Trump Doubles Down, Slams Denmark PM's 'Nasty' Jab: 'You Don't Talk to the US That Way'
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments this week calling the concept of the U.S. buying Greenland “absurd.”
After media accounts last week indicated the U.S. was informally looking at the acquisition of Greenland, Trump was asked about it Sunday, according to a White House medial pool report, and indicated it was a concept being explored.
Frederiksen then called any conversation about buying Greenland “an absurd discussion,” CNN reported.
The U.S. president wasn’t happy.
Trump had been scheduled to visit Denmark on Sept. 2 and 3 as part of a European trip that includes a visit to Poland, but announced on Twitter he was canceling the Danish leg of the trip.
“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 tweeted Tuesday.
“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,” Trump added. “I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”
Trump doubled down Wednesday, slamming Frederiksen’s “nasty” comments.
“I thought the prime minister’s statement that it was an absurd idea was nasty,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, according to Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs.
“I thought the prime minister’s statement that it was an absurd idea was nasty,” Trump tells White House reporters at his departure for Kentucky, referring to Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 21, 2019
Trump went even further, characterizing Frederiksen’s remarks as “inappropriate,” according to CNN’s Daniel Dale.
Trump says the prime minister of Denmark was “nasty” and “inappropriate” by publicly rejecting his unsolicited proposal to buy Greenland in the way she did. He says she could’ve just said no, and he’s not going to let her talk to him that way.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 21, 2019
President Trump on Greenland and cancelling trip to Denmark: I thought it was a very not nice way of saying I can’t buy Greenland. They could have just told me no. You don’t talk to the United States like that at least under me. (Reminder: Greenland isn’t for sale.)
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) August 21, 2019
“You don’t talk to the United States that way,” he said, as CNBC’s Eamon Javers reported.
President Trump says the Denmark Prime Minister’s statement on his proposal to buy Greenland was “nasty” and says all she had to do was tell him no. Says he cancelled his visit because “you don’t talk to the United States that way.” pic.twitter.com/v2opnIqDrw
— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) August 21, 2019
“She’s not talking to me, she’s talking to the United States of America,” Trump said, per a White House media pool report.
Trump’s decision to cancel his trip to Denmark was criticized by a number of that country’s officials.
But not everyone was bashing Trump.
Kristian Søby Kristensen, a senior researcher at the University of Copenhagen’s department of political science, said Frederiksen’s next step should be taken with care because the U.S. is a vital NATO ally.
The U.S. “is — without comparison — Denmark’s most important ally when it comes to security policy, so it would be a very serious situation” if she offended the U.S. with her comment, Kristensen said, according to Politico.
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