Denmark welcomes change of plans by US for Greenland visit

Denmark's foreign minister on Wednesday welcomed a US decision to alter a planned visit to Greenland that had sparked a diplomatic standoff between Copenhagen and the White House amid President's Donald Trump's interest in taking over the island.

Denmark's prime minister had said on Tuesday that a planned visit by Usha Vance, the wife of US Vice President JD Vance, to a popular dog-sled race in Greenland was part of an 'unacceptable pressure' on the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

The White House on Tuesday announced that the delegation would instead be headed by JD Vance himself, but that it would only visit the US Space Base at Pituffik in northern Greenland and not the dog-sled race.

"I think it's very positive that the Americans cancelled their visit to the Greenlandic society. Instead, they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that," Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told broadcaster DR.