PA ImagesPresident Donald Trump has cancelled his trip to Denmark after the Danish prime minister said Greenland was not for sale.
The POTUS has postponed his meeting with Mette Frederiksen after she said purchasing the island, which is a semi-autonomous Danish territory was ‘an absurd discussion,’ during a trip to Greenland on Sunday.
In a tweet, Trump revealed that since Frederiksen had ‘no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland,’ he had decided to postpone their meeting.
….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) August 20, 2019
Trump wrote:
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.
He continued:
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!
PA ImagesOn Tuesday evening, Judd Deere, a White House spokesperson, confirmed to the New York Times that the trip to Denmark was officially canceled.
This comes after Trump’s offer to buy Greenland was dismissed as unfeasible and met with dismay from locals who branded the move ‘crazy’ and ‘patronising’.
During a visit to meet Greeland’s premier, Kim Kielson, Frederiksen told reporters that Greenland could not be sold because it did not belong to Denmark.
PA ImagesAs per the Guardian, she said:
Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic. I persistently hope that this is not something that is seriously meant.
This isn’t the first time the US has offered to buy Greenland from Denmark. In 1946, the states offered $100 million for the island after the idea of a land swap with Alaska was rejected.
The states later agreed to maintain an airbase in the north of the island, Thule air force base, which was set up as a refueling base for long-range bombers.
As per the Guardian, while visiting Greenland, Frederiksen said:
Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over. Let’s leave it there. Jokes aside, we will of course love to have an even closer strategic relationship with the United States.
Trump has since announced that purchasing Greenland would not be a priority of his administration, telling reporters:
Strategically it’s interesting and we’d be interested, but we’ll talk to them a little bit. It’s not number one on the burner, I can tell you that.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.