Pompeo tried to shake hands with a bunch of foreign leaders. They all turned him down.


Foreign leaders would like to keep their distance from the U.S. right about now.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday to discuss the building of a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which the U.S. opposes. But despite the testy task at hand, Pompeo tried to be diplomatic and extended his hand to the other foreign ministers at the meeting, The Washington Post's John Hudson observed. Greenland Foreign Minister Steen Lynge, returned his gesture, albeit with a coronavirus-friendly elbow bump.
Images of the exchange between Pompeo and Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod provide a bit of a "down low, too slow" vibe.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The exchange provides just another example of how the rest of the world is viewing the U.S. and its coronavirus outbreak right now. Denmark has only seen 13,500 cases of coronavirus and 611 deaths as of Wednesday, compared to the U.S.'s nearly 4 million cases and 145,000 deaths.

Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.