WASHINGTON (AP) — Second lady Usha Vance plans a trip to Greenland, the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark that President Donald Trump has suggested the United States should take control over.
Vance will leave on Thursday and return Saturday, according to her office. Vance and one of her three children will be part of a U.S. delegation set to “visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race.”
The race features around 37 mushers and 444 dogs and offers what Vance’s office described as a “remarkable display of speed, skill, and teamwork. The statement said that Vance and the delegation “are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity.”
Media outlets in Greenland and Denmark reported that during her trip this week, Vance would be accompanied by Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz. The White House and the National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump had mused during his first term about buying the world’s largest island, even as Copenhagen, a NATO ally, insisted it wasn’t for sale.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. will come to control Greenland while insisting he supports the idea for strategic national security reasons — not with an eye toward American expansionism.
“I think we will have it,” Trump said of Greenland shortly after beginning his second term on Jan. 20. The U.S. already has a military base on Greenland and the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., visited it in January.
During a recent Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said “Denmark’s very far away” from Greenland, and questioned whether that country still had a right to claim the world’s largest island as part of its kingdom.
“A boat landed there 200 years ago or something. And they say they have rights to it,” Trump said. “I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually.”
All five parties in Greenland’s parliament issued a joint statement last week rejecting Trump’s remarks. Denmark has recognized Greenland’s right to independence at a time of its choosing.
Beyond his focus on Greenland, Trump has refused to rule out military intervention in Panama to retake that country’s canal, said that Canada should be America’s 51st state and suggested that U.S. interests could assume control of the war-torn Gaza Strip from Israel and redevelop it as a “Riviera”-like seaside resort.
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Associated Press writer Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
