Adrienne Murray
Reporting from Copenhagen

Image source, Reuters

Greenland’s new government has just been revealed, with 33-year-old Jens-Frederik Nielsen becoming the country’s new prime minister.

National elections took place earlier this month, and his party the Democrats (Demokraatit), took home a surprise victory, sweeping up 30% of the vote.

They’ve now entered a coalition with three other parties: Siumut, Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) and Atassut. Together they’ll form a new ‘unity’ government with 23 out of the 31 parliamentary seats.

At a signing event at in the capital Nuuk, flanked by his new political partners, Nielsen said: “It is a time when we as a population are under pressure. We must stick together. Together we are strongest.”

The election was overshadowed by President Donald Trump's interest in taking control of the Arctic territory, and shortly after winning, Nielsen had said he wanted as a broad a coalition as possible, given the mounting pressure from the US.

In a room packed with party members and media, the event opened with a choir, and the four party leaders then signed an agreement, to applause and cheers.

Though the parties differ in some policy areas, all four favoured a slower, steadier path towards indepedence. That leaves only Naleraq - a staunchly pro-independence party which came second in the election, and had campaigned for a swift divorce from Copenhagen and stronger defence dealings with Washington - in opposition.

“Big congratulations to Greenland with the new government," Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen posted on Instagram, external. “I look forward to close cooperation in an unnecessarily conflict-filled time.”

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent

Trump has said the US will "go as far as we have to go" to get Greenland, while he has also declined to rule out the use of force to seize it and other territories including the Panama Canal.

It’s clear foreign leaders in these places, along with Canada, hoped for some time this was all part of Trump’s characteristically brash hyperbole - a kind of maximalist, if coercive, trade negotiating position.

But Vance’s trip along with the president’s continuing comments have made it increasingly clear to them Trump seems serious in his annexationist ambitions.

These threats upend 80 years of established international norms, previously led by the US, that respect the territorial integrity of countries. The rule prohibiting territorial conquest has been a pillar of the post-1945 international order as defined in the Charter of the United Nations to which the US was a founding signatory.

Trump’s claim to Greenland, as well as his sights on other foreign territories, turn back the clock on at least eight decades of American and internationally established policy.

It's an early start for the vice-president and second lady as they leave Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to visit the Pituffik Space Base in north west Greenland.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Marianne Baisnée
Reporting from Nuuk

At the presentation of the new government coalition in Nuuk Cultural Centre in Greenland's capital, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, whose Demokraatit party won the highest number of votes in the national general election earlier this year, tells the assembled reporters: "It is a time when we as a population are under pressure."

Greenland's Democrats and three other parties have announced a coalition, with Nielson urging them all to set aside their differences and form a coalition to show unity as US President Donald Trump campaign to annex the territory.

The Naleraq party is not involved in the coalition.

Andrew Harding
Reporting from Nuuk

In the Nuuk’s busy harbour this morning, Karl-Peter, 40, was preparing to head out to sea in a small boat with three colleagues to fish for halibut. First they had to clear a path through a maze of giant blocks of floating ice, nudging them aside the boat’s bow, or sometimes using a broom.

Like so many people here, the fishermen we met expressed anger and bewilderment at Donald Trump’s declared ambition to annex Greenland.

“I don’t feel safe. I’m worried. Trump is trying to control the country,” said Karl-Peter, who declined to give us his surname.

“I have no idea (what will happen). I want Greenland to control its own fate,” he continued.

Nearby, workers were busy moving giant crates of shrimps into warehouses.

The wind-chill meant it felt about minus 15 degrees centigrade. In the channel, icebergs were being tugged out to sea by the wind and current, while burst of sunshine caught the tops of the surrounding mountains as they emerged from the clouds.

Image source, Getty Images

The Pituffik Space Base in northern Greenland exists due to a mutual defence agreement between the United States and Denmark.

Pronounced bee-doo-feek, it's located on Greenland's north-west coast, 750 miles (1,207km) from the North Pole.

In 1946, the US and Denmark jointly established a radio and weather station near to where the base currently sits, and construction of the base - secret at the time - began in 1951.

Because of its location at the "top of the world," it supports missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance missions.

It was previously known at the Thule Air Base, but the US military changed its name in 2023 to "recognise Greenlandic cultural heritage and better reflect its role in the US Space Force".

The base is locked in by ice for nine months of the year, but its airfield operates all year round.

Maryam Moshiri
Chief presenter, BBC News

So how do people in Greenland feel about this scaled back visit by the Vice President, his wife and the National Security Advisor Mike Waltz?

Martin Breum, Danish journalist and author of Greenland and the American Connection, says people here are relieved the Americans have backtracked on their original plans to visit the capital Nuuk.

"That is a relief, because there is no functioning government in Nuuk. The Americans, they were not invited but there were already military planes landing here with bullet proof cars," said Martin.

"The centre of town was teeming with police and American diplomats, and the tension, the stress that that causes in such a small town as Nuuk with less than 20,000 people is hard for, I think, the rest of the world to understand."

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier this week, it was announced that the US vice-president's wife, Usha Vance, would spend several days in Greenland, visiting the capital Nuuk and attending cultural events like a popular annual dogsled race.

The White House said on Tuesday that the vice-president would join his wife in Greenland but that the couple would only spend a day there visiting the US Pituffik Space Base, on the north-western coast.

Denmark welcomed the changes to the original trip with Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen saying the decision was "very positive" and that Denmark had "nothing against" the Americans visiting their own base.

Although Vance will become the highest-ranking US official to visit Greenland, a visit to a US base is less controversial than the original plan for his wife's visit, which Greenland's acting head of government Mute Egede called a "provocation".

In recent weeks hundreds of people have taken part in demonstrations against the US, with some holding placards reading "Respect international agreements" and "Yankee go home".

The first couple is expected to land in Greenland in a few hours, so stick with us.

You can read more on the Vance's trip to Greenland in our news story.

Image source, Getty Images

Shortly before JD Vance set off for Greenland, Donald Trump reiterated his stance that the US “is going to have to have” the island.

But why has he been kicking up such a fuss about the territory?

The US president says that control of Greenland is essential “for national security and international security”.

It may sound unusual, but administrations before Trump’s have attempted to buy the world’s largest island - in 1946, the US offered to pay $100m (equivalent to $1.2bn; £970m, today) for the territory, but the Danish government refused.

Despite Greenland not being part of the US, America has established military and radio stations across the territory since the end of World War Two.

And, if the US is not able to retain - and possibly upgrade - its military interest on Greenland, there is a fear that Russia may attempt to send nuclear weapon attacks via the territory.

So, with China and Russia building up military capabilities in the Arctic in recent years, there are calls for the US to further develop its presence in the north to counter its rivals.

Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter

After being elected to his second term in the White House, US President Donald Trump started talking about acquiring Greenland.

"We're going to have it," Trump told reporters as recently as Wednesday, adding "we need Greenland for international safety and security", though polls suggest the idea is vastly unpopular with Greenlanders.

Today, vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha will be visiting Greenland, but it's a scaled down trip from original plans after Greenland's acting prime minister accused them of provocation - more on that shortly.

So, the White House has slimmed down the itinerary to just a day trip to the Pituffik Space Base before the Vances head back to Washington DC.

We'll bring you all the updates throughout the day from the Vance delegation, Greenland residents, the US and Denmark, stay with us.