In July 2019, the famous rapper and singer A $ AP Rocky was arrested for alleged assault charges in Stockholm, Sweden after a quarrel between his team and some other people. After being urged by Kanye West to take action, then-President Donald Trump made public statements on Twitter, urging the Swedish government to release the artist. Now, three years later and after Rocky’s release, we’ve learned even more details about Trump’s response to the situation.

Stereogum has reported that Sweden’s former justice minister claimed that Trump intended to impose trade restrictions on Sweden if the country did not release the rapper. This revelation tells exactly what Trump meant when he suggested that Sweden could have “negative consequences” if they released the rapper: a trade war.

The Attorney General condemned Trump’s actions and wondered how willing he would be to threaten weaker countries and asked “If you can try to do something like this against Sweden, what will you try to do against slightly weaker countries that do not have the European Union behind them?”

Fortunately, the crisis was averted when Rocky was released and returned to perform shortly after; appears in Sweden in a cage in December after the arrest.

Photo: Mauricio Alvarado