Yahoo Finance Trump axes meeting with Denmark after PM won’t sell Greenland
Last week, US President Donald Trump caused a stir when news broke he had asked aides about the possibility of the United States acquiring Greenland.
And since Greenland has, for the last two centuries, been a Danish colony, Trump thought he’d go straight to Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, with the proposition.
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But Frederiksen called Trump’s proposition ‘absurd’, prompting Trump to cancel his visit to Denmark.
"I thought that the prime minister's statement that it was ...an absurd idea was nasty," Trump told reporters earlier this week. "I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to do is say no, we wouldn't be interested."
“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,” Trump said in a Tweet.
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....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019
Frederikson said she was “disappointed and surprised” that Trump cancelled his visit, which was scheduled for 2 September,
Can the US even buy Greenland?
While the idea to purchase a country seems far-fetched, it’s actually not the first time it’s been done.
In 1867, the US bought Alaska from Russia for just US$7.2 million, and before that, America purchased Louisiana from France for US$15 million.
And they’ve even bought off the Danish colonies before, when Denmark sold the Danish West Indies ito the US in 1917 for US$25 million.
But while it’s been done before, the Greenlandic prime minister, Kim Kilesen, has vehemently rejected the purchase, stating Greenland is “not for sale”.
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