Vice President J.D. Vance and top U.S. officials are heading to Greenland on Friday for a one-day visit as President Trump eyes ways to bring the Danish territory under American control.
Mr. Vance will visit Pituffik Space Base in Greenland and is joined by his wife, Usha Vance, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz,
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and former Homeland Security Adviser Julia Nesheiwat, who is Mr. Waltz’s wife.
Mr. Vance is expected to receive briefings and deliver remarks to service members after the trip, which takes a little under six hours.
The Vances are taking a pared-down trip to the Arctic island after Greenland and Danish officials objected to the second lady’s plans to stop by a national dog sled race.
Instead, they will visit the U.S.-controlled base.
“I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself,” Mr. Vance said in a video about his visit.
On a more serious note, Mr. Vance has accused Denmark of being a poor steward of the island, which is home to roughly 50,000 people, glaciers and rare earth minerals. The island is of strategic importance in the Arctic region, as China and Russia position assets there.
“We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland,” Mr. Trump said recently.
Greenland’s prime minister, Mute B. Egede, called on allies to push back on Mr. Trump’s aggressive rhetoric about taking control of the island and Danish officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it would be a mistake to dismiss Mr. Trump’s designs on Greenland as mere folly.
“It is a profound mistake to treat it as some preposterous talk by the new U.S. administration. Nothing of the sort,” Mr. Putin said Thursday during a speech above the Arctic Circle.
He said U.S. interest in the island goes back to the 1860s.
“The United States has serious plans regarding Greenland,” Mr. Putin said. “These plans have long historical roots, as I have just mentioned, and it is obvious that the United States will continue to consistently advance its geo-strategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic.”
