Topline
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said a planned visit to the island by a delegation of Trump administration officials and Second Lady Usha Vance was an act of “clear provocation,” amid President Donald Trump’s continued threats to annex the territory and bring it under U.S. control for national security purposes.
Around 1,000 Greenlanders gather in the city center and march to the US consulate building located … More
Key Facts
Earlier on Sunday, White House officials confirmed that a U.S. delegation led by Vance, which includes White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, will visit Greenland later this week.
White House National Security Council Spokesperson Brian Hughes said the visit’s intent is to “learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people,” and it was an “opportunity to build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination.”
In an interview with the Greenlandic news outlet Sermitsiaq, Egede said there was no way the trip could be chalked up as a “harmless visit from a politician’s wife” and asked: “What is the national security advisor doing in Greenland?”
The Greenland prime minister said the only purpose of the visit was to demonstrate “power to us” and that signal cannot be misunderstood.
Egede said Waltz’s presence in Greenland will “certainly make Americans believe in Trump’s mission” to annex the semi-autonomous territory.
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What Did The Greenland Pm Say About Trump’s Continued Annexation Threats?
In the interview, Egede questioned the lack of international pushback against Trump’s annexation threats, especially from his country’s allies. “The fact that our other allies in the international community feel like they are hiding in a small corner and almost whispering that they support us has no effect,” the Greenlandic prime minister said. He then warned that if the western allies do not “speak out loudly” the situation will continue to escalate and the U.S. “aggression” will increase. “We must admit, because the new American leadership is completely and utterly indifferent to what we have stood together on so far.”
How Has Denmark Reacted To The Planned Visit?
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen commented on the Trump delegation’s visit to the island in a statement to Sermitsiaq, saying the visit cannot be seen separately from recent public statements about Greenland from the U.S. “We want to cooperate with the Americans. But it must be a cooperation based on the fundamental values of sovereignty and respect between countries and peoples.”
