In this Aug. 15, 2019, photo, a boat navigates at night next to icebergs in eastern Greenland. (Felipe Dana/AP)
Danish lawmakers on Wednesday reacted in fury to President Trump’s postponement of his two-day visit in early September to Denmark after its prime minister said she was not interested in selling him the autonomous island of Greenland.
Parliamentarians and former government ministers slammed the president’s behavior as juvenile, undiplomatic and insulting, though the government itself has yet to comment on the visit’s cancellation and instead scheduled a news conference for the afternoon.
“It’s an insult from a close friend and ally,” Michael Aastrup Jensen, a member of the Danish parliament with the influential center-right Venstre party, told The Washington Post. He said Trump’s interest in purchasing Greenland took the country by surprise and was initially widely considered to be a joke, before Danes realized the full extent of “this disaster.”
Jensen said Danish lawmakers felt misled and “appalled” by the president, who “lacks even basic diplomatic skills,” he said. “There was no word [ahead of time] about: ‘I want to buy Greenland and that’s why I’m coming.’”
[Why might Trump want to buy Greenland? Take a visual tour.]
On Twitter, Denmark’s former business minister, Rasmus Jarlov, wrote: “For no reason Trump assumes that (an autonomous) part of our country is for sale. Then insultingly cancels visit that everybody was preparing for.”
“Please show more respect,” he added.
Trump announced the postponement of his visit via Twitter on Tuesday night, writing that Denmark is “a very special country with incredible people,” but adding that he had postponed his meeting with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen after she said “that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland.”
“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 wrote. “I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”
The announcement came two days after Trump told reporters that owning Greenland “would be nice” for the United States strategically. Though the status of the self-governing territory — that is part of the kingdom of Denmark — was initially not publicly cited as a scheduled topic during his visit to Denmark, the postponement of that trip over resistance to his acquisition plans now suggest that it was Trump’s central focus in the first place.
This combination of pictures shows Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on July 11, 2019 in Berlin and President Trump in New Jersey, on Aug. 18, 2019. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)
[Trump postpones Denmark trip after prime minister declines to sell him Greenland]
Danish officials, including the royal palace, had rushed to organize the presidential visit, which was announced on short notice.
A spokeswoman for the royal palace said on Wednesday that the visit’s postponement was “a surprise,” according to the Associated Press.
Center-right lawmaker Jensen was more explicit, calling the move “an insult to the royal house.”
Other lawmakers cited by Danish media outlets questioned if the president was still welcome in the country.
“He’s like a spoiled child,” Søren Espersen, foreign affairs spokesman for the right-wing populist Danish People’s Party, told Danish newspaper Politiken.
“Trump lives on another planet. Self-sufficient and disrespectful,” wrote Pernille Skipper, a left-wing Danish politician, on Twitter.
Martin Lidegaard, the chairman of the Danish parliament’s foreign policy committee and former foreign minister, told The Washington Post that he hoped Danes would not take this “quite absurd” episode too seriously.
“Understandably, a lot of people are angry,” he said, “but we should not let Trump impact Danish-U.S. relations” in a negative way.
“We’ve been close U.S. allies for decades,” he said.
Apart from eliciting anger, Trump has had at least one other impact in Denmark in recent days, though. His moves, said center-right lawmaker Jensen, had “strengthened support for Greenland.”
Read more
‘Not for sale:’ How Greenland and Denmark are reacting to Trump’s apparent interest
Trump confirms he’s interested in buying Greenland
Why might Trump want to buy Greenland? Take a visual tour.
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Trumps Objekt der Begierde: Grönland (rot)
 Der amerikanische Präsident Donald Trump hat seinen Staatsbesuch am 2. September in Dänemark abgesagt. Begründet hat er dies mit der Weigerung der dänischen Ministerpräsidentin Mette Frederiksen, Grönland an die Vereinigten Staaten zu verkaufen. Dies bestätigte der stellvertretende Sprecher des Weißen Hauses, Judd Deere. Damit sei der gesamte Staatsbesuch abgesagt. Die Einladung an Donald Trump und seine Ehefrau Melania war von Königin Margrethe II. ausgesprochen worden.

Die Besuchsabsage ist in Dänemark auf teils harsche Kritik gestoßen. „Es war eine Überraschung, aber wir haben nichts Weiteres dazu zu sagen“, sagte am Mittwochmorgen Lene Balleby, die Sprecherin des dänischen Königshauses, dem Rundfunksender Dansk Radio. Die frühere sozialdemokratische Ministerpräsidentin Helle Thorning-Schmidt schrieb auf Twitter: „Soll das ein Witz sein? Zutiefst beleidigend für die Menschen in Grönland und Dänemark.“ Der Vorsitzende der rechtspopulistischen Volkspartei, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, nannte die Absage eine „Farce“.

Donald Trumps Tweet, mit dem er die Reise nach Kopenhagen absagte
Auf Twitter hatte der amerikanische Präsident mitgeteilt, das Desinteresse Frederiksens habe ihn bewogen, das Treffen zu verschieben. Gleichzeitig dankte Trump Frederiksen für ihre Direktheit, die beiden Staaten „einen sehr großen Aufwand“ erspart hätte.

Trump hatte einen Kauf Grönlands am Sonntag (18. August) für die USA als „strategisch interessant“ bezeichnet. „Im Grunde wäre das ein großes Immobiliengeschäft“, so Trump. Laut Wall Street Journal hatte Trump sich wegen der natürlichen Ressourcen und aus geostrategischen Gründen für die Insel interessiert.

Die Kaufabsicht Trumps stieß sowohl in Dänemark als auch auf Grönland auf Widerspruch. Frederiksen sagte: „Ich hoffe inständig, dass dies nicht ernst gemeint ist.“ Ex-Ministerpräsident Lars Løkke Rasmussen bezeichnete Trumps Kaufinteresse Ende vergangener Woche auf Twitter als „Aprilscherz“.