{"id":227744,"date":"2019-08-22T05:47:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T09:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=227744"},"modified":"2025-01-29T06:04:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T11:04:28","slug":"greenland-fallout-trump-scolds-denmark-over-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/22\/greenland-fallout-trump-scolds-denmark-over-rejection\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenland fallout: Trump scolds Denmark over rejection"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: President of the United States Donald Trump speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo by Gage Skidmore\/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

COPENHAGEN — Escalating an international spat, President Donald Trump said Wednesday he scrapped his trip to Denmark because the prime minister made a \u201cnasty\u201d statement when she rejected his idea to buy Greenland as an absurdity.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don’t talk to the United States that way, at least under me,\u201d Trump told reporters in Washington. \u201cI thought it was not a nice statement, the way she blew me off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the whole thing \u201can absurd discussion\u201d and said she was \u201cdisappointed and surprised\u201d that Trump had cancelled his visit.<\/p>\n

Trump said Frederiksen’s comment labeling his idea as absurd \u201cwas nasty. I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to say was say, ‘No, we wouldn’t be interested.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Greenland\u00a0is a semi-autonomous territory of the U.S. ally, and Frederiksen said the U.S. remains one of Denmark’s close allies.<\/p>\n

The political brouhaha over the world’s largest island comes from its strategic location in the Arctic. Global warming is making\u00a0Greenland\u00a0more accessible to potential oil and mineral resources. Russia, China, the U.S., Canada and other countries are racing to stake as strong a claim as they can to Arctic lands, hoping they will yield future riches.<\/p>\n

Trump was scheduled to visit Denmark on Sept. 2-3 as part of a European tour. But early Wednesday, he tweeted his decision to indefinitely postpone the trip. The move stunned Danes and blindsided the Danish royal palace. Spokeswoman Lene Balleby told The Associated Press that it came as \u201ca surprise\u201d to the royal household, which had formally invited Trump.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke Wednesday with his Danish counterpart and \u201cexpressed appreciation for Denmark’s co-operation as one of the United States’ allies and Denmark’s contributions to address shared global security priorities.<\/p>\n

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\u201d<\/p>\n

Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said Pompeo and Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod \u201calso discussed strengthening co-operation with the Kingdom of Denmark – including\u00a0Greenland\u00a0– in the Arctic.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted, \u201cDenmark 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\u00a0Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vast island of\u00a0Greenland\u00a0sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, has a population of 56,000 and has 80% of its land mass covered by a 1.7 million-square-kilometre (660,000 square-mile) ice sheet.<\/p>\n

For all of\u00a0Greenland’s appeal, scientists consider it the canary in the coal mine for climate change and say its massive ice sheet has seen one of its biggest melts on record this summer, contributing to a global rise in sea levels.<\/p>\n

Frederiksen said she is standing behind the government of\u00a0Greenland.<\/p>\n

\u201cA discussion about a potential sale of\u00a0Greenland\u00a0has been put forward. It has been rejected by\u00a0Greenland\u00a0Premier Kim Kielsen and I fully stand behind that rejection,\u201d she told reporters in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

Frederiksen, who took office two months ago in a minority Social Democratic government, went on to say that diplomatic relations between Copenhagen and Washington \u201care not in any crisis in my opinion\u201d despite Trump’s cancelled plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe invitation for a stronger strategic co-operation with the Americans in the Arctic is still open,\u201d Frederiksen said, adding \u201cthe United States is one of our closest allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others in Denmark were not as gracious.<\/p>\n

Martin Lidegaard, a former Danish foreign minister, told broadcaster TV2 that it was \u201ca diplomatic farce\u201d and Trump’s behaviour was \u201cgrotesque.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump’s cancellation was \u201cdeeply insulting to the people of\u00a0Greenland\u00a0and Denmark,\u201d former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Claus Oxfeldt, chairman of Denmark’s main police union, told Danish media that authorities had been busy planning the third visit by a sitting U.S. president to the Scandinavian NATO member. \u201cIt has created great frustrations to have spent so much time preparing for a visit that is cancelled,\u201d Oxfeldt was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

Ordinary Danes shook their heads at the news, with many calling Trump immature.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thinks he can just buy\u00a0Greenland.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0He acts like an elephant in a china shop,\u201d said Pernille Iversen, a 41-year-old shopkeeper in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an insult to (Queen) Margrethe, to Denmark,\u201d said Steen Gade, a 55-year-old road worker.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Greenland, Johannes Kyed, an employee with a mine company, told Denmark’s TV2 channel that wanting to buy a country and its people is a relic of the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the way the world works today,\u201d Kyed said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, was apparently not informed of Trump’s decision ahead of time.<\/p>\n

Shortly before Trump cancelled the trip on Twitter, she sent a tweet saying \u201cDenmark is ready for POTUS,\u201d using an acronym for \u201cPresident of the United States\u201d along with Trump’s Twitter handle and a photo from Copenhagen’s City Hall square, where a Dane had paid for two pro-Trump ads on giant electronic screens.<\/p>\n

Trump said Sunday he was interested in buying\u00a0Greenland\u00a0for strategic purposes, but said a purchase was not a priority for his government at this time. Both Frederiksen and\u00a0Greenland\u00a0leader Kielsen responded that\u00a0Greenland\u00a0is not for sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct,\u201d Trump said in the tweet Wednesday. \u201cI thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump is still expected to visit nearby Poland beginning Aug. 31.<\/p>\n

Retreating ice could uncover potential oil and mineral resources in\u00a0Greenland\u00a0which, if successfully tapped, could dramatically change the island’s fortunes. However, no oil has yet been found in Greenlandic waters and the thickness of the ice means exploration is only possible in coastal regions.<\/p>\n

Even then, conditions are far from ideal, due to\u00a0Greenland’s long winters with frozen ports, 24-hour darkness and temperatures that regularly drop below minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) in the island’s northern regions.<\/p>\n

American leaders have tried to buy\u00a0Greenland\u00a0before. In 1946, the U.S. proposed paying Denmark $100 million to buy\u00a0Greenland\u00a0after flirting with the idea of swapping land in Alaska for strategic parts of the Arctic island.<\/p>\n

Under a 1951 deal, Denmark allowed the U.S. to build bases and radar stations on\u00a0Greenland.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Air Force currently maintains one base in northern\u00a0Greenland, Thule Air Force Base, 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) south of the North Pole. Former military airfields in Narsarsuaq, Kulusuk and Kangerlussuaq have become civilian airports.<\/p>\n

The Thule base, constructed in 1952, was originally designed as a refuelling base for long-range bombing missions. Since 1961, it has been a ballistic missile early warning and space surveillance site.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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