Amid Greenland row, Danish ex-PM Lars Loekke Rasmussen attacks Donald Trump for tweets on defence spending
- US president wants Denmark to contribute greater percentage of GDP to defence
- Exchange came after Trump cancelled state visit, calling current Danish leader ‘nasty’ for saying his idea of buying Greenland was ‘absurd’
A former Danish prime minister on Thursday lashed out at US President Donald Trump for his tweet about military spending, saying defence willingness is not just about the amount of money spent.
Lars Loekke Rasmussen’s comment is the latest in an escalating row between the US and Denmark after Trump scrapped a visit to the country, saying current Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was “nasty” when she rejected his idea of buying Greenland as “absurd”.
Loekke Rasmussen, who led the country until June, tweeted on Thursday to Trump: “We have had (proportionally) exactly the same numbers of casualties in Afghanistan as US. We always stand firm and ready.”
Trump, who has urged Nato members to do more to meet the alliance’s goal of committing 2 per cent of gross domestic product to defence, earlier tweeted that “Denmark is only at 1.35%”.
“We will not accept that our defence willingness is only about percentages,” Loekke Rasmussen tweeted. “I told you at the Nato Summit in Brussels last year.”