US accuses Denmark of treating Greenlanders as ‘second-class citizens’ during Vance visit to Arctic base

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha are visiting Greenland on Friday, an island of less than 60,000 people that has become central to President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. 

The Vances are visiting Pituffik Space Force Base, where they will receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with U.S. service members. 

“The Vice President and Second Lady are embarking on a historic expedition with their visit to Greenland, where the vice president will emphasize the importance of bolstering Artic security in places like Pituffik Space Base,” a senior White House official said. “Unfortunately, Danish leaders have spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair. Expect the Vice President to emphasize these points as well.” 

Usha Vance was originally slated to travel to Greenland without the vice president on a cultural trip to watch a dog sledding race. However, earlier this week the vice president opted to join, and the trip was shifted to focus on national security. 

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Vance is the highest-ranking official to ever travel as far north as Pituffik, the White House said. 

Vance’s first trip abroad to Paris and Germany made waves for his tough talk on Europe, which iced over the U.S.’ relationship with some nations but precipitated a mobilization of funding by Europe for its own defense.

Trump has made it a mission to take over Greenland from Denmark in his second administration.

“We need Greenland for national security and international security,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. 

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“So we’ll, I think, we’ll go as far as we have to go,” he continued. “We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens. But if we don’t have Greenland, we can’t have great international security.”

“I view it from a security standpoint, we have to be there,” Trump added. 

Greenland relies heavily on welfare from Denmark, which currently contributes around half of its annual budget, amounting to around $700 million per year. 

In January, in response to Trump’s stated ambitions, Denmark announced it would spend another $2 billion to bolster defenses on the island. 

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The Trump administration has dangled billions for Greenland to invest in developing its natural resources — rare Earth minerals and oil and gas reserves. 

However, mining Greenland has proven notoriously difficult given that 80% of the island is covered in a sheet of ice. 

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede earlier this week called the upcoming Vance visit “very aggressive American pressure against the Greenlandic community” and called on European leaders to stand against it. 

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Trump established the Space Force in 2019 as a way to defend against encroachment on America’s interests in Earth’s orbit. In recent years, China and Russia have stepped up their Arctic presence, investing in icebreakers, new nuclear submarines and rare Earth minerals.