As U.S. foreign aid grants get slashed, Greenland gets money for a dog race

Second lady Usha Vance has scrapped a plan to attend Greenland’s national dog sled race this week. But American tax dollars will help support the race anyway.

NPR has learned that the State Department has provided a grant to transport the dogs, sleds and racers by air from around Greenland for the race. The State Department did not provide a cost estimate, but a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly said it’s in the range of tens of thousands of dollars.

“The United States, through our Consulate in Nuuk, sponsored the transport of all dogs, sleds, and racers to and from 10 cities and towns around Greenland for the race,” a State Department spokesman told NPR in a statement. “We are still coordinating with race organizers to determine needs and fix a final amount of our sponsorship.”

This all comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cancelled more than 80 percent of foreign aid grants. Grants are now screened to determine whether they make the U.S. stronger, safer and more prosperous. At the same time, the Trump administration has made cuts to grants for USAID programs around the world and also frozen funding for Fulbright scholars.

Mikkel Jeremiasson, who chairs Greenland’s national dog sled race, told local reporters that the exact amount from the State Department for transporting the dogs, racers and equipment was substantial but the exact amount is confidential due to the terms of the agreement. Danish newspaper, Berlingske, reports that Air Greenland has been told to send invoices for the flights to the U.S. Consulate in the capital city, Nuuk.

Instead of attending the race on the trip, Vice President JD Vance will now accompany Usha Vance to an American Space Force base in Pituffik, amid planned protests at the dog race and rising anger among Greenland and Danish officials over President Trump’s efforts to make Greenland part of the United States. National polls have shown most Greenlanders are against becoming part of the United States. Protests have popped up around the country, with Greenlanders wearing “Make America Go Away” caps and holding “Yankees go home” banners.

“This is clearly a deescalation,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said of the decision by Usha Vance to forgo the dog sled race. “I think it’s very positive that the Americans cancelled their visit to the Greenlandic Society. Instead their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that.”

“There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” Vance said in a video released on X on Tuesday afternoon.

The Vances plan to visit American troops at the Pituffik Space Base and get briefings from service members. The base, once known at Thule Air Base, has some 650 personnel, including U.S. Air Force and Space Force members, as well as Canadian, Danish and Greenlandic civilian contractors.

“It’s really important,” Vance said in the video. “A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and of course, to threaten the people of Greenland, so we’re going to check out how things are going there.”

Vance said the Trump administration wants to “reinvigorate” security for Greenland, adding that leaders in both America and Denmark have “ignored Greenland for far too long.” He said that’s been bad for Greenland and “the security of the entire world.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has called the visit part of a “very aggressive American pressure against the Greenlandic community.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederickson called the U.S. delegation an “unacceptable pressure” and vowed resistance.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the Greenland’s Demokraatit party and poised to be the country’s next prime minister following elections earlier this month, said the visit showed a “lack of respect for the Greenlandic people.”

Trump, in an interview with podcaster Vince Coglianese on Wednesday, once again called for Greenland to become part of the United States.

America has “to let them know that we need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it,” Trump said. “It’s [an] island from a defensive posture and even offensive posture is something we need. … When you look at the ships going up their shore by the hundreds, it’s a busy place.”