Vice president J.D. Vance will fly out of Washington D.C. Friday to see Greenland with his wife Usha, as President Trump continues to ramp up demands for the United States to take over the Arctic island.
While it might look like a couple's vacation, the visit is seen by many as a charm offensive to advance President Trump's goal of annexing the island.
The vice president's involvement is a change in plans. His wife was initially set to lead a U.S. delegation to Greenland's capital, Nuuk, for a tour of cultural sites with national security adviser Michael Waltz.
After international backlash from Greenland and Denmark, the Trump administration curtailed the itinerary to a stop at a U.S. military base.
Greenland's rich mineral resources and Arctic location give the island strategic importance, especially as Russia and China escalate their presence in the Arctic region. The U.S. maintains a single military base in Greenland, Pituffik Space Base.
Trump's repeated threats to annex the island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, have inflamed both Greenland and Denmark.
In a short and diplomatic video, Vice President Vance said there was "so much excitement around Usha's visit to Greenland this Friday" that he couldn't let her go alone.
The vice president said he is eager to "check out" the security situation in Greenland, as he emphasized the administration's goal is to strengthen Greenland's security and the security of the world.
“We’re going to check out how things are going there,” Vance said in the video shared Tuesday. “Speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protecting the security of the entire world.”
Looking forward to visiting Greenland on Friday!🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/p3HslD3hhP
— JD Vance (@JDVance) March 25, 2025
The administration's initial plans sparked pushback. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen accused Trump of exerting "unacceptable pressure," while Greenland insisted that Usha's trip was uninvited and that there was an ulterior motive.
"We are now at a level where it can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician's wife," Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Egede said.
Ahead of Vice President Vance's trip, President Trump offered a blunt reminder that the United States intends to acquire Greenland one way or another.
"We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it," Trump said Wednesday. "I hate to put it that way, but we're going to have to have it."
