Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the change “a positive development” and a sign that the Americans “have understood the resistance to the U.S. overtures in Greenland.”
“I’m relieved,” Greenlandic MP Aqqalu Clasen Jerimiassen told POLITICO. “I don’t mind, if they visit their own military base in Pituffik. Canceling the tour to Sisimiut is a right decision. But that is also just another sign, how unpredictable Trump administration is.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to acquire the Arctic island, and refused to rule out taking it by military force or economic coercion, calling it an “absolute necessity” for U.S. national security.
Vice President JD Vance said he would join his wife, U.S. Second Lady Usha Vance, on a modified trip to Greenland announced earlier this week. They will be accompanied by the U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Danish and Greenlandic politicians issued their most trenchant criticism of the White House following the initial announcement.
“We are now at a level where this cannot in any way be characterized as a harmless visit,” Greenland’s outgoing Prime Minister Múte B. Egede said after the visit was announced. “What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us, and the message is clear.”
