Danish politicians and citizens were stunned and outraged Wednesday after President Donald Trump abruptly postponed a state visit to Denmark after its prime minister spurned his interest in buying Greenland.
"It is with regret and surprise that I received the news" of Trump's cancelation, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a news conference, NBC News reports.
The government's preparations for Trump's visit had been "well underway," she said.
"I would like to underline our invitation for stronger cooperation on Arctic affairs still stands," Frederiksen said, reiterating that any sale of Greenland, a Danish territory, to the U.S. "has clearly been rejected."
President Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday that he was delaying the Sept. 2 state visit, after Frederiksen told reporters Monday in Greenland: "Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland."
Trump reportedly expressed interest in the U.S. acquiring the world's largest island to advisers last week.
But other Danish politicians widely bashed Trump.
"The reality is stranger than fiction," Morten Østergaard, leader of Radikale Venstre, a center-left party in a ruling coalition with the Danish Social Democratic Party, said on Twitter.
"It shows why, more than ever, we should regard E.U. countries as our closest allies," he continued. "The man is unreliable."
Søren Espersen, a member of Parliament for the populist right-wing Danish People's Party, also tweeted about Trump's move.
"So Mr. Trump — you have now decided to postpone your visit to Denmark," he said. "Why not just cancel? We are so busy here with other things."
Rasmus Jarlov, a conservative and former government minister, also hit back on Twitter: "Are parts of the US for sale? Alaska?"