JD Vance’s visit to Greenland says President Trump wants to take over Arctic territory.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen has accused the United States of exerting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland ahead of a provocative high-level visit to Arctic territory led by US Vice President JD Vance.
Vance, who has become the attack dog of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, will travel to Pitafik Space Station in the US on Friday with his wife, Usha and other senior officials.
“In this situation, we have to say there is unacceptable pressure on Greenland and Denmark, and the pressure we are resisting,” Fredericksen told Danish broadcasters DR and TV2 on Tuesday.
“This is clearly not a visit to what Greenland needs or wants,” Fredericksen said of Washington’s focus on Danish autonomous overseas territory.
“President Trump is serious. He wants Greenland, so (this visit) cannot be seen independently of anything else,” she said.
Greenland’s acting government chief Mute Egede labeled uninvited visits by US officials as “provocation” as they coincided with government coalition consultations scheduled for the following week in territorial and local elections.
The Greenlandic government posted on Facebook that it has not extended its invitation to visit.
“The current government is a caregiver government waiting for the formation of a new coalition of government, and we kindly requested that all countries respect this process,” he wrote.
pic.twitter.com/wp2tnffzen
– Greenland & cda🇬🇱 (@greenlandrepdc) March 24, 2025
Since returning to power in January, Trump has insisted he wants to take over Greenland for national security purposes and refused to rule out the use of military force to do so.
“We’ll check how things are going,” Vance said of his visit to Greenland in a video shared on social media on Tuesday.
“For President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the safety of the people of Greenland because I think it’s important to protect the safety of the whole world,” he said.
Along with Vance and his wife, visits to US military bases in Greenland include White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright. By visiting the base, Vance removed some of the risk of violating potential diplomatic taboos by sending delegations to other countries without official invitations.
Vance has already alienated some of the US longtime European allies, relying on US military support and accusing them of not wanting to devote their own resources to international security.
Denmark and other European countries have also been bristled by Trump’s proposal that the US should take over Greenland. Greenland is a mineral-rich territory and voyage gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic approach.
Greenland has broader strategic value for the United States as both China and Russia seek access to Arctic waterways and nearby natural resources.
“It’s an attractive, unattractive charm,” Noah Redington, an analyst and former adviser to former Danish prime minister Hell Sorning Schmidt, told Reuters.
“And everyone is upset because this is so obvious that it threatens the people of Greenland and provokes Denmark,” he said.