U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha are in Greenland for a visit to the autonomous Danish territory where he will tour a U.S. military base.
The controversial visit, which is not at the invitation of Greenland, comes after President Trump's statements that he would like to take over or buy the strategically important region. AP correspondent Philip Crowther is in Nuuk.
The controversial visit, which is not at the invitation of Greenland, comes after President Trump's statements that he would like to take over or buy the strategically important region. AP correspondent Philip Crowther is in Nuuk.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, from what we're hearing, Vice President J.D. Vance, during his short stay here in
00:05Greenland, will be criticizing the Danish government for how it has been dealing with
00:11Greenland. Remember that Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark at this point. Now, what
00:18does Vice President J.D. Vance really want to do with this trip? Well, he wouldn't be
00:22here in Greenland. It's as simple as that. Without Donald Trump having again and again
00:28said that the United States would like to, well, essentially own this place, annex it
00:32maybe, possibly even make its people into U.S. citizens. Something that, of course,
00:38people here in Greenland absolutely reject. They do not want Vice President J.D. Vance
00:44to be here in Greenland, though one did tell me yesterday that he was more than happy for
00:50J.D. Vance to be here and to have a look around, but that Greenland was not for sale. That
00:57is essentially the point of view of people here in Greenland as this visit happens right
01:04now as we speak. Another thing worth mentioning, and it is a pure coincidence that these two
01:08things are happening at the same time, Greenland has managed to find itself a coalition government
01:14after an election held here this month. Now, that is interesting and particularly important
01:20because the ruling parties here, the main parties here in Greenland, they advocate for
01:26independence for Greenland from Denmark. That is also something that a lot of people
01:30here in Greenland want. They want to be independent from Denmark, but they don't want to become
01:35independent from another country, potentially the United States. It's also worth noting
01:40that the ruling parties here, pretty much all politicians here in Greenland, but also
01:45in Denmark, have said pretty clearly that they do not want to sell Greenland. They do
01:51not want to give it to the United States, even though the U.S. will probably make a
01:56bit of a case for it through J.D. Vance later today here in Greenland by saying that national
02:01security is important and that that is one of the reasons why the United States maybe
02:06should have control over this Arctic island, that the United States also wants to have
02:10access to its natural resources because of climate change. There are new transportation
02:17ways that are opening up in the Arctic. There are many reasons the United States might give
02:21for them wanting to take control of this territory, but that doesn't mean that anybody here really
02:26wants that to happen.