US VP JD Vance will travel to Greenland this week

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday he will visit Greenland this week accompanying a high profile U.S. delegation to the territory that U.S. President Donald Trump says Washington should take over.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Trump has said repeatedly the U.S. should take over Greenland, claiming the vast island was important for U.S. national security. The governments of both Greenland and Denmark have voiced opposition to any U.S. takeover. Polls have shown that nearly all Greenlanders oppose joining the United States.

KEY QUOTES

“Looking forward to visiting Greenland on Friday,” Vance wrote in a post on social media platform X. The post also had a video of Vance announcing the visit.

“A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and of course, to threaten the people of Greenland. So we are going to check out how things are going there,” Vance said in the video.

“Unfortunately, leaders in both America and in Denmark, I think, ignored Greenland for far too long.”

CONTEXT

Greenland has been controlled by Denmark for centuries, previously as a colony and now as a semi-sovereign territory under the Danish realm. It is subject to the Danish constitution, meaning any change to its legal status would require a constitutional amendment.

The U.S. delegation’s Greenland visit to an American military base will also include Usha Vance, the vice president’s wife, White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. It runs from Thursday to Saturday.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Alistair Bell)