ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Puerto Ricans have hit back after Donald Trump joked about trading the US territory for Greenland.

According to a report, the US President made the quip during alleged year-long discussions about buying the Danish territory.

Puerto Ricans have now banded together on Twitter, calling themselves 'Caribbean Vikings' as they welcome Mr Trump's joke scenario.

Digital ad executive Gabriel René tweeted he had "no problem being sold to Denmark".

A Scandinavian man named Lars commented: "Scandinavian here. We would welcome you with open arms and free health care, free college, paid vacations, paid maternity leave etc. But you will miss the warm weather on the winters. The hurricanes not so much."

Another person joked: "Can we just tell Trump that Puerto Rico is in Greenland so he will put some money towards it?"

The hashtags #DinamarcaPR - the word for Denmark in Spanish - and #DenmarkPR were used on social media as Puerto Ricans consider what it would actually be like living under Danish control.

A Puerto Rican woman wrote that being part of Denmark "may be the best thing to ever happen to us".

"Do we have to learn a new language?" another Puerto Rican wrote, using the hashtags #DinamarcaPR #DenmarkPR.

Numerous others began claiming the Danish royal family, including one Puerto Rican woman named Regina C. Ortiz who tweeted: "OUR Queen: Margarita II of Denmark. #DinamarcaPR".

It came just one day after Mr Trump abruptly called off his state visit to Denmark after Greenland Prime Minister Mette Frederkesen said his idea to buy Greenland was “absurd”.

He thanked her at the time for "being so direct" and saving the two countries "a great deal of expense and effort".

But, Mr Trump later appeared to change his approach to the issue, telling reporters: "You don't talk to the United States that way, at least under me."

He added that calling the discussion absurd "was nasty". "I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to say was say, `No, we wouldn't be interested'", he said.