Washington.- United States President Donald Trump Monday defended the controversial visit to Greenland by a US delegation that included Usha Vance (wife of US Vice President JD Vance), calling it «purely friendship.»

«This is friendliness, not provocation. We’re dealing with a lot of people from Greenland that would like to see something happen with respect to their being properly protected and properly taken care of,» Trump said during a cabinet meeting.

The US leader said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit the Danish territory.

“But we’ve been invited, and they really like the idea, because they have been somewhat abandoned … they haven’t been taken well, good care of. And I think Greenland is going to be something that maybe is in our future,” Trump said.

Despite the US President’s words, Greenland’s autonomous president, Múte B. Egede, rejected the US delegation’s visit and called for international support in the face of «very aggressive» behavior.

«If they don’t speak out loudly against how the US treats Greenland, the situation will escalate day by day,» Egede told the local newspaper Sermitsiaq.

The Greenlandic president said that «the only purpose is to demonstrate power over us, and the message is clear.»

On Sunday, the White House said that Usha Vance and one of her three sons will officially travel to Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, on Thursday to attend a popular sled dog race.

According to Danish media, Usha Vance will be joined by Rubio and White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, Trump’s top foreign policy adviser.

Trump said on Monday that Greenland’s integration into the US is «important.»

«It’s important from the standpoint of international security. And if you look at the ships outside of Greenland, you have Russia, you have China, you have lots of different people and lots of different places, and it cannot go on the way it is. It’s not going to go on the way it is. I’ll make a statement — it’s not going to happen. So they’re going there, and that’s purely friendship,» he concluded.