WASHINGTON – Second lady Usha Vance plans a trip to Greenland, at a time when President Donald Trump has suggested the United States should take control over the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark.
Vance will leave on Thursday and return Saturday, according to her office. Vance and one of her three children will be part of a U.S. delegation that will “visit historic sites” and “learn about Greenlandic heritage.”
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Media outlets in Greenland and Denmark reported that Vance would be accompanied by Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz. The White House and the National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump had mused during his first term about buying the world’s largest island, even as Denmark, a NATO ally, insisted it wasn’t for sale. The people of Greenland also have firmly rejected Trump's plans.
Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that Trump “doesn't care” what the Europeans think.
He said Denmark is “not doing its job” with Greenland and “not being a good ally,” and “if that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland that is what President Trump is going to do,” Vance said on Fox News' “Sunday Morning Futures.”
"Because he doesn’t care about what the Europeans scream at us, he cares about putting the interests of American citizens first," Vance said.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. will come to control Greenland while insisting he supports the idea for strategic national security reasons — not with an eye toward American expansionism.
“I think we will have it,” Trump said of Greenland shortly after beginning his second term on Jan. 20. The U.S. already has a military base on Greenland and the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., visited it in January.
On her visit, Usha Vance will attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race, featuring about 37 mushers and 444 dogs. The statement said Vance and the U.S. delegation “are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity.”
During a recent Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said “Denmark’s very far away” from Greenland, and questioned whether that country still had a right to claim the world’s largest island as part of its kingdom.
“A boat landed there 200 years ago or something. And they say they have rights to it,” Trump said. “I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually.”
All five parties in Greenland’s parliament issued a joint statement last week rejecting Trump's remarks. Denmark has recognized Greenland’s right to independence at a time of its choosing.
Beyond his focus on Greenland, Trump has refused to rule out military intervention in Panama to retake that country's canal, said that Canada should be America's 51st state and suggested that U.S. interests could assume control of the war-torn Gaza Strip from Israel and redevelop it as a “Riviera”-like seaside resort.
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Associated Press writer Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.