Trump’s announcement suggests that, despite his denials, the central purpose of his trip had been discussion of a U.S. purchase of the massive, glaciered island, which holds increasing value as melting sea ice opens new parts of the Arctic to shipping and resource extraction…

Denmark’s government did not immediately respond to the visit’s cancellation, instead scheduling a news conference for Wednesday morning U.S. time. Danish lawmakers, however, were outraged. “It’s an insult from a close friend and ally,” said Micahel Aastrup Jensen of the influential center right Venstre party, who said talk of purchasing Greenland had originally been viewed by Danes as a joke, not the whole reason for the visit…

People familiar with the president’s interest in Greenland said he had been talking about the potential purchase for weeks. Senior administration officials had discussed the possibility of offering Denmark a deal in which the United States would take over its annual $600 million subsidy to Greenland in perpetuity, said two people familiar with the talks who were not authorized to reveal the internal deliberations.

They also discussed giving Denmark a large one-time payment as well to incentivize the transfer, the people said.