Washington:
After stirring the hornet’s nest in Greenland, Donald Trump has now had to take a step back in US’ approach to the semi-autonomous Danish territory. Amid widespread outrage over Washington’s plan to “buy” the country, a high-level delegation led by Second Lady Usha Vance was to arrive in Greenland’s capital Nuuk this week – that will now not happen.
Greenlanders have outrightly rejected Donald Trump’s offer to “buy” their country. They have said they will “never” become a part of the United States. So outraged are they, that citizens of Greenland recently staged anti-American protests – the largest ever demonstrations in Greenland’s history.
Similar protests were planned for the day Usha Vance was scheduled to arrive in the country.
Keeping the optics of the high-level visit and the anti-America sentiment in mind, the White House has completely changed the plan. It announced that instead of Second Lady Usha Vance, the delegation would now be headed by Vice President JD Vance himself, but the visit would be restricted only to the US Space and Military Base at Pituffik in northern Greenland.
The original plan was that Usha Vance would visit Greenland’s capital Nuuk, before heading for the dog-sled race, a big annual sporting and cultural event. She would be accompanied by US National Security Adviser Mike Walts and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright – who would also visit the US military base besides these events. This plan now stands cancelled amid reports that Greenland was planning an unsavoury welcome for the US Second Lady.
Greenland’s acting head of government, Mute Egede, had labelled Usha Vance’s visit as a “provocation” by the United States. “Until recently, we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working very closely, but that time is over,” Greenland’s prime minister said.
Even Denmark’s prime minister had called the visit an “unacceptable pressure” being put by Washington. This was hours before the White House announced revised plans. The spat between Copenhagen and Washington was on public display amid Trump’s plan to takeover the arctic region island – for which he has not ruled out the use of force.
Denmark has now welcomed Washington’s decision to revise the plan. “I think it’s very positive that the Americans cancelled their visit to the Greenlandic society. Instead, they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told local broadcaster DR.
However, not everyone agrees. There are still many who feel that this was done because Washington saw the writing on the wall – that they are not welcome in Greenland. Karsten Honge, a member of the Danish parliament in Copenhagen, said the U.S. decision not to visit the dog-sled race in the town of Sisimiut, as well as a trip to the capital Nuuk, appeared to have been made out of necessity.
“They are doing this for the obvious reason that if they had shown up in Nuuk or Sisimiut, they would probably have been met by demonstrations with banners and people yelling ‘Yankees go home’,” Honge told Danish broadcaster TV2.
The visit of the US delegation will remain the same – from Thursday, March 27 to Saturday, March 29, 2025.