‘Not an innocent visit’: Greenland officials express fury over Trump’s plan to send delegation

NUUK – Relations between Greenland and the US sank further on March 23 as Greenland’s Prime Minister erupted over what he called a “highly aggressive” delegation of senior officials the Trump administration said it would send to the island this week.

US Second Lady Usha Vance and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz are among the officials headed to the island, which is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, though US President Donald Trump has vowed to make it part of the United States “one way or the other”.

Ms Vance is scheduled to make a series of cultural stops

after her arrival on March 27, separate from Mr Waltz.

Mr Waltz is supposed to be travelling earlier in the week with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said on March 23 that Greenlanders’ effort to be diplomatic just “bounces off Donald Trump and his administration in their mission to own and control Greenland”.

He made the remarks, his angriest yet, to a Greenlandic newspaper on March 23, and a high-ranking member of his party confirmed them. The Prime Minister seemed especially upset with Mr Waltz’s involvement.

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

“His mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission – and the pressure will increase.”

Other Greenland officials complained about the inopportune timing of the visit, pointing out that

Greenland had just held parliamentary elections

and that a new government had not even been formed.

“The fact that the Americans are well aware we are in the middle of negotiations once again shows a lack of respect for the Greenlandic people,” said Mr Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the most popular political party.

Greenlanders have become increasingly wary of Mr Trump’s intentions.

A recent poll found that a vast majority of people on the island, which lies along the Arctic Ocean and is mostly covered in ice, do not want to become part of the US. Still, many have also voiced a desire to improve relations with Washington.

Until now, most Greenland officials have tried to walk a fine line, asserting their sense of sovereignty while avoiding antagonising Mr Trump.

The Trump administration has presented the visit as friendly, saying in a statement on March 23 that Ms Vance will travel with one of her children on March 27 and attend a national dog sled race meeting.

“Ms Vance and the delegation are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity,” the statement said.

Separately, Mr Waltz is expected to tour a US military base, two US officials said. The US has a small missile defence base in the northern part of the island and has kept troops on Greenland since World War II.

Mr Wright, Mr Trump’s energy secretary, is expected to join Mr Waltz to see the base, according to another person with knowledge of the visit, as the Trump administration eyes rare-earth minerals and other resources on Greenland.

Potentially lucrative resources are scattered all around the island, but extreme weather, fired-up environmentalists and other factors have tempered hopes of large-scale operations.

Other senior administration officials may also visit, according to one of the officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the trip.

A spokesperson for Mr Waltz did not respond to a request for comment. A White House spokesperson did not answer a question about whether the officials had been invited.

Mr Trump has continued to ratchet up his talk of seizing Greenland, part of an expansionist mindset in his second term that has also taken aim at Canada and the Panama Canal. Mr Trump privately spoke about both in meetings during his first term, and some of his advisers explored the idea of acquiring Greenland, which had been an on-and-off national security proposal in the US for decades.

Soon after his election in 2024, he began pushing advisers to find a way to make a Greenland acquisition a reality. The idea of retaking the Panama Canal soon followed.

Greenland has been connected to Denmark for more than 300 years. The Danes colonised it, but over time, folded it into Denmark, which granted the Greenlanders more autonomy to run their own affairs.

The Prime Minister of Denmark, Ms Mette Frederiksen, made clear on March 23 that neither Denmark nor Greenland had solicited the trips.

“The visit from the United States cannot be seen in isolation from the public statements that have been made,” Ms Frederiksen said. She added: “This is something we take seriously.”

This will be Ms Vance’s second solo trip internationally as US Second Lady. The other was a visit in March to Italy, leading the US delegation to the Special Olympics World Winter Games.

Mr Egede did not seem placated by Ms Vance’s stated plans to soak up Greenlandic culture.

“We are now at a point where it can no longer be described as an innocent visit from a politician’s spouse,” he said, adding that “the international community must now react”. NYTIMES