Vance Lands in Greenland, a Place That Doesn’t Want Him

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Europe|Vance Lands in Greenland, a Place That Doesn’t Want Him

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/world/europe/jd-vance-greenland-visit-denmark-us.html

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Vice President JD Vance’s trip to an island that President Trump wants to “get” is a scaled-back version of the original White House plan. “He’s not welcome,” one Greenlander said.

A bearded man following a woman up a staircase leading to a plane, with a U.S. government helicopter behind them, at night.

By Jeffrey Gettleman and Maya Tekeli

Jeffrey Gettleman reported from London, and Maya Tekeli from Nuuk, Greenland.

March 28, 2025Updated 1:03 p.m. ET

Vice President JD Vance landed in Greenland on Friday afternoon as part of a contentious trip pushed by the Trump administration and angrily opposed by Greenlanders.

His group, which includes his wife, Usha, and the national security adviser, Michael Waltz, was set to tour the Pituffik Space Base, an American missile defense station and one of the most remote military installations in the world.

President Trump has been insisting that the United States take over Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. He has vowed to “get it — one way or the other.”

The government of Greenland did not invite the Vance team and protests had been planned in Nuuk, the capital, where Ms. Vance was originally scheduled to visit. That part of the trip was scrapped a few days ago, and the entire visit will instead unfold at the military base, far from any town — or any chance of an embarrassing TV moment.

The White House’s original plan was for Ms. Vance, the second lady, to attend a famous dog sled race this weekend and see other cultural sites, in an effort to bring the United States and Greenland closer.

But the plan backfired. Protesters were gearing up to line the road from the airport into town. The island’s government blasted the visit as unwanted and “highly aggressive.” Even the organizers of the dog sled race released a pointed statement saying they had never asked Ms. Vance to attend in the first place.