VP Vance's global travels are a mix of diplomacy, dealmaking, soft power and family time

WASHINGTON (AP) — When JD Vance was running for vice president, he walked across an airport tarmac in Wisconsin one August day when his campaign travels happened to intersect those of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and approached Air Force Two. Besides wanting to take a poke at Republican Donald Trump's rival for avoiding the press, Vance said, "I just wanted to check out my future plane.”

It's an aircraft he now knows well.

In the opening months of Trump's term, Vice President Vance has traveled all over the globe — family in tow — to conduct top-level diplomacy for the administration, in addition to taking a number of domestic trips. His international forays have featured a mix of meetings with world leaders, sharply crafted speeches advancing U.S. policy, “soft power” appearances to build goodwill and family time at tourist sites along the way.

Vance's trips have included a five-day trip to Europe in February, a hastily reorganized trek to Greenland in March and a tour of Italy and India in April that was notable for the vice president's brief meeting with Pope Francis the day before the pontiff died.

In his first big moment on the world stage in February, Vance pressed Trump's “America first” message at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris and spoke of maintaining U.S. dominance in the surging industry. From there, he attended a security conference in Munich, where the vice president left his audience stunned with his lecturing remarks about democracy and scant focus on Russia's war against Ukraine.

In March, Vance delivered pointed remarks while in Greenland, scolding Denmark for not investing more in the security of its territory and demanding a new approach. Trump has upset many Greenlanders with his aggressive claims that the U.S. needs to take control of the island away from Denmark.

There's been dealmaking, too.

In India last month, Vance announced after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they had agreed on a negotiating framework for a U.S.-India trade deal. In Italy, he held talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in addition to his separate audiences with the pope and a top Vatican official.

Vance has been accompanied on his overseas trips by his wife, Usha, and their 7- and 5-year-old sons and 3-year-old daughter. The kids are usually in pajamas as they board Air Force Two for the overnight .

The Vances have gazed aloft at the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and been photographed, with the children in traditional Indian dress, in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Without their children, the Vances also visited Dachau in Germany.

Brad Blakeman, a former senior official in George W. Bush's administration who has provided planning advice to Vance’s office for some of his foreign travel, said that, while some personal time is woven in, these are not vacations.

“You try and balance the policy with the culture aspect of the trip so that you’re honoring the customs and culture of the places that you are visiting,” he said. Visiting iconic cultural sites while abroad shows respect and builds rapport with host nations that can enhance diplomacy.

It’s also important to be mindful that the president and vice president travel at the public’s expense, he said.

“That’s the balancing act that always has to be done because of the stewardship of the taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Joel Goldstein, a law professor at Saint Louis University who specializes in the U.S. vice presidency, said the journeys also could be intended to build Vance's foreign policy chops.

“Part of foreign travel for a vice president is establishing a national security and diplomatic credential,” he said, noting that it's particularly important for Vance.

At age 40, Vance served just two years in the Senate before ascending to the office.

Vance is also the second-youngest person and the first of the millennial generation to hold the job.

“Generations” author Jean Twenge, a San Diego State University psychology professor who studies generational differences, said the ease with which Vance moves between work and leisure is emblematic of his generation.

“The research suggests that, just with internet use and social media use, the lines between work time and family time blur, that you switch tasks much more quickly than, say, Gen Xers or boomers,” she said.

Vance frequently switches gears on the road. Last week, he wedged in a quick beer with service members in Germany — and autographed the “kegerator” built by one airman — after days of wall-to-wall official and cultural activities throughout Italy and India.

Usha Vance was originally slated for a solo trip to Greenland with one of their sons to attend a dogsled race. But that plan was scrapped amid growing discontent from the governments of Greenland and Denmark over the visit and Trump’s tough talk of the U.S. taking the territory away from a NATO ally. Instead, the vice president joined the trip, and their visit was limited to a U.S. military base there.

On his Italy trip, Vance took heat on X for being photographed inside the Sistine Chapel. Photography there is usually forbidden, but the session turned out to have been sanctioned by the Vatican, as has happened on past visits by U.S. dignitaries.

A decision during the same trip to close the Roman Colosseum to the public so Usha Vance and the children could take a tour drew some grumbling from tourists stranded outside. A consumer group has since filed a legal complaint.

In India, the Taj Mahal, normally swarming with tourists, was also closed to visitors to accommodate the Vances, according to local media reports.

American officials are often formally invited to make such cultural diversions, and it’s not unusual for the U.S. Secret Service, which provides protection for top U.S. officials, to ask for the sites to be closed to the public for security reasons during presidential and vice presidential tours.

The Vances appear to have tried on occasion to avoid such disruptions. In France, the family visited the Louvre on a Tuesday, a day when the museum is closed to the public.

Other recent vice presidents also have taken family members along on trips. Presidents do, as well.

As vice president, Democrat Joe Biden often took one of his older granddaughters on trips, a practice he continued as president. Presidents' children, including Malia and Sasha Obama and Chelsea Clinton, went along on some trips with their parents, too.

Practices differ, but the idea is the same: Time in office is short, so make the most of it and expose your children to the world.

Usha Vance said as much during the family visit to India, where her parents were born. She hadn't visited in decades, and her husband and children had never been there.

In an interview with India's NDTV, she said she'd been anxious to make the “trip of a lifetime” with them.

“It’s been something that I’ve wanted to share with my new nuclear family,” the U.S. second lady said, adding that they knew Vance would have a chance to visit India as vice president. "We always knew that, when that opportunity arose, we would all come with him.”

“We think of it as sort of a gateway, the first of many trips to come, I hope," she said.

One aim of vice presidential travel abroad is often soft diplomacy, or the building of favorable attitudes toward the U.S. through imagery and symbolism.

When Vance, with his wife of Indian descent and their children, is photographed at the Taj Mahal, it sends a message of solidarity with that nation. When he visits the Vatican and worships there, it emphasizes common ground with Catholics around the world.

Likewise, when Vance appears in public with his children, it could help drive home his quest to encourage large families and build goodwill among American voters, said University of Dayton political scientist Christopher Devine, co-author of “Do Running Mates Matter?”

“I wonder, with JD Vance, if it's an effort to soften his image," Devine said. “He's someone who has not been particularly popular ever since he entered the national scene, and appearing with family tends to make people a little more likable, harder to hate.”

Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.

FILE - U.S. Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, with their children Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, wave as they arrive at the Munich airport in Munich, Germany, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance departs Giovan Battista Pastine International Airport in Ciampino, Italy en route to New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a bilateral meeting at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Feb. 11, 2025. (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP, File)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Indian Prime Minister's Office via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance gives a toast to U.S. service members during a refueling stop at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and family arrive on Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance gives a toast to U.S. service members during a refueling stop at Ramstein Air Base, Germany while en route to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Thursday April 24, 2025. (Kenny Holston/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance visits with service members during a refueling stop at Ramstein Air Base,, Germany, Thursday April 24, 2025. (Kenny Holston/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Air Force General James Hecker leans down to talk with U.S. Vice President JD Vance's children prior to Vance and his family departing Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday April 24, 2025. (Kenny Holston/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his family, including wife Usha Vance, visit the Taj Mahal on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Agra, India. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his family, including wife Usha Vance, visit the Taj Mahal on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Agra, India. (Kenny Holston /The New York Times via AP, Pool)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to media as he departs Agra, India en route to Jaipur, India after visiting the Taj Mahal on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Agra, India. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)