Second lady Usha Vance will fly to Greenland on Thursday as President Trump continues to pursue control of the giant icy territory.
The second lady has already made a handful of official trips overseas, including to India and Italy earlier this month and Paris last month. She will take one of her sons with her on the three-day Greenland trip, her second solo official journey abroad.
“Usha Vance will travel to Greenland with her son and a United States delegation to visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race,” the White House said of Vice President JD Vance’s wife.
“Ms. Vance and the delegation are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity.”
The Avannaata Qimussersu race will feature about 444 dogs and about 37 mushers.
The official trip without her hubby follows her solo trip to Italy earlier this month, when she helmed the US delegation to the Special Olympics World Winter Games.
US officials joining her on the Greenland trek include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Both Waltz and Wright are expected to tour a military base in Greenland during their visit.
Before President Trump took office, first son Donald Trump Jr. flew to Greenland has part of an overture to the giant island while the Trump administration seeks to acquire it.
Greenland is currently owned by the Kingdom of Denmark, whose prime minister has been emphatic that it’s not for sale. Greenland’s PM has echoed that sentiment as well.
“We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken,” Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, has said of Trump’s gambit.
Earlier this month, Greenland held an election, and the Demokraatit party, which has favored a slow drift toward independence, won. Its leaders have rebuked Trump’s call to take over the island.
Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to take over Greenland, the Panama Canal Zone and even Canada during his second term.
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security,” Trump said during his speech to a joint session of Congress this month. “I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
