US delegation to visit Greenland as White House ramps up pressure on the island

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede called the planned visit days before local elections 'highly aggressive'

- Vera Bergengruen

U.S. national security adviser Michael Waltz and second lady Usha Vance will travel to Greenland this week, the White House said Sunday, further straining relations over President Trump's improbable vow to acquire the Danish territory "one way or the other."

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede called the planned visit days before local elections "highly aggressive." Energy Secretary Chris Wright is also expected to join Waltz, Vance and her son as part of the first high-level U.S. delegation to visit the self-governing island since Trump declared he wanted to take it over from Denmark.

"We are now at a level where it can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician's wife," Egede told the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq. "What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us."

Both local lawmakers and the Danish government have expressed strong opposition to Trump's overtures, insisting that the mineral-rich island of 57,000 residents, while open to stronger commercial ties with the U.S., isn't interested in an American takeover.