Second lady Usha Vance to visit Greenland as Trump pushes for ownership of the Danish territory

Second lady Usha Vance will travel to Greenland this week, the White House announced Sunday, becoming the latest U.S. official to visit the Danish territory as President Donald Trump ramps up calls for U.S. ownership.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and national security adviser Michael Waltz will join the vice president’s wife as part of the U.S. delegation, two administration sources confirmed to NBC News.

Vance, who is bringing one of her two sons, will visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage and attend a national dogsled race, the White House said. The trip will begin on Thursday.

The officials will embark on the trip as Trump sharpens his yearslong proposal to take over Greenland, a mineral-rich island that houses a U.S. military base in a region of growing geopolitical importance.

Vance said in a video Sunday that her visit will double as an effort to celebrate and strengthen “the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between” the U.S. and Greenland.

The New York Times first reported Vance’s upcoming trip.

The visit by the U.S. delegation has drawn the ire of outgoing Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute B. Egede, who questioned if the trip was a show of force meant to intimidate local leaders.

“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 a local newspaper Sunday. “What is the security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to show a demonstration of power to us, and the signal is not to be misunderstood.”

Representatives for the White House and Department of Energy did not immediately return a request for comment.

Trump floated the idea of purchasing Greenland during his first term in office but has recently grown more aggressive in making the pitch. He has called ownership of Greenland “an absolute necessity” and has refused to rule out using military force to acquire the territory.

“We need Greenland for national security. One way or the other we’re gonna get it,” said during his address to a joint session of Congress this month.

He offered a similar rationale during an Oval Office meeting this month with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where he suggested the military alliance may have to aid his effort to annex the territory.

“We have a lot of our favorite players cruising around the coast, and we have to be careful,” Trump said. “I think that’s why NATO might be have to get involved in a way, because we really need Greenland for national security.”

Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, which is a member of NATO.

Greenlandic and Danish leaders have consistently rejected Trump’s proposal to take over Greenland.

In January, Donald Trump Jr., accompanied by right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, traveled to Greenland, for a visit his father characterized as being in support of a “deal that must happen.”