US President Donald Trump has somewhat backed away from his earlier threats to seize Greenland by military means, a dramatic pullback that came amid widespread mockery over his repeated mix-up between Greenland and Iceland during his Davos speech.
Trump cast his retreat — also lifting the threat of sanctions against European nations that slammed the move — as a win, saying the deal gives Washington “everything we wanted”.
The pact was negotiated with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and would last “forever”, Trump told reporters.
“I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security, and minerals and everything else,” Trump said, hours after a speech in which he appeared to remove the threat of force to seize Greenland.
When asked if Denmark would continue to control the territory, Rutte said the subject of Greenland’s sovereignty “did not come up” in his talks with Trump.
Speaking to Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier,” Rutte gave few details of what the new status for Greenland might be, only saying that NATO would continue to work for securing the Arctic region from adversaries such as Russia or China.
The NATO chief, meanwhile, told AFP that “there’s still a lot of work to be done”.
Trump said in a social media post that he would be removing tariffs of up to 25% that he had threatened against Denmark and other European allies who deployed their troops to Greenland in solidarity, including the UK, France, and Germany.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said that Denmark, Greenland, and the US will negotiate on “ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold — economically or militarily — in Greenland,” a key stated concern of Trump.
Trump’s threats had triggered one of the biggest transatlantic crises in decades, with warnings that he could single-handedly destroy NATO through aggression against a fellow member.
His backtracking brought solace in Denmark, where Trump’s confrontational approach has triggered shock and feelings of treachery.
“Trump said that he will pause the trade war, he says, ‘I will not attack Greenland’. These are positive messages,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danish public television DR.
Trump has repeatedly said that the United States deserves Greenland as it would be forced to defend the island against Russia or China.
Addressing Davos for the first time in six years, Trump called Denmark “ungrateful” but appeared to take the threat of military action off the table.
“I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland,” Trump said.
Greenland vs Iceland?
US President Donald Trump repeatedly made a gaffe by referring to “Iceland” several times instead of “Greenland,” with the White House vehemently denying any confusion on his part.
“They’re not there for us on Iceland — that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.”
It seemed obvious he was referring to Greenland, not the smaller neighbouring island of Iceland, which lies in the North Atlantic and is renowned for its spectacular volcanic landscapes.
After the speech, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against a post on X by a journalist, Libbey Dean, who wrote that “President Trump appeared to mix up Greenland and Iceland around three times.”
“No, he didn’t, Libby. His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is. You’re the only one mixing anything up here,” Leavitt fired back on X, misspelling the journalist’s name.
People often confuse Iceland with Greenland, and Trump is not the first one!
The names are so similar, and both are cold, remote spots in the North Atlantic; however, they are very different, very diverse.
Greenland is massive—it’s the largest island on Earth, over 20 times the size of Iceland. But only about 56,000 people live there.
Most are Inuit, and they spread out in small towns along the coast. Iceland is much smaller, but it has around 380,000 people, almost all of whom live in or near the capital, Reykjavík.
Interestingly, Greenland should probably be called Iceland. About 80% of it is covered by a massive ice sheet—the second biggest after Antarctica.
Iceland, on the other hand, has only about 11% ice. It’s full of green hills, volcanoes, waterfalls, and black sand beaches. The names got switched around by Vikings centuries ago to trick people (or so the story goes).
Both places are cold, but Iceland is milder thanks to the warm ocean current. Winters are brutal in both, but Greenland gets way darker and colder up north.
- Edited by ET Online Desk
- Via AFP
