JD Vance announces trip to Greenland to assess Arctic security

Vice President JD Vance has announced that he will travel to Greenland later this week, joining Second Lady Usha Vance on her scheduled visit.

The Vice President made the announcement in a video message posted to social media on Tuesday, saying he plans to visit U.S. Space Force personnel stationed on Greenland’s northwest coast and assess the broader security situation in the region.

“There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself,” Vance said. “So I’m going to join her.”

“As you know, it’s really important,” Vance said. “A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and of course, to threaten the people of Greenland.”

Vance added that the Trump administration sees Greenland’s security as critical to global stability and signaled that the U.S. intends to “reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland.”

“Unfortunately, leaders in both America and in Denmark, I think, ignored Greenland for far too long,” he added. “That’s been bad for Greenland. It’s also been bad for the security of the entire world. We think we can take things in a different direction.”

In 2019, President Trump first floated the idea of purchasing the territory from Denmark, a proposal that was rejected by both the Danish and Greenlandic governments. Since then, Trump has repeatedly stated that U.S. control over Greenland would “protect global freedom,” citing its proximity to shipping routes and its mineral wealth.

JD Vance’s visit will come just two weeks after Greenland held parliamentary elections, in which center-right Demokraatit party secured the majority with 10 of the 31 seats.

Premier-elect Jens Frederik Nielsen has stated that Greenland is “not for sale,” saying that decisions about the island’s future belong solely to its people. He also called the First Lady’s unofficial visit to the territory as “disrespectful.”