Second lady Usha Vance will travel to Greenland this week on a cultural mission with her son and American officials, the vice president’s office announced on Sunday. As the administration pushes for some kind of deal to annex the Danish territory, Ms. Vance plans to attend its annual national dogsled competition.
The second lady and her delegation will depart for Greenland on Thursday, where they will visit historical sites and learn more about Greenlandic heritage. “Ms. Vance and the delegation are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity. They will return to the United States on Saturday, March 29, 2025,” the vice president’s office said in a statement.
On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the national security advisor, Michael Waltz, and the secretary of energy, Chris Wright, will attend separate events on the island while Ms. Vance is visiting. Messrs. Waltz and Wright are expected to visit American soldiers stationed at a military base on the island.
While visiting, Ms. Vance and one of her sons will attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s annual national dogsled race. Greenland’s tourism office says the race draws more than three dozen racers and their more than 400 dogs every year.
“Local communities turn the event into a festival, featuring activities like drum dancing, food stalls with Greenlandic specialties, and craft markets. It is not only a sporting competition but also a celebration of Greenlandic culture and unity,” the tourism board says.
Ms. Vance is the highest-ranking member of the Trump administration to visit the island nation so far, after first son Donald Trump Jr. and conservative activist Charlie Kirk flew on “Trump Force One” to visit Greenland just two weeks before his father was sworn in as president. As his son was visiting the territory, President Trump promised to treat the Greenlandic people “well” if they were to become an American territory.
Greenland first caught the president’s eye back in 2017, when he asked his national security team during his first term to study proposals to buy the island from Denmark, which has governed Greenland as a territory for the last three centuries, though changes have been made to the island’s political rights and home rule during the territorial period.
In December of last year, Mr. Trump launched a more public, and more serious, campaign to acquire the island from Denmark. In a post on Truth Social on December 22, Mr. Trump called American “ownership and control of Greenland … an absolute necessity.”
He has only ratcheted up those threats in recent weeks. During his recent address to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Trump said America will take control of the island “one way or the other.”
“I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland,” the president said. “We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America. We need Greenland for national security and even international security.”
“I think we’re gonna get it. One way or the other, we’re gonna get it,” Mr. Trump declared.
Greenlandic leaders have pushed back forcefully against the president’s demands for annexation. In the March 11 Greenland elections, the center-right Democrats came in first with just over 30 percent of the vote, and the party’s leader — who is likely to take power as the territory’s next prime minister — said he will not entertain Mr. Trump’s overtures.
“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,” the Democrats’ leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, told Sky News after his victory. “We want to build our own country by ourselves.”
In response to the coming trip by American officials, Prime Minister Frederiksen of Denmark says that while this is not an official visit, she is open to considering new avenues of “cooperation” between her government and the Trump administration with respect to Greenland.
“The visit from the United States cannot be seen in isolation from the public statements that have been made,” Ms. Frederiksen said Sunday. “In the kingdom, we wish to cooperate with the Americans. But it must — and shall — be a cooperation based on the fundamental values of sovereignty and mutual respect between nations and peoples. This is something we take seriously.”