Washington - US President Donald Trump
on Tuesday called off a visit to Denmark scheduled for early
September after the country's prime minister rebuffed his idea
of purchasing Greenland.
"Denmark is a very special country with incredible people,
but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, 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," Trump said in a post on Twitter.
"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!"
A White House official said Trump had dropped the September 2-3
stop in Denmark, a Nato ally. Trump had been due to discuss the
Arctic in meetings in Copenhagen with Frederiksen, who took
office in June, and Prime Minister Kim Kielsen of Greenland.
He is due to visit Poland on August 31.
Frederiksen said on Sunday the idea of selling Greenland to
the United States was absurd after an economic adviser to Trump
confirmed US interest in buying the world's largest island.
"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.
Trump confirmed to reporters on Sunday that he had recently
discussed the possibility of buying Greenland, an autonomous
Danish territory, although he said such a move was not an
immediate priority.
"The concept came up and ... strategically it's
interesting," Trump told reporters in Morristown, New Jersey.
A defense treaty between Denmark and the United States
dating back to 1951 gives the U.S. military rights over the
Thule Air Base in northern Greenland.
Trump's interest in buying Greenland has been met with
incredulity and humor. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who recently
stepped down as Danish prime minister, tweeted last week: "It
must be an April Fool’s Day joke."
On Monday, Trump retweeted an image of a golden Trump tower
looming over a cluster of houses on the Arctic island, and
wrote: "I promise not to do this to Greenland!"