Initially, only Usha Vance and one of the three children of the couple had planned to visit Groenland. They planned to attend a traditional sled dog race in Sisimiut, a city southwest of the island, tour historical places and learn about the culture of this impressive territory. The trip took a turn on Tuesday 25, when the vice president announced that he would add to the journey, giving way to an agenda centered on national security.
The Vance trip caused a strong rejection among the authorities of Greenland and Denmark, which emphasized that they never invited the couple and have described the visit. The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said last Tuesday that this trip is “unacceptable pressure.”
Amid the tension, the White House announced in the last hours a reduction in the itinerary. The vice president and his wife will not attend the sled dog career or any event in Greenland and will limit their visit to the Pituffik spatial base, an American military installation located at the heights of the Arctic Circle, almost 1,600 kilometers north of Nuuk, the capital.
The decision was received with some relief by Denmark and Greenland, where citizens mostly reject the expansionist intentions of the Trump government. “I think it is very positive that the Americans have canceled their visit between the Greenlandic society. They will only visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lars Løkke Rasmussen to the public radio DR.
Octavio Pescador, political analyst and commentator of CNN in Spanish, points out that one of the factors to change the agenda is the possible negative reaction that the Greenlandes could adopt. “Definitely not everyone was going to welcome Vance, and therefore he said his plans, nothing more will go to the military base. If not everyone can see it well, it is exposed to the fact that in an event on the street someone avientes a tomato and being vice president being not very sensible to expose to that, neither to him nor his family,” he tells El Comercio.
Trump puts more tension
Far from calming the spirits, Trump said on Wednesday 26 that his vice president’s trip to Greenland is to “convince” its inhabitants to join the United States. “We need Greenland for international security. We need it; we must have it. It is vital for a defense position, especially considering how the world is.
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Trump began his second term reaffirming his commitment to getting the control of Greenland, a key territory not only for its natural resources but also because of its strategic location. The position caused strong tensions with Denmark, Washington’s ally and NATO partner.
“Vance’s visit is a provocation and disrespect for people in the country, totally,” Andy Gómez, a political analyst based in Miami, tells this newspaper.
For the expert, it is absurd that the president of the United States says he has to take Greenland for the national security of his country. “Not only does it violate all international laws, but also the sovereignty of a country, without consulting them. Something like that has never been seen in American politics,” he says.
The visit coincides with the scandal in the United States for the filtration of a group chat encrypted from the government to which a journalist had access. Not only war plans were revealed in that conversation to attack Yemen’s Hutis rebels, but that Vance expressed his animosity for Europe and criticized that Washington “saved again” that continent.
The unprecedented filtration caused harsh criticism of the Democrats and Intelligence experts against the American National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, who had to retire from the delegation that travels to Greenland due to the controversy.
In that line, fisherman believes that this scandal is another reason for Vance to make a limited visit to Greenland.
“An error was already made in terms of communication and in terms of the relationship with allied countries. Now you have to control damage and the vice president cannot walk, being that he was in that leaked conversation. In addition, this Wednesday the chats were disseminated in their entirety and it is even clearer that the United States wants a more transactional relationship with Europe. And that is an attitude that the United States has never had with Europe,” he says.
The eyes on Vance
Experts agree that Vance has several challenges to strengthen his role as a second command in the Trump government.
“At this time Vance is not a strong figure within the government. Trump directs everything and the cabinet, including the vice president, are people who have no choice but to try to implement Trump’s ideas,” says Gomez.
Fisherman adds that the vice president faces two situations that do not favor him in terms of his public image. The first is that there was a time when he echoed the criticism of Elon Musk, who has had greater visibility than he despite not being elected.
“The second is that, at least for what is seen, there is no immediate and direct communication of the vice president with the president. In the filtered messages Vance asks that the attacks in Yemen be placed a month. And he says, ‘I do not know if the president is aware that this can contravene the message we are giving to Europe, to be more hard or more transactional.’