Trump tells Norway his Greenland threats linked to Nobel Prize snub

U.S. President Donald Trump linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace ​Prize, saying he no longer thought “purely of Peace” as the row over the island on Monday (January 19, 2026) threatened to reignite a trade ‌war with Europe.

Mr. Trump has intensified his push to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, threatening punitive tariffs on ​countries which stand in his way and prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with its own measures.

The dispute is threatening to upend the NATO alliance that has underpinned Western security for decades and which was already under strain over the war in Ukraine and Mr. Trump’s refusal to protect allies which do not spend enough on defence.

It has also plunged trade relations between the EU and the U.S., the bloc’s biggest export market, into renewed uncertainty after the two sides painstakingly reached a trade deal last year in response to Mr.Trump’s swinging tariffs.

In a written message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere that was seen by Reuters, Mr. 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.”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee annoyed Mr. Trump by awarding the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize not to him but to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. She gave her medal last week to Mr. Trump during a White House meeting, though the Nobel Committee said ​the prize cannot be transferred, shared or revoked.

In his message, ⁠Mr. Trump also repeated his accusation that Denmark cannot protect Greenland from Russia or China.

“… and 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.”