Vice President Vance on Friday slammed Denmark as failing to prioritize Greenland’s security, escalating rhetoric between Washington and Copenhagen amid President Trump’s claims to take over the island.
Vance made his remarks from the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, part of a hotly watched trip that came after a “heritage” tour of the island led by second lady Usha Vance was canceled amid protest from officials in Nuuk and Copenhagen.
“What Denmark’s security umbrella has meant is, effectively, they’ve passed it all off to brave Americans and hope that we would pick up the tab,” Vance said.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, but Copenhagen is responsible for the island’s foreign policy and security.
In January, Denmark announced more than $2 billion in defense spending in the Arctic, a nod to increasing attention on Greenland’s importance. A NATO ally, Denmark announced earlier this year it is on track to spend three percent of its gross domestic product on defense, higher than the alliance’s benchmark of two percent.
Trump has not backed off his intent to acquire the island. In remarks at the White House on Friday, Trump said the U.S. has to have Greenland, for international security.
The president then released a video seeming to show U.S. security commitments to Greenland and text of the video saying “America stands with Greenland.”
Still, Vance on Friday said there are no immediate plans to expand the U.S. military presence on the island.
“There [are] general objectives that we want to accomplish that will certainly require us investing more resources, investing in additional military icebreakers, investing in additional naval ships that will have a greater presence in Greenland,” he said.
