Usha Vance hit with fresh humiliation as Greenland residents refuse to meet her during solo trip
28 March 2025, 10:15 | Updated: 28 March 2025, 10:17
Usha Vance has suffered fresh humiliation as Greenland residents refused to meet her during a solo trip.
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US officials were said to have been left knocking on doors looking for people to meet the Second Lady during her trip to Greenland.
She and one of her sons were due to visit the Danish-controlled territory from Thursday to Saturday this week to see historic and cultural sites.
However, as Donald Trump continues to push for control of the island, Ms Vance appears to have been shunned by locals.
Plans to go to the popular Avannaata Qimussersu dogsled race in Sisimiut were cancelled, resulting in officials searching for people to meet her in the capital of Nuuk, according to Danish television station TV 2.
Read more: Greenland’s Inuit reject U.S. influence as VP Vance’s visit reignites historic tensions
They are understood to have knocked on locals' doors but were told: "No, thank you."
The three-day visit has consequently been cut down to just one day, with vice president JD Vance due to join his wife for a visit to an American military base in Greenland.
Relations between the US and the Nordic country have soured after Mr Trump repeatedly suggested that the United States should, in some form, control the mineral-rich territory of Denmark - a traditional US ally and Nato member.
Friday's one-day visit to the US Space Force outpost at Pituffik, on the northwest coast of Greenland, has removed the risk of violating potential diplomatic taboos by sending a delegation to another country without an official invitation.
It will also reduce the likelihood that Mr Vance and his wife will cross paths with residents angered by Mr Trump's annexation announcements.
Ahead of the visit, four of the five parties elected to Greenland's parliament earlier this month agreed to form a new, broad-based coalition government, banding together to resist Mr Trump's designs on the territory.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday that the visit, which was originally set for three days, created "unacceptable pressure".
On Thursday, she was cited by Danish public broadcaster DR as saying: "We really want to work with the Americans on defence and security in the kingdom. But Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders."
It came after Donald Trump repeated his desire for US control of Greenland on Wednesday.
Asked if the people there were "eager" to become US citizens, Mr Trump said he did not know "but I think we have to do it, and we have to convince them".
