By JOSH BOAK, DAVID KEYTON AND DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press

Greenland and Denmark appeared cautiously relieved early Wednesday by the news that U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife are changing their itinerary for their visit to Greenland Friday, reducing the likelihood that they will cross paths with residents angered by the Trump administration’s attempts to annex the vast Arctic island, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

The couple will now visit the U.S. Space Force outpost at Pituffik, on the northwest coast of Greenland, instead of Usha Vance’s previously announced solo trip to the Avannaata Qimussersu dogsled race in Sisimiut.

President Donald Trump irked much of Europe by suggesting that the United States should in some form control the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of Denmark, a U.S. ally and NATO member. As the nautical gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America, Greenland has broader strategic value as both China and Russia seek access to its waterways and natural resources.

The vice president’s decision to visit a U.S. military base in Greenland has removed the risk of violating potential diplomatic taboos by sending a delegation to another country without an official invitation. Yet Vance has also criticized long-standing European allies for relying on military support from the United States, openly antagonizing partners in ways that have generated concerns about the reliability of the U.S.

Timing of Vance’s visit stirred concerns

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told Danish broadcaster DR Wednesday that the Vances’ updated travel plans are a good thing. The minister said the change was a deescalation, even as he said the Americans are treating it as the opposite, with Vance suggesting in an online video that global security is at stake.

Anne Merrild, a professor and Arctic expert at Aalborg University in Denmark, said recent anti-U.S. demonstrations in Nuuk might have scared the Trump administration enough to revise the trip to avoid interactions with angry Greenlanders.

Still, Merrild said, even a visit to the space base shows that the U.S. administration still considers annexing Greenland to be on the table.

“It’s a signal to the whole world, it’s a strong signal to Denmark, it’s a signal to Greenland,” she said. “And of course it’s also an internal signal to the U.S., that this is something that we’re pursuing.”

Vance is allowed to visit the base, said Marc Jacobsen, a professor at the Royal Danish Defense College, because of a 1951 agreement between Denmark and the U.S. regarding the defense of Greenland.

“What is controversial here is all about the timing,” he said. “Greenland and Denmark have stated very clearly that they don’t want the U.S. to visit right now, when Greenland doesn’t have a government in place,” following the election earlier this month. Coalition negotiations are ongoing.

Ahead of the vice president’s announcement that he would join his wife, discontent from the governments of Greenland and Denmark had been growing sharper, with the Greenland government posting on Facebook Monday night that it had “not extended any invitations for any visits, neither private nor official.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish national broadcasts Tuesday that the visit was “unacceptable pressure.”

Greenland was ignored for too long, Vance says

Usha Vance’s office said Sunday that she would depart Thursday for Greenland and return Saturday. She and one of the couple’s three children had planned to visit historic sites and learn about Greenland’s culture, but her husband’s participation has reoriented the trip around national security, her office said.

Vance said leaders in Denmark and North America had “ignored” Greenland for “far too long.”

During his first term, Trump floated the idea of purchasing the world’s largest island, even as Denmark insisted it wasn’t for sale. The people of Greenland also have firmly rejected Trump’s plans.

Dwayne Ryan Menezes, founder and managing director of the Polar Research & Policy Initiative, said that the Trump administration’s “intimidation” of Greenland could backfire.

Menezes said if Trump was “smart enough” to understand Greenland’s strategic importance, then he should also be “smart enough to know there is no greater way to weaken America’s hand and hurt its long-term interests than turning its back on its allies, the principal asymmetrical advantage it enjoys over its adversaries.”

Trump’s return to the White House has included a desire for territorial expansion, as he seeks to add Canada as a 51st state and resume U.S. control of the Panama Canal. He has also indicated that U.S. interests could take over the land in the war-torn Gaza Strip and convert it into a luxury outpost, displacing up to 2 million Palestinians.

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.