NUUK, Greenland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has combined his aggression attitude towards Greenland on last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely about peace,” in a text message released Monday.
Trump’s message to Jonas Gahr Støre appears to have sparked a row between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory. BORN Member Denmark. Trump on Saturday announced a 10% import tax from February on goods from eight countries clustered around Denmark and Greenland, including Norway.
These countries issued a forcible refund.
Many longtime US allies remained adamant that Greenland was not for sale, but encouraged Washington to discuss solutions. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement on social media that the bloc had “no interest in starting a fight” but “will hold its position”.
The White House has not decided to take control of the strategic Arctic island by force. Asked whether Trump might invade Greenland, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Monday that “you can’t leave anything out until the president himself decides to leave something out.”
british prime minister Keir Starmer Monday also sought to de-escalate tensions. “I think it can be resolved and should be resolved through peaceful discussion,” he said, adding that he did not believe there would be military action.
Trump posted on social media early Tuesday that he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and “agreed to a cross-party meeting in Davos, Switzerland,” where he will attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week.
Trump also released a text message from Emmanuel Macron in which the French president proposed a meeting of members of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies in Paris after the Davos gathering.
Later, however, Trump published several provocatively edited images. One showed him hanging an American flag next to the words “Greenland, US Territory, East 2026.” The other showed Trump in the Oval Office next to a map that showed Greenland and Canada covered in the American Stars and Stripes.
Strong opposition in
Greenland to US threats
In a sign of how tensions have escalated in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend to protest any attempt to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post on Monday that the tariff threats will not change their stance.
“We will not be pressured,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for trade, minerals, energy, justice and equality, told The Associated Press that she was moved by the allies’ quick response to the tariff threat, saying it shows countries realize “that this is about more than Greenland.”
“I think a lot of countries are afraid that if they let Greenland go, what would happen next?”
Trump cites Nobel prize as escalation in text to Norwegian leader
Trump’s message to Gahr Støre on Sunday, released by the Norwegian government, read in part: “Since your country has decided not to award me the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping 8 PLUS wars, I no longer feel obligated to think purely about peace.”
It concluded: “The world is not safe unless we have full and complete control over Greenland.”
The White House confirmed the authenticity of the report, and White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Trump “believes that Greenland would be better served by the United States protecting them from modern threats in the Arctic region.”
The Norwegian leader said Trump’s message was in response to an earlier letter sent on his behalf and by Finnish President Alexander Stubb expressing their disapproval of the tariff announcement, pointing to the need for de-escalation and suggesting a telephone conversation between the three leaders.
“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark in this matter,” the Norwegian leader said in a statement. “Regarding the Nobel Peace Prize, I have made it clear, including what is well known to President Trump, that the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not by the Norwegian government.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body whose five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
Trump openly desired the price of peace which commission awarded last year to the leader of the Venezuelan opposition María Corina Machado. Last week, Machado presented the Nobel medal Trump, who said he plans to keep it, though the committee said the price cannot be cancelled, transferred or shared with others.
Speaking to reporters Monday night before boarding Air Force One on his way back from Florida to Washington, Trump said he “doesn’t care about the Nobel Prize.”
“A very good woman felt that I deserved it and she really wanted me to get the Nobel Prize. And I appreciate that. If anyone thinks that Norway is not in control of the Nobel Prize, they’re kidding themselves. … And I don’t care what Norway says. But I don’t really care about this. I’m about saving lives,” he said.
Trump says he will use tariffs as a bargaining chip
In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump suggested the imports would be in retaliation for last week’s imposition of token tax numbers. soldiers from European countries to Greenland – though he also suggested he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.
European governments said troops traveled to the island to assess Arctic security, part of a response to Trump’s own concerns. about the interference of Russia and China.
The move by some European countries to deploy troops may have given the impression that an army of ships was sailing to Greenland, when the reality was that European nations had said they would send no more than a few dozen troops combined, a senior European military official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to speak publicly.
On Sunday, Trump threatened eight European countries with tariffs after they announced a small number of troop deployments to the Arctic island — including Denmark, of which Greenland is a part.
The European move was aimed at taking action based on Trump’s concerns, a senior official told The Associated Press.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a statement on social media that he discussed the importance of the region to the “collective security” of the security alliance at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland on Monday.
Six of the eight target countries are part of the 27-member country European Unionwhich functions as a single economic zone in terms of trade. European Council President António Costa said on Sunday that the bloc’s leaders had expressed their “readiness to resist any form of coercion”. He announced the summit for Thursday evening.
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