US President Donald Trump has cancelled an official state visit to Denmark after the nation’s Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen said Greenland was not for sale. Mr Trump was scheduled to visit on September 2 and 3, at the invitation of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II but has decided to pull out of the trip last minute. The Queen is reportedly “shocked” by the decision, Danish newspaper BT said.
Lene Balleby, Head of Communications at the Danish royal house said: “That was a surprise! We are simply lost for words.”
It is very rare that a state visit is cancelled less than two weeks before it’s suppose to take place.
The Danish royal house’s staff had already started to prepare a wide range of tasks to welcome the US President.
For example, BT reports food and drinks had already been organised for the state dinner hosted by the Queen.
READ MORE: The FOUR reasons Trump really wants to buy Greenland
Staff at the Danish royal house also had to cancel their summer holidays to help prepare for the extravagant event.
Announcing the cancellation of his visit, Mr Trump tweeted: “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.”
Royal expert Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen told BT the cancellation is “not something we have seen in Denmark before,” adding: “That is not how things are done here.”
Danish national daily Berlingske’s political commentator Thomas Larsen has also given his views on the controversial decision.
He said: “It’s an unheard of situation. You almost lack words. No one is behaving like this on the international scene and certainly not an American president.
“This is an insult of the highest weight. A state visit usually helps confirm a friendship, a relationship and an alliance between two countries.
“But I think the royal house and the State Department are aware that it is a special gentleman sitting in the White House these days.”
“But that he cancels for this reason, I don’t thing anyone could have imagined. I think people are paralysed.”
Mr Trump’s interest in buying Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory of 57,000 people – was revealed last week, when he confirmed reports that he was interested in buying the Danish territory.
When asked on Sunday if he would consider trading a US territory for the island, he replied: “Well, a lot of things could be done. Essentially it’s a large real estate deal.”
The US President even joked he was not planning on building a Trump Tower in Greenland, sharing a mocked-up picture of a Trump Tower building in a remote village with the caption: “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”
But his ‘bid’ to buy the country from Denmark was quickly dismissed by Greenlandic and Danish officials.
Greenland’s premier Kim Kielsen said: “Greenland is not for sale, but Greenland is open for trade and co-operation with other countries, including the USA.”
Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister, tweeted: “It must be an April Fool’s Day joke.”
While Soren Espersen, foreign affairs spokesman for the populist Danish People’s Party, told national broadcaster DR: “If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof that he has gone mad.”