‘Friendliness, not provocation’: Trump defends Usha Vance’s Greenland visit

United States President Donald Trump has once again reiterated his desire to annex Greenland, framing the issue as a question not of if but when.

“I think Greenland’s going to be something that maybe is in our future. I think it’s important. It’s important from the standpoint of international security,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

“ It cannot go on the way it is. It’s not going to go on the way it is.”

Trump’s latest statements come after the US announced a series of high-profile visits to the island this week.

Second Lady Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, is expected to arrive on Thursday for a cultural excursion that includes watching a dogsled race. Separately, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are also expected to visit this week for a tour of a US military base.

But Trump’s statements — coupled with the timing of the visits — have sparked outrage in Greenland as well as a strong rebuke from Prime Minister Mute Egede. He told the newspaper Sermitsiaq that the visits were a “provocation”.

“What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland?” Egede asked. “The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”

He also slammed Trump for trying to exert “very aggressive pressure” on Greenland, so that it might be absorbed by the US.

“Until recently, we could safely rely on the Americans, who were our allies and friends and with whom we liked to work closely,” Egede told Sermitsiaq. “But that time is over.”

Why does Trump want Greenland?

The escalating tensions come as Trump pushes for the US to expand its borders, in an apparent effort to usher in what he calls a new “golden age” for the country.

“The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation,” Trump said during his inaugural address on January 20.

He defined the country’s growth as a process that “increases our wealth” and “expands our territory”.

In addition to seeking control of Greenland, Trump has also pressured Canada to cede its sovereignty, asserted that the US should “own” Gaza, and said that Panama should hand over the Panama Canal.

Most recently, the US president has also floated the idea that the US could take control of Ukraine’s nuclear power facilities.

Trump’s ambitions for Greenland, however, stretch back to his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021. He first acknowledged in 2019 he was “interested” in buying the island, although Greenland’s prime minister at the time, Mette Frederiksen, responded unequivocally: “Greenland is not for sale.”

During his second term, however, Trump has amped up the pressure. In the lead-up to his latest inauguration, Trump refused to rule out using military or economic coercion to take control of the island.

Experts say Greenland is likely an appealing target, due to its strategic location in the Arctic, a site for emerging trade routes and potential energy exploration. It, for example, lies along the shortest route from Europe to North America, a vital artery for the US ballistic missile warning system.

Greenland also boasts a wealth of mineral resources, including large deposits of rare earth elements used in technology.

This week’s visits from Vance, Waltz and Wright are not the first time Trump has sent high-profile members of his team to Greenland. In January, his son Donald Trump Jr also made a short stop at the island shortly before his father was sworn in for his second term.

But Trump has framed the visits as a warm gesture, rather than aggression.

“This is friendliness, not provocation,” he said on Monday.

“We’re dealing with a lot of people from Greenland that would like to see something happen with respect to their being properly protected and properly taken care of. They’re calling us. We’re not calling them. And we were invited over there.”

When pressed about who had invited members of the Trump administration, Trump largely dodged the question.

“ People from Greenland are asking us to go there. We have many, many requests for many, many people.”

Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, also said the US delegation’s visit “presents an opportunity to build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination and advances economic cooperation”.

How has Greenland reacted?

Greenland is a self-governing island, a semiautonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. But it has suffered a painful history of colonialism, and many on the island wish to sever its ties with Denmark.

Earlier this month, on March 11, Greenland held parliamentary elections, with parties that favour independence taking the most seats.

Coming in first was the centre-right, pro-business Demokraatit party, earning 10 of the 31 seats in the Inatsisartut, Greenland’s parliament. In second place, with eight seats, was the Naleraq party.

While the Demokraatit party favours gradual independence from Denmark, the Naleraq have pushed for a more immediate split.

Prime Minister Egede’s Inuit Ataqatigiit party, which placed third with seven seats, has pushed for a slower path to independence.

As the parties negotiate how to form Greenland’s next government, the island is currently under a caretaker government.

Demokraatit leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen accused the Trump administration of using the upcoming visits to influence the outcome of the ongoing government talks. He also pointed out that municipal elections are set for next week.

“The fact that the Americans know we are in the middle of coalition talks and haven’t even completed the municipal election but still choose this moment to visit Greenland once again shows a lack of respect for the Greenlandic people,” Nielsen told Sermitsiaq.

Amid the tensions, Denmark said it was boosting security prior to the delegations’ arrivals.

Danish police sent extra personnel and sniffer dogs to the island before the planned visits from Vance, Wright and Waltz, according to spokesperson Rene Gyldensten.

But the spokesperson added that the measures were part of the normal procedures for security when foreign officials visit Greenland.

About 60 police officers from Denmark arrived in Nuuk on Sunday, Greenland’s state broadcaster KNR reported.