Trump ties his stance on Greenland to not getting Nobel Peace Prize
[January 20, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI, GEIR MOULSON and EMMA BURROWS
NUUK, Greenland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump linked his aggressive
stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel
Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an
obligation to think purely of Peace,” in a text message released Monday.
Trump's message to Jonas Gahr Støre appears to ratchet up a standoff
between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over
Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. On
Saturday, Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods
from eight nations that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland,
including Norway.
Those countries issued a forceful rebuke.
Many longtime allies of the U.S. remained resolute that Greenland was
not for sale but encouraged Washington to discuss solutions. In a
statement on social media, the European Union's foreign policy chief
Kaja Kallas said the bloc had “no interest to pick a fight” but would
“hold our ground.”
The White House has not ruled taking control of the strategic Arctic
island by force. Asked whether Trump could invade Greenland, Danish
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Monday that “you can’t leave
anything out until the president himself has decided to leave anything
out.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also sought to de-escalate tensions
Monday. "I think this can be resolved and should be resolved through
calm discussion,” he said, adding that he did not believe military
action would occur.
Early Tuesday, Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with NATO
Secretary General Mark Rutte and “I agreed to a meeting of the various
parties in Davos, Switzerland,” where they will be attending the World
Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week.
Trump also posted a text message from Emmanuel Macron in which the
French president suggested a meeting of members of the Group of Seven
industrialized democracies in Paris after the Davos gathering.
Later, however, Trump posted some provocatively doctored images. One
showed him planting the U.S. flag next to a sign reading “Greenland,
U.S. Territory, Est. 2026.” The other showed Trump in the Oval Office
next to a map that showed Greenland and Canada covered with the U.S.
Stars and Stripes.
Strong opposition in Greenland to U.S. threats
In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of
Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take
over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said
in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their
stance.
“We will not be pressured,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business,
minerals, energy, justice and equality, told The Associated Press that
she was moved by the quick response of allies to the tariff threat and
said it showed that countries realize “this is about more than
Greenland.”
“I think a lot of countries are afraid that if they let Greenland go,
what would be next?”
Trump cites Nobel as escalation in text to Norwegian leader
Trump’s Sunday message to Gahr Støre, released by the Norwegian
government, read in part, “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.”
It concluded, “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total
Control of Greenland.”
The White House confirmed the authenticity of the message, with White
House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly saying that Trump "is confident
Greenlanders would be better served if protected by the United States
from modern threats in the Arctic region.”
The Norwegian leader said Trump’s message was a reply to an earlier
missive sent on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb,
in which they conveyed their opposition to the tariff announcement,
pointed to a need to de-escalate, and proposed a telephone conversation
among the three leaders.
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European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, walks with
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Research of Greenland Vivian
Motzfeldt, left, and Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen,
right, prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday,
Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the
Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark
on this matter,” the Norwegian leader said in a statement. “As
regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including
to President Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an
independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body whose five
members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
Trump has openly coveted the peace prize, which the committee
awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado last
year. Last week, Machado presented her Nobel medal to Trump, who
said he planned to keep it, though the committee said the prize
can’t be revoked, transferred or shared with others.
Speaking Monday night to reporters before boarding Air Force One on
his way back from Florida to Washington, Trump said he didn’t “care
about the Nobel prize.”
“A very fine woman felt that I deserved it and really wanted me to
have the Nobel prize. And I appreciate that. If anybody thinks that
Norway doesn’t control the Nobel prize, they’re just kidding. ...
And I don’t care what Norway says. But I really don’t care about
that. What I care about is saving lives," he said.
Trump says he will use tariffs as a bargaining chip
In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated the import taxes
would be retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers
of troops from the European countries to Greenland — though he also
suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate
with Denmark.
European governments said that the troops traveled to the island to
assess Arctic security, part of a response to Trump’s own concerns
about interference from Russia and China.
The move by some European countries to deploy troops may have given
the impression that an armada of ships was sailing to Greenland,
when the reality was that European nations said they would send not
more than a few dozen troops collectively, a senior European
military official told The Associated Press speaking on condition of
anonymity in order to talk publicly.
Trump threatened eight European countries with tariffs Sunday after
they announced small numbers of troop deployments to the Arctic
island – including Denmark, which Greenland is part of.
The European move was aimed at taking action on Trump’s concerns,
the senior official told the AP.
In a statement on social media, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte
said he had discussed how important the region was for the
"collective security" of the security alliance in a Monday meeting
with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland.
Six of the eight countries targeted are part of the 27-member
European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of
trade. European Council President António Costa said Sunday that the
bloc’s leaders expressed “readiness to defend ourselves against any
form of coercion.” He announced a summit for Thursday evening.
___
Associated Press writers Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida; Jill
Lawless in London; Molly Quell in The Hague; Lorne Cook in Brussels
and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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