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WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 20: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he meets with President of Romania Klaus Iohannis in the Oval Office of the White House August 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. This is Iohannis’ second visit to
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Topline: U.S. President Donald Trump has scrapped a state visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen shot down his idea that Copenhagen could sell Greenland to the United States.
- Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “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……..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!”
- The U.S. President had been due to visit Denmark, between September 2 and 3 at the invitation of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, and was expected to meet Prime Minister Frederiksen.
- Trump’s move was met with shock and confusion in Copenhagen. Former Danish foreign minister Martin Lidegaard said the incident was a "diplomatic farce”. Former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt wrote that the move was “deeply insulting” to the people of Denmark and Greenland.
- Officials in Copenhagen and Nuuk, capital of Greenland, had been firm but direct in their refusal to consider the sale of the semi-autonomous territory on the world’s largest island. Frederiksen’s comment that Trump’s largest ever real estate gambit was "absurd" appear to have triggered the anger reaction from the Oval Office.
What to watch for: The Greenland spat has dominated headlines ahead of a tough week for Trump, who will meet G7 leaders in Biarritz, France, later this week. Trump has faced criticism for his calls to readmit Russia to the group after it was booted out in 2014 over its illegal annexation of Crimea.
Meanwhile, despite his claims that the U.S. economy is performing well, Trump is pushing the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by at least a full percentage point as concerns about the global economy and the impact of his trade war with China mount.
The release of Federal Reserve minutes later today and Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday at the central bank’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, will hint at the next steps.
Key background: Trump’s declaration that he wants to purchase Greenland has been widely met with disbelief in Washington and Copenhagen, with ex-prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen suggesting that the move was an “April Fools’ Day joke.” Trump confirmed to reporters on Sunday that he had discussed the “strategically interesting” concept, which he described as “essentially a large real estate deal.” On Monday, he tweeted a meme of Trump Tower superimposed onto a Greenland landscape, and said: “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”
In a diplomatic response, Kielsen said that Greenland was not for sale, but that “Greenland is open for trade and cooperation with other countries, including the USA."
The U.S. has tried to buy the strategically significant but largely icebound island on at least two other occasions and the U.S Air Force continues to operate a large airbase there.
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WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 20: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he meets with President of Romania Klaus Iohannis in the Oval Office of the White House August 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. This is Iohannis’ second visit to
Getty Images
Topline: U.S. President Donald Trump has scrapped a state visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen shot down his idea that Copenhagen could sell Greenland to the United States.
- Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “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……..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!”
- The U.S. President had been due to visit Denmark, between September 2 and 3 at the invitation of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, and was expected to meet Prime Minister Frederiksen.
- Trump’s move was met with shock and confusion in Copenhagen. Former Danish foreign minister Martin Lidegaard said the incident was a “diplomatic farce”. Former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt wrote that the move was “deeply insulting” to the people of Denmark and Greenland.
- Officials in Copenhagen and Nuuk, capital of Greenland, had been firm but direct in their refusal to consider the sale of the semi-autonomous territory on the world’s largest island. Frederiksen’s comment that Trump’s largest ever real estate gambit was “absurd” appear to have triggered the anger reaction from the Oval Office.
What to watch for: The Greenland spat has dominated headlines ahead of a tough week for Trump, who will meet G7 leaders in Biarritz, France, later this week. Trump has faced criticism for his calls to readmit Russia to the group after it was booted out in 2014 over its illegal annexation of Crimea.
Meanwhile, despite his claims that the U.S. economy is performing well, Trump is pushing the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by at least a full percentage point as concerns about the global economy and the impact of his trade war with China mount.
The release of Federal Reserve minutes later today and Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday at the central bank’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, will hint at the next steps.
Key background: Trump’s declaration that he wants to purchase Greenland has been widely met with disbelief in Washington and Copenhagen, with ex-prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen suggesting that the move was an “April Fools’ Day joke.” Trump confirmed to reporters on Sunday that he had discussed the “strategically interesting” concept, which he described as “essentially a large real estate deal.” On Monday, he tweeted a meme of Trump Tower superimposed onto a Greenland landscape, and said: “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”
In a diplomatic response, Kielsen said that Greenland was not for sale, but that “Greenland is open for trade and cooperation with other countries, including the USA.”
The U.S. has tried to buy the strategically significant but largely icebound island on at least two other occasions and the U.S Air Force continues to operate a large airbase there.