JD Vance will visit Greenland, but a controversial US trip just got a lot more low-profile

(CNN) — US Vice President JD Vance has now said he will join his wife Usha on her highly contentious visit to Greenland later this week, a decision that added fuel to the diplomatic fire while revealing major changes to the United States’ itinerary on the Arctic island.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday accused the US of putting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory coveted by the Trump administration. The White House had previously said that the second lady would visit the island to attend one of the world’s foremost dog-sledding races.

Vance then appeared to ramp up that pressure by announcing that he would accompany Usha to Greenland because he “didn’t want her to have all this fun by herself.”

But beneath the bravado lay a significant change of plan. The second lady had been set to watch Greenland’s national dogsled race and visit several parts of the island, but the Vances are now only set to travel to the Pituffik Space Base, a US military facility on the island’s western fringe on Friday.

“I’m going to visit some of our guardians in the space force on the northwest coast of Greenland, and also just check out what’s going on with the security there of Greenland,” Vance said in a video on X.

Whereas the White House said earlier that Usha Vance’s trip would “celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity,” a statement from the vice president’s office Tuesday only made mention of the Pituffik base, saying that the Vances would be receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with US service members.

Also absent from the later statement was mention of Mike Waltz, the national security adviser who had been set to join the second lady on her visit. Waltz has since become embroiled in an extraordinary security breach after it emerged he had added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine to a Signal group chat where senior officials planned military strikes in Yemen.

On Wednesday, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen welcomed the change of plans from the US.

“I actually think it’s very positive that the Americans are canceling their visit to Greenlandic society. Instead, they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” Rasmussen told Danish public radio, DR.

”The short of it is that… there will be no visit from the US Vice President’s wife and their security advisor to the Greenlandic community,” Rasmussen said.

The foreign minister said the US was attempting to make it appear it was ramping up pressure on Greenland by sending the vice president, when the trip is now much more marginal.

“I have to speak diplomatically here, but in many ways it’s a masterful spin to make it look like they’re escalating when really they’re de-escalating,” he said.

The White House did not explain the change of plans for a visit that many Greenlanders have said they do not want. US President Donald Trump said Monday that “people from Greenland are asking us to go there,” but the island’s prime minister, Mute B. Egede, called the trip “highly aggressive,” and Greenlanders have staged protests outside the US consulate in the capital, Nuuk.

Greenland’s government – called the Naalakkersuisut – said “It has not extended any invitations for any visits, neither private nor official.” The island’s lawmakers are currently undertaking tricky negotiations to form its next governing coalition after an election earlier this month.

The US has operated the Pituffik base under a NATO framework since 1951, following a defense agreement with Denmark, a founding member of the military alliance.

In his video, Vance said the Trump administration wants to “reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland,” accusing Denmark and previous US presidents of “ignoring” the island “for far too long.”

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