Denmark is speaking up about U.S President Donald Trump and the confusion he is bringing when it comes to free trade and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen opened up about the country’s main concerns regarding Trump and Denmark’s relations.
According to Bloomberg, Samuelsen aims to “figure out what role we should have in the game being played right now” based on the signals coming off from the Trump administration. Furthermore, because “virtually everything has been flipped upside down,” concerns over Trump and Denmark’s relations have been touching on the subject of the president’s tweets. It has been suggested that his active participation on Twitter does not necessarily translate to policy.
“The fact of the matter is that no Twitter update will change legislation,” Samuelsen explained. “There’s always fundamental work that needs to be done, and we need to compare what’s said on Twitter with the actual policy.” The 49-year-old prime minister had been one of the politicians that openly criticized Trump’s anti-Muslim immigration ban, posting on Twitter only to call the travel ban as “NOT fair.” Independent also reported on his efforts towards international aid after the U.S. president withdrew funding for abortion access, leaving Trump and Denmark's relations hanging.
According to Samuelsen, Trump and Denmark’s relations could be influenced based on the different signals they are getting on U.S. policy, which remains quite different from those being posted by the president on Twitter. For instance, there are still indications that NATO will remain. Samuelsen believes that the U.S. will not simply walk away but is looking forward to other nations contributing more. “They don’t want to cancel sanctions against Russia. The new UN ambassador underscored that it’s important to stand by that policy,” he added.
When it comes to Trump’s oratory tendencies, Samuelsen believes the new administration is making it clear that it is of paramount importance for Europe to demonstrate unity when doing business with the U.S. Maintaining Trump and Denmark’s relations will call for the necessary preparations together with the country’s European partners.
