Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday she regretted and was surprised that U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his scheduled visit to Denmark when she rebuffed his overture to buy Greenland, the Arctic country that is part of the Danish kingdom.
“I had been looking forward to the visit, our preparations were well under way,” she told reporters in Copenhagen. “It was an opportunity, I think, to celebrate Denmark’s close relationship to the U.S., and who remains one of Denmark’s closest allies. I was looking forward to having a dialogue on the many shared interests Denmark has with the U.S.”
But Trump called off the Sept. 2-3 visit late Tuesday, saying that with Frederiksen declaring that “she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time.”
….The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Trump recently floated the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark but officials in Denmark and Greenland immediately responded that the island is not for sale.
“Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously,” Frederiksen told the newspaper Sermitsiaq during a visit to Greenland.
The Danish prime minister said that while she considers the United States to be her country’s closest strategic ally, “thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over.”
Trump had been invited to Denmark for a state visit, but White House spokesman Judd Deere confirmed late Tuesday that the trip was canceled.