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.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Vance took issue with this, saying she had received “multiple invitations.”
According to journalists traveling with the Vances, Air Force Two touched down at Pituffik Space Base around 1 p.m. Greenland time. Mr. Vance stepped off wearing jeans and a green coat. It was sunny and minus 3 degrees Fahrenheit.
As he sat down for lunch at the base, Mr. Vance made a colorful remark about how cold it was and said, “Nobody told me,” prompting laughs.
American officials had said the Vances would be traveling with Chris Wright, the energy secretary; Mike Lee, a Republican senator; and Mr. Waltz, who is under fire for discussing military plans over a messaging app in a group that included a journalist.
Foreign policy analysts said the revised trip was a watered-down version of what the White House wanted.
“It’s a tactical retreat — a repositioning to strike harder later,” said Lars Trier Mogensen, a political analyst based in Copenhagen. “On the one hand, they de-escalated by not carrying out the full cultural mission and skipping the P.R. stunt. On the other hand, it’s a symbolic escalation that the highest-ranking official is visiting Greenland, reinforcing Trump’s message that it should become American.”
Mr. Vance is the most senior American official to ever visit the island, according to foreign policy experts.
Since his first term, Mr. Trump has been fixated on Greenland. In 2019, he floated the idea of buying it: Danish officials called that “absurd,” which provoked Mr. Trump into calling them “nasty.”
This January, Mr. Trump resurrected the idea for “national security purposes” and refused to rule out using force to take Greenland from Denmark.
Greenland’s massive size — it’s the largest island in the world, three times bigger than Texas — and its location in North America along the increasingly contested Arctic Ocean seems to be the root of Mr. Trump’s fascination. Members of his inner circle, including Mr. Vance, have also spoken of Greenland’s “incredible natural resources” (though most of them are buried under ice).
Just this week, Mr. Trump said again: “We need it. We have to have it.”
“From a defensive posture and even offensive posture,” he said, Greenland is “something we need.”
Greenland had been steadily inching away from Denmark, with the island gaining more power over its own affairs and Greenlanders showing more interest in full independence. There is — or there was until recently — a significant movement within Greenland that wanted to form a closer alliance with the United States, which has stationed troops on the island since World War II. But the mood in the past few weeks has turned decidedly against Mr. Trump.
On Friday, during an overcast day in Nuuk, ordinary Greenlanders said they were not happy about Mr. Vance coming.
“I don’t know what he wants,” said Tupaarnaq Kanuthsen, a woman on maternity leave, as she walked through Nuuk. “He’s not welcome.”
Jens Olsen, a retiree on his way to the bank, said, “They have no business here.”
He said Mr. Vance “should be kicked out by the police immediately.”
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