From dog racers to PM: US second lady unwelcome in Greenland

Even the dog race the second lady is to see has distanced itself from her, amid a growing backlash against the Trump administration's latest trip to Greenland.

"We did not invite them [but] ... they may attend as spectators," the organisers of Greenland's top sled-dog race, Avannaata Qimussersua, told the New York Times ahead of a visit by US second lady Usha Vance there, due on Thursday (27 March).

Peter Kofod, a rightwing Danish MP, told press on Monday that Denmark should send the security bill for her trip to Washington.

"This is an American who was not invited and who comes with the sole goal of annexing part of Danish territory. It's a charm offensive that ends up being paid for by the Danes," he said.

The outgoing Greenlandic prime minister, Múte Egede, has called the US trip a "provocation ... aggression" and urged Danish and other EU leaders to speak out against it.

"Every minute counts to ensure that the Americans' dream of annexing our country does not become a reality," he told Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq on Sunday.

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the same day that this week's trip could not be "seen independently from the [US] public statements" that it was willing to seize Greenland by force or to annex it.

They spoke as two US Hercules military transport planes landed in Nuuk on Sunday, where they unloaded four armour-plated limousines in advance of Thursday's arrival.

Denmark has also flown over at least 60 policemen to help keep the US VIPs safe, in standard protocol which prompted Kofod's jibe.

Mrs Vance is coming to visit with US security advisor Mike Waltz and energy secretary Chris Wright, who will also go to the US' Pituffik military base on the Nordic island.

They are coming at a sensitive moment after Greenlandic elections on 11 March prompted ongoing coalition-building talks.

The likely new prime minister, who is business friendly and who advocates full independence from Denmark, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, also said on Facebook on Sunday: "I understand if some people feel uneasy [about the US visit]".

And he didn't accept Mrs Vance's claim about coming only for the dog-race, adding: "When high-ranking foreigners travel to our country on what are supposedly 'private' visits, it rightly causes concern".

Aaja Chemnitz, an MP from Egede's Inuit Ataqatigiit party, described the US trip on Danish TV on Monday as a form "badly timed [election] interference".

"Everyone who tries to interfere, but is not part of Greenlandic society, must stay away," she added.

Vivian Motzfeldt, a Greenlandic Green politician, said on Facebook: "If it had happened a year ago, we would have had a very different reaction in our country".

But the "[US] president's words" on annexation "change everything", she said.

Trump's son, Donald Junior, likewise made an uninvited and unofficial trip to Greenland on 7 January, prompting similar protests.

And for some Danish experts, the US actions resembled what Russia did prior to grabbing the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014.

"What is happening now in Greenland is reminiscent of the time before the annexation of Crimea. American politicians will come in droves and agitate for Greenland to be American," said Claus Mathiesen, from the Royal Danish Defence College, on X on Monday.

Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert form the Danish Institute for International Studies, also told Sermitsiaq on Monday: "The parallel in rhetoric and methods [with Crimea] has also been clear to me since 7 January [the Donald Jr. trip]".

"The difference is that it's difficult to imagine that it will end with people shooting at each other in a conflict over Greenland ... that also makes it more difficult to imagine how it will unfold," he said.

A European Commission spokeswoman in Brussels on Monday said only that allies should respect EU states' territorial integrity.