Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, will on Friday visit Greenland at a time when President Donald Trump is renewing his insistence that Washington should take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
In a scaled-back version of a trip plan that had infuriated authorities in both Greenland and Denmark, Vance was expected to fly to the US military base at Pituffik in the north of the Arctic island.
It was gathered that the delegation was scheduled to land at around 1530 GMT.
Pituffik is located along the shortest route from Europe to North America and is vital for the US ballistic missile warning system.
Under the terms of a 1951 agreement, the US is entitled to visit its base whenever it wants, as long as it notifies Greenland and Copenhagen.
The initial plan had been for Vance’s wife, Usha, to visit a popular dog-sled race on the island together with national security adviser Mike Waltz, even though they were not invited by authorities in either Greenland or Denmark.
It was further learned that Waltz, who is facing pressure over Trump administration officials’ discussion of sensitive Houthi attack plans on the Signal messaging app, will still be on the Greenland trip.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the initial plans for the US visit unacceptable, while Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen later welcomed news of the revised visit as a positive, de-escalating step.
Greenland’s acting Prime Minister Mute Egede on Monday called the visit a provocation, as the country has not yet formed a new government after a March 11 election.
