Donald Trump almost started trade war with Sweden over A$AP Rocky’s incarceration
Sweden’s Justice Minister has shared details of Trump's attempts to free A$AP Rocky following his 2019 arrest in Stockholm
Donald Trump has been said by Sweden’s Justice Minister to have "threatened a trade war" with Sweden over A$AP Rocky’s imprisonment.
In 2019, A$AP Rocky was arrested and jailed in Stockholm, Sweden after a video emerged of the rapper and his team in a street brawl with fans who were reportedly harassing them.
Former US president Donald Trump started the petition to free Rocky and went as far as to tweet that he was “very disappointed” in Sweden’s then-prime minister, Stefan Lofven.
Read this next: Dance 'Til The Police Come: How oppressive policing has eroded rave culture
Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that Sweden’s justice minister Morgan Johansson said that Trump warned the Swedish government of “trade restrictions” should Rocky not be released.
Adding that he allegedly spoke with the European Commission, the head of the European Union, for support.
“This story demonstrates how important it really is to stand up for our legal principles and not to take our democracy for granted,” the minister stated. “If you can try and do something like this against Sweden, what will you then try and do to slightly weaker countries that don’t have the European Union behind them?”
However, last year A$AP Rocky claimed that Trump didn’t help him get out of a Swedish jail contrary to widespread reporting and Trump’s version of events.
Read this next: Public Enemy’s Chuck D: “Donald Trump is an alien”
Rocky previously said in his documentary on the event Stockholm Syndrome: “I kinda was scared that Trump was going to fuck it up, but then on the other hand, I’m just like, ‘That’s what’s up, man,’" Rocky said, describing his initial reaction to Trump’s involvement with the case.
Rocky described being half awake when the news was broken to him.
"I’m sleeping in my halfway dream, I heard my name. I kind of opened my eyes and closed my eyes again and then they said my name again. And I opened my eyes and I’m like, ‘Yo, what the fuck?’”, he says in the 2021 documentary.
Earlier this year, Rocky was arrested in LAX in connection with a shooting that occurred in November.
The arrest was made in connection with an "argument between two acquaintances" that ended in gunshots being fired, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter
