Trump ties his threat to take Greenland to being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize
In a message to Norway's PM, Trump expresses his anger in not being recognized for his peace efforts
U.S. President Donald Trump has linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying in a message to Norway's prime minister, that he'll no longer think "purely of Peace" as the row over the island threatens to reignite a trade war with Europe.
In a text message on Sunday to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Trump said: "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America."
Norway's government released the message on Monday. Stoere had sent an initial message with Finnish President Alexander Stubb calling for a de-escalation of tensions, eliciting a response from Trump less than half an hour later.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee annoyed Trump by awarding the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize not to him but to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
In his message, Trump also repeated his accusation that Denmark cannot protect Greenland from Russia or China.
"Why do they have a 'right of ownership' anyway?" he wrote, adding: "The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
Separately, in an interview with NBC News, Trump declined to say whether he would use force to seize Greenland, but did reiterate his threat to hit European countries with new tariffs if a deal is not reached.
Trump has intensified his push to wrest sovereignty over the autonomous territory from fellow NATO member Denmark, prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with its own measures.
The dispute threatens to upend the NATO alliance that has underpinned Western security for decades and which was already under strain over the war in Ukraine and Trump's refusal to protect allies unless they increase defence spending.
Trump's threat has rattled European industry and sent shockwaves through financial markets. Investors fear a return to the volatility of 2025's trade war, which only eased when the sides reached tariff deals in the middle of the year.
'You don't trade people'
Trump said the tariffs of 10 per cent would go into effect on Feb. 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland, home to only 57,000 people.
They would rise to 25 per cent on June 1.
"We are living in 2026, you can trade with people, but you don't trade people," Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said during a visit to London on Monday.
Rasmussen said it was time for the European Union and NATO to unite so that a solution can be worked out with the Americans. Rasmussen said he was "surprised" the issue has come up yet again, and that he and Trump had discussed Greenland years ago when he was Danish prime minister through 2019.
In a post on Facebook, Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the territory should be allowed to decide its own fate.
"We will not let ourselves be pressured. We stand firm on dialogue, on respect and on international law," he said.
Denmark's military told Reuters that Danish soldiers would land in Kangerlussuaq, in western Greenland, on Monday, as part of the "Arctic Endurance" military exercise.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, at an emergency news conference on Monday in London, said he would use "the full strength of government" to try to put a halt to the pressure from Washington. He said he would draw upon the strength of the U.S.-U.K. relationship for a "calm discussion" on how to strengthen the NATO presence.
Asked if he thought Trump was genuinely considering military action with respect to Greenland, Starmer said, "I don't, actually. I think that this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion."
The second Trump administration's aggressive statements have caused confusion and consternation, as a 1951 agreement between the U.S. and Denmark gives Washington the right to move around freely and construct military bases in Greenland, as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified.
While Trump's assertion that he stopped several world wars last year is contentious, it is also true that the deadline for nominees for the most recent peace prize was Jan. 31, 2025, less than two weeks into Trump's second term as president.
Norway's Stoere amended his schedule, announcing he would attend the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday and Thursday, overlapping with Trump's planned appearance in Switzerland.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he too would try to meet Trump on Wednesday, adding that a trade dispute was not wanted. "But if we are confronted with tariffs that we consider unreasonable, then we are capable of responding," Merz said.
Asked by reporters on Monday what he planned to say to European leaders in Davos about his Greenland plan, Trump said: "I don't think they're going to push back too much. Look, we have to have it."
"They have to have this done. They can't protect it. Denmark, they're wonderful people, and I know the leaders – they’re are very good people, but they don't even go there."
Separately, European Union leaders will convene in Brussels on Thursday for an emergency summit.
U.S. Treasury Secretary contradicts Trump
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it would be "very unwise" for European governments to retaliate.
"I think it’s a complete canard that the president will be doing this because of the Nobel prize. The president is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States," he told reporters in Davos.
Greenland is strategically important because as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals.
When asked on Monday to comment on Trump's remarks about the alleged Russian threat, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there has been a lot of "disturbing information" lately but that the government would not comment on the alleged Russian designs on Greenland.
Its importance for security, which Trump has asserted, has been debated.
Russia's foreign ministry last week said that it was unacceptable for the West to keep claiming that Russia and China were a threat to Greenland.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the Chinese government was urging the U.S. to "stop using the so-called threat from China as a pretext to pursue its own selfish interests.
In Washington, several members of Trump's Republican Party have expressed concerns with the White House's aggressive posture on Greenland, but the options to put a check on the president are limited.
Sen. Mitch McConnell warned last week that an attempt to seize Greenland would "shatter the trust of allies" and be a disastrous foreign policy decision that would tarnish Trump's legacy.
While the Trump administration has made common cause with the right-wing nationalist parties of Europe, those of Germany and France have criticized the U.S. president over the Greenland issue.
Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party in France, posted on social media that the EU should suspend last year's tariff deal with the U.S., describing Trump's threats as "commercial blackmail."
With files from CBC News and the Associated Press