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GREENLAND

Trump praises Danish PM in backtrack after ‘nasty’ remark over Greenland

US president Donald Trump heaped praise on Denmark's prime minister Friday, two days after he cancelled his state visit to the country and slammed her for dismissing his idea of buying Greenland as absurd.

Published: 24 August 2019 07:11 CEST
Trump praises Danish PM in backtrack after 'nasty' remark over Greenland
Photo: Nicholas Kamm Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Ritzau Scanpix

The US leader said he got a call from Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who he had previously called “nasty” when she rejected his idea of buying Greenland in the latest spat involving Trump and a traditional US ally.

But on Friday he appeared to reverse course, calling her “a wonderful woman.”

“We had a great conversation,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to leave for the G7 summit in France.

“We have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we agreed to speak later. But she was very nice. She put a call in, and I appreciated it very much,” Trump said.

The row had earlier prompted Trump to call off plans to visit Copenhagen next month after Frederiksen said Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark, was not for sale. 

Frederiksen said she was both disappointed and surprised that Trump cancelled the visit.

But, she added, “Denmark and the US are not in crisis, the US is one of our closest allies” and the invitation to visit was still open.

In his remarks late Friday Trump said nothing about resurrecting the trip.

READ ALSO: Danish politician goes viral with video offering Trump 'great deal' on windmills

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METTE FREDERIKSEN

Danish PM Frederiksen ‘still not feeling great’ after assault in Copenhagen

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is not yet fully recovered four days after being assaulted in a Copenhagen square, she said in an interview on Tuesday.

Published: 11 June 2024 15:48 CEST
Danish PM Frederiksen 'still not feeling great' after assault in Copenhagen

The attack Friday was not thought to be politically motivated and a 39-year-old Polish man was apprehended on suspicion of the assault that left the premier with a minor whiplash injury.

“I’m not doing great, and I’m not really myself yet,” she told broadcaster DR in her first interview since the attack.

“He was a man who recognised the prime minister of the country and he hit me,” the 46-year-old leader said of the assailant.

“As a human being, it felt like an attack on me. I got hit. But I have no doubt that it was the prime minister who got hit. In that sense it was an attack on us all,” she said.

“No form of violence has any place in our society.”

Frederiksen said the tone had changed in politics recently.

“We have all seen, across all parties, that the boundaries have moved spectacularly. Especially after the war in the Middle East,” she said, noting that “people have rejoiced over violence”.

Frederiksen said her personal security detail would be boosted going forward.

“Something happened. Every time something happens, there’s a little more protection,” she said.

Frederiksen became the youngest ever Danish prime minister when she took office in 2019. She won re-election in legislative elections in 2022.

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