What to Know
President Donald Trump appeared to confuse Iceland for Greenland four times while addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
During his wide-ranging speech, Trump pivoted to defending his campaign to acquire Greenland after he touted his accomplishments on the U.S. economy. His comments came as he has faced fierce resistance from local officials and some world leaders about his desire to obtain the semi-autonomous territory, which falls under the boundaries of Denmark, a NATO ally.
“Until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me,” Trump said of the NATO alliance as he seemingly mixed up the country with Greenland.
“They called me daddy, right? Last time,” he continued, referencing a previous nickname from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in June.
About a minute later, Trump claimed that “they are not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you.”
“I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland,” Trump said. “So Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.”
His remarks quickly made the rounds on social media.
“I mean, Iceland *is* (ironically) the warm, nice one,” conservative journalist Megyn Kelly wrote on X.
The Lincoln Project said that Trump is “probably going to invade Iceland and Greenland now, just to not have to admit he misspoke. That’s where we’re at.”
Others posted memes of Iceland backing away. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later denied on X that Trump confused the two. “His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is,” Leavitt wrote.
In his remarks, Trump also said he will not use force to seize the Arctic island after he had not made clear how far he would go to possess it. But he maintained that the United States will “remember” if Europe does not accept his push.
“You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no, and we will remember a strong and secure America means a strong NATO, and that’s one reason why I’m working every day to ensure our military is very powerful,” he said.
Trump made a similar mistake during Tuesday’s press briefing at the White House, where he pointed to his threat of imposing a 10% tariff on allies that have sent troops to the region, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland.
“We’re the richest we ever were. It’s because of tariffs and the proper use of tariffs, and we’re also the most secure,” Trump said. “As an example, Iceland, without tariffs, they wouldn’t even be talking to us about it. So we’ll see what happens. I think it’s going to work out quite well.”
Rachel Cohen; nj.com; (TNS)
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