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Several senior Trump administration officials are set to travel to Greenland next week as the Arctic island coveted by the US president is in talks to form a new government and holds local elections.
Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, Usha Vance, wife of vice-president JD Vance, and the army and energy secretaries will travel to Greenland in what is being billed as “a private visit” from Thursday until Saturday, according to people with knowledge of the trip.
The trip has caused consternation among Greenlandic and Danish officials, as it comes on the eve of local elections and just weeks after a parliamentary vote on the island, which is part of Denmark.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to acquire the Arctic island, and even refused to rule out using military force to take it over from a fellow Nato ally. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr, also travelled to the island on a “private visit” in January.
Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, reacted with dismay at the new US visit, saying it could not be “seen independently from the public statements” made by Trump and other officials.
“In the Kingdom [of Denmark], we want to co-operate with the Americans. But it must and should be a co-operation based on the fundamental values of sovereignty and respect between countries and peoples. This is something we are looking at seriously,” she said.
Trump and other US officials have hailed the Greenlandic parliamentary election result, appearing to equate voters’ preference for pro-independence parties with a push to become American. But a recent poll showed just 6 per cent of Greenlanders wanted to join the US and fully 85 per cent were opposed.
All the leaders of the current parties represented in the island’s parliament condemned Trump’s behaviour as “unacceptable”.
Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic MP in Denmark’s parliament, told Danish television that the visit was an “untimely interference” in the island’s politics so close to elections.
“Everyone who tries to interfere, but is not part of Greenlandic society, must stay away. We are at a point in time in Greenland’s history that is particularly challenging because we are so influenced by what is happening abroad,” she said.
Martin Lidegaard, a former Danish minister and current opposition MP, said the visit crossed the line of what was acceptable for both Denmark and Greenland. “Now it will be crucial for Denmark and Greenland to stick together,” he added.
Usha Vance’s office confirmed that she would travel with her son “and a United States delegation . . . to visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race”.
The organisation behind the dog sled competition told Greenlandic media that it had received a large but confidential sum of money from the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
Nordic officials said that due to the private nature of the visit they were unsure of its precise schedule but that they expected Waltz to visit Pituffik Space Base, the US military installation on Greenland. Danish and Greenlandic officials have said they are open to an increased US presence on the island, but not to it being taken over.
Additional reporting by James Politi in Washington
