Greenlanders see red over White House visits

The Americans are coming, and Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute B. Egede is not happy about it. Egede lashed out at the Trump administration for planning visits to the island nation late this week by Second Lady Usha Vance and her son to see a dogsled race, and by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to tour a US military base. Egede called the moves “highly aggressive.”

“We are now at a level where it can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician's wife,” Egede said to Greenland’s Sermitsiaq newspaper. “What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”

The visits also are being characterized as election interference. Greenland is holding local elections on April 1, prompting Greenlandic member of the Danish Parliament Aaja Chemnitz to post on Facebook, “It is clear that the Trump camp does not respect our right to self-determination without outside interference.”

The trips come after US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex Greenland, and remarks by Vice President JD Vance Sunday on Fox News that “Denmark is not doing a good job, and not being a good ally” with regards to defending Greenland. “If that means taking a greater territorial interest in Greenland, then that is what President Trump is going to do.”

A poll taken in late January shows that 85% of Greenlanders do not favor becoming part of the United States. We’ll be watching what kind of reception the two delegations get – and how the Trump administration responds.