00:00Since his return to office, Donald Trump has had his eyes set on Greenland.
00:07Insisting that the United States takes a stronger position in the Arctic.
00:11Trump has gone so far as to refuse to rule out the use of force to achieve that aim.
00:16Greenland is a wonderful place.
00:18We need it for international security.
00:21Now the White House has announced that a U.S. delegation will be visiting the Arctic territory
00:25at the end of March.
00:27First it was announced that Usha Vance, the wife of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, would
00:31be visiting the island.
00:33Now J.D. Vance says he'll be going along too.
00:35Hey guys, it's J.D. Vance, the Vice President, and you know there was so much excitement
00:38around Usha's visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn't want her to have
00:43all that fun by herself and so I'm going to join her.
00:46It's really important.
00:47A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and
00:52its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and of course to threaten
00:57the people of Greenland.
00:58So we're going to check out how things are going there.
01:00The visit, presented as private, has angered Greenlandic and Danish politicians.
01:04Yeah, well not provocation.
01:07This is friendliness, not provocation.
01:10The delegation's trip comes at a time of political flux in Greenland, where parties are still
01:14negotiating to form a new coalition government following a general election in mid-March.
01:19But this is not the first time Trump has set his sights on the territory.
01:23During his first term in office, Trump said he wanted to buy Greenland.
01:26The autonomous Danish territory holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves.
01:30Now that the ice shelves are rapidly melting due to climate change, Greenland has become
01:34all the more desirable.
01:35I would say the time loop is becoming right and the reason why it's becoming right is
01:39because many of these deposits that we have are actually crucial for doing this green
01:45transition.
01:46These are super important.
01:48Greenland is also strategically situated between North America and Europe.
01:52This location puts the territory on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the
01:56U.S.
01:59There has also been heightened Chinese and Russian interest as the sea lanes open due
02:02to melting ice, with the ships from the two countries often found in Greenland's waters.
02:08We need that for international security, not just security, international.
02:13And we have a lot of our favorite players cruising around the coast.
02:18Right now, the only country threatening Greenland, that's actually the U.S.
02:23If he meant China or Russia, they're not threatening Greenland.
02:27They have not any interest in attacking Greenland.
02:32Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has criticized Trump for putting unacceptable
02:36pressure on both the territory and her country.
02:39Greenland is seeking to become fully independent from Copenhagen, having accused Denmark of
02:43historically suppressing the territory's culture, carrying out forced sterilizations,
02:48and removing children from their families.
02:51Of course we want to have independence from Denmark because we are seeing like lower ranking
02:59people from the Danish people.
03:03But about Trump, yeah, I don't know.
03:09We are not for sale.
03:11While most Greenlanders support independence, the majority are opposed to Trump's plans.
03:16And some have expressed concerns that a hasty break from Denmark could fuel Trump's ambitions.
03:21It is important, but I don't think it's going to happen now, especially with how the world
03:25is.
03:26I think if we become independent right now, America is going to take over.
03:31Greenland's likely new prime minister, Jens Frederik Nelsen, has insisted the U.S. delegation
03:35has not been invited to the island.
03:38Trump maintains they have.
03:39People from Greenland are asking us to go.
03:41We have many, many requests from many, many people.
03:44Some officials too.
03:45While Uschevansk initially had plans to visit a dog sledding race, Washington has decided
03:49to limit the delegation's visit to the U.S. Bedeviks space base, a move that has been
03:54welcomed by Denmark.
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