WASHINGTON – Greenland has ignited controversy over the past week: President Donald Trump called Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen "nasty" over her response to Trump's "absurd" proposal to buy the island from Denmark, and he canceled a state visit over her refusal to sell the island.

Talk Business & Politics, an Arkansas business news website, reported that Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. proposed the idea to Trump and met with the Danish ambassador about the possibility of a sale.

Wednesday in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Talk Business & Politics Power Lunch, Cotton responded to a question about Trump's comments on Greenland by saying a purchase of the semiautonomous Danish territory was "obviously the right decision for this country."

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"I can reveal to you that several months ago, I met with the Danish ambassador, and I proposed that they sell Greenland to us," the outlet reported Cotton said.

Politico reported Wednesday that the conversation between Danish Ambassador Lars Gert Lose and Cotton took place in August 2018.

"I told the president, 'You should buy it' as well," Cotton said. He noted that Trump "heard that from me and from some other people as well."

Cotton said buying Greenland has "economic potential" and could be "vital to our national security."

"Anyone who can’t see that is blinded by Trump derangement," he said.

Trump's proposal to buy Greenland led to a diplomatic disagreement between the United States and Denmark.

Trump had planned to visit Denmark on Sept. 2 and 3 during a trip to Europe, but he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening that he would be "postponing" their meeting because of "Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland."

Frederiksen has called the proposal "absurd" and noted that a sale of Greenland "has clearly been rejected."