The trip to Greenland by high-ranking US representatives has already been criticized for days. Now the delegation's plans have changed, slightly easing tensions, at least on the Danish side. Instead of going to public events like a sled race, the Americans are now only going to visit their own military base. 

It is "very positive" that the US delegation has changed its original plans for its stay on the island, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told radio station DR on Wednesday. Rasmussen explained that Denmark had "no objections" to the planned visit to the US base.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has previously spoken of "unacceptable pressure" from the US. 

Vance also wants in on the "fun"

US Vice President JD Vance belatedly announced that he would join his wife Usha on the controversial trip.

"There was so much excitement around Usha's visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn't want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I'm going to join her," President Donald Trump's deputy said in a video on social media platform, X.

At Pituffik Space Base, Vance will get a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with US soldiers.

The White House had originally announced that Usha Vance would visit the autonomous Danish territory from Thursday to Saturday with her son and a US delegation, but without her husband. 

According to media reports, Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will also form part of the delegation, even though the visit to the mineral-rich Arctic island has been described as a private visit.

Why does the US want Greenland?

This is the second recent trip to Greenland by a US delegation under US President Donald Trump. His son Donald Jr. traveled to Greenland's capital Nuuk for a day at the beginning of January, also causing a stir.

Trump has had his eye on Greenland for a long time. In his first term of office in 2019, he voiced his intention to buy the island, a move which was rejected outright by Greenlanders.

In his second term in office, he once again laid claim to the island, saying he wanted to make it part of the US. Trump justified this primarily on security grounds. Greenland and Denmark remain firmly opposed to the idea.

The idea of a US takeover of Greenland is not new: Democratic US President Harry S. Truman offered Denmark $100 million for the strategic island after World War II, a bid which was also rejected. 

Why is Greenland so desirable?

The world's largest island is in fact of great geostrategic importance to the US. Thanks to Alaska, the US is also an Arctic state and has been operating an air force base in northwest Greenland since 1951.

The base forms an important part of the US early warning system for possible intercontinental missile attacks.

According to the Austrian military magazine Militär Aktuell, the runway at the base in Pituffik is used for more than 3,000 flights from the USA and other countries annually.

The base is the Pentagon's northernmost facility and is home to the world's northernmost deep water port.

The rapid progression of climate change in the Arctic also plays a role. Melting ice is opening up new shipping routes that were previously blocked for most of the year, or even all year.

According to forecasts, between 2030 and 2040, the Arctic ice cap will largely recede in summer. This could open up three new shipping routes from the Pacific to the Atlantic that are significantly shorter than existing ones.

What resources lurk beneath the ice? 

One of these routes, the so-called Northeast Passage near the Russian landmass, is already being developed by China and Russia as a sea route for the transportation of raw materials.

Similar to its ambitions in Ukraine, the US wants to mine rare earths and other raw materials in the Arctic needed for the production of electrical appliances. Metals, diamonds, coal and uranium are also there.

In an interview with private German television station NTV, Cologne politics professor Thomas Jäger highlighted another possible ulterior motive. "It's easy to imagine that Trump wants to follow in the tradition of presidents who greatly expanded their territory, in the 19th century, when the United States expanded westwards and then bought Alaska." That, Jäger said, would fit with Trump's stated goal of going down in history as a "really great president." 

How do Greenlanders view the US' plans? 

Many Greenlanders have protested against Trump's policies while their politicans have spoken out against the US' ambitions. Days ago, outgoing Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede described the delegation's visit as a "provocation." The chairman of Greenland's Demokraatit party, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has described it as showing a "lack of respect." 

Even though the US delegation's program has now changed, locals are still irritated, Greenlandic journalist Masaana Egede also told the broadcaster DR. “I believe that many people still see it as a provocation.”

The parliamentary election on March 11 was also influenced by the new US president's comments. Prime Minister Egede's party and his coalition partners suffered significant losses. The winner of the election was the center-right Demokraatit party.

The election result is primarily seen as a sign that the majority of Greenlanders want independence from Denmark. Greenland has been autonomous in many areas since 1979. However, the island's former colonial power still decides on foreign and defense policy. In view of human rights violations committed against the Inuit in the past, many Greenlanders are keen to finally break ties with Denmark.

Still, nobody knows if an independent Greenland could survive economically. Every year, Copenhagen transfers the equivalent of around €550 million ($592 million) to the island, which makes up around a third of its budget.

Despite these issues, very few people are in favor of Greenland becoming part of the USA. According to a survey conducted by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq at the end of January, 85 % of Greenlanders were against the USA taking over their island.

Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament, Aaja Chemnitz, also aired criticism on Facebook: "It is clear that the Trump camp does not respect our right to self-determination without outside interference," she wrote. 

This story was originally published in German.