Trump administration canceled its original travel plans, which the country welcomed.
Denmark and Greenland have pushed back against Trump’s calls for the territory to join the U.S.
Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said in December 2024, “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
TRIP TAKES A TURN
Initially, the trip was going to consist of Usha and one of the Vances’ sons sightseeing in the Arctic territory.
Usha was even going to wave a flag to open the world-famous annual dog-sledding race called Avannaata Qimussersua.
But things took a turn when local officials in Greenland described the Second Family’s visit as an unsolicited trip.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that the expected visit by Usha to the dog-sled race was part of an “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland, per Reuters.
The Trump administration ended up trading in a dog sled race for a trip to its own military base, which was well received by Denmark.
“I think it’s very positive that the Americans canceled their visit to the Greenlandic society,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Wednesday.
He continued: “Instead, they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that.”
ISLE TAKE THAT!
EXCLUSIVE by Patrick Harrington, Foreign News Reporter
Trump could storm Greenland and claim it within 24 hours in the “world’s shortest war”, analysts have revealed.
If Trump did invade, America’s military might would end the war in a day, politics professor Anthony Glees told The Sun.
Speaking to The Sun, Glees said Trump will be surrounded by “people who think he is great” – and it means he will be able to go ahead with any wild ideas he has.
Glees said: “In other words, we have to take him seriously.
“And if Trump wanted to take Greenland by force, he could do it in 24 hours.”
Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Politico that “there is no defensive capacity in Greenland”.
And it means it would be “the shortest war in the world”.
The conflict would present an “unchartered” situation after the US entered a pact with Denmark in 1951 to defend Greenland against any attack.
The US has a nuclear base on the island that is constantly manned by troops.
Kristian Søby Kristensen, a military researcher at the University of Copenhagen, said: “Who would the Americans be fighting? Their own military?”
Glees said it was likely that, in the event of a US invasion, “there would be no military response to it because it is unthinkable that any Nato member would attack the US”.
US-GREENLAND TENSIONS RISE
Earlier this month, tensions between the US and Greenland deepened after Trump boasted about the potential for Washington to take control over the Arctic territory.
“I think that it will happen,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
But Greenland’s officials beg to differ.
“We – the leaders of all Parties in the Greenland Parliament – must underscore that Greenland will continue serving ITS people through diplomatic relations, in accordance with international law,” they said in a condemnatory statement.
The officials continued: “Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people, and we (as leaders) stand in unison.”
