Second Lady Usha Vance’s planned trip to Greenland this week marks the latest signal Washington is serious about acquiring the island from Denmark and comes as high-profile U.S. officials levy criticisms against the European NATO member.

Notably, the current leadership in Greenland is set to lose control after a center-right party won the island’s elections. They do not, however, appear to be any friendlier to the American bid to secure the island.

“Second Lady Usha Vance will travel to Greenland with her son and a United States delegation to visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race,” the Office of the Second Lady confirmed. “M[r]s. Vance and the delegation are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity.”

Irked by the visit

Reportedly accompanying Vance will be national security advisor Mike Waltz, potentially signaling that the trip will not strictly be a sightseeing tour and is likely to have some diplomatic significance. Vance herself stated that she was “coming to celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations and to express hopes that our relationship will only grow stronger in the coming years.”

Danish and Greenlander officials alike, however, appear irked by the visit. Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede, for instance, said that the “time is over” when “we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working closely,” according to Reuters.

Waltz’s presence, specifically, appears more odious to Greenlander politicians, with Egede saying “[h]is mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission — and the pressure will increase,” CNN reported.

Trump originally inquired as to the acquisition of Greenland during his first term, but was met with a stern rejection from the Danish authorities. After winning a second term in 2024, however, he began floating ideas regarding not just Greenland, but Canada, and the Panama Canal as well. He achieved a pseudo-victory in the canal after the American firm BlackRock purchased many of the canal’s key port facilities. But talk of annexing Canada and Greenland has led to firm resistance from Ottawa and Copenhagen.

Vice President JD Vance himself poured some fuel on the fire with his remarks suggesting that Washington was prepared to ignore Danish and European backlash in their pursuit of Greenland’s acquisition.

“Denmark, which controls Greenland, it’s not doing its job and it’s not being a good ally. So you have to ask yourself how are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security? If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do because he doesn’t care about what the Europeans scream at us. He cares about putting the interests of American citizens first,” Vance said Sunday morning on Fox News.

Imagining military action

On the American side of the Atlantic, Trump’s detractors appear worried that the administration could pursue military action against the Danes. “The Trump administration appears to be actively contemplating an act of Putin-like aggression and annexation against a NATO ally,” wrote The Atlantic writer David Frum.

Such a move would be deeply unpopular. The public was relatively mixed on the acquisition of Greenland when the issue first gained attention this year. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. voters supported Greenland becoming part of the United States in the January iteration of the Napolitan News Survey, compared to 41% who opposed it at the time. Should Greenland want to join the U.S., however, 61% supported allowing them. But only 16% expressed support for the military acquisition of the island.

Independence, not annexation

Complicating matters are the recent elections in Greenland that have shaken up the territory’s geopolitical norms. Egede is set to soon depart the prime ministerial position and the pro-independence Demokraatit Party is set to take control.

“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,” Demokraatit leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen said last week, according to the Associated Press.

Demokraatit leaders favor building the island’s self-sustainability and its eventual independence from Denmark. Trump, for his part, has suggested that the U.S. acquisition of Greenland may not amount to formal annexation and could take another form, such as an expanded military presence or economic rights.

“Maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers going there. I don’t know,” he said, according to the AP. The United States currently has a number of non-contiguous, overseas territories, with varying degrees of integration. These include full states to commonwealths, and unincorporated territories.