Trump postpones meeting with Denmark’s leader over Greenland comments

President Trump on Tuesday announced he was postponing a planned meeting with the prime minister of Denmark after she shot down his talk of possibly purchasing Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

“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.{mosads}

“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. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!” he added.

His announcement comes shortly after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen hit back at Trump for suggesting the U.S. might be interested in purchasing Greenland, calling the idea “absurd.”

“Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic. I persistently hope that this is not something that is seriously meant,” Frederiksen told reporters.

Trump was scheduled to visit Denmark on Sept. 2 following a trip to Poland. The president was expected to meet with the Queen of Denmark, other leaders and business officials.

He was also expected to meet Greenland’s prime minister, Kim Kielsen.

But the trip was complicated last week after it was reported that Trump had floated the possibility of purchasing Greenland. 

Greenland shot down the concept before Trump had even weighed in on it publicly, issuing a statement that the territory was “open for business” but “not for sale.”

Still, Trump said Sunday that he’d be interested in the island for strategic purposes. He said he would broach the subject with Danish leaders, but that the purchase was “not number one on the burner.”

The president on Monday poked fun at speculation that he wanted to acquire the island to expand his family’s real estate empire, tweeting an image of a Trump Tower photoshopped on the Greenlandic countryside with the caption “I promise not to do this.”

Kielsen, the Greenlandic premier, responded that purchasing the territory was “not something to joke about.”

A senior administration official said last week that they were “fairly certain” the reason for the meeting was not so Trump could discuss the Greenland purchase with Danish leaders, and Trump confirmed as much on Sunday.

The U.S. Air Force has a base in Northern Greenland that is roughly 750 miles south of the North Pole. It is the country’s northernmost Air Force base, and serves as part of an early warning system to detect ballistic missiles.