NEW YORK, Jan 19 (APP): President Donald Trump has said his controversial push for U.S. control of Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, comes after he failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize last year, adding he no longer feels obliged to think only of peace, according to multiple reports in international print and electronic media.
In a text message he sent to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store over the weekend, he 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.”
Trump’s message was first reported by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a prominent American TV network, in an X post, which was confirmed by Støre’s office on Monday.
The Norwegian prime minister’s office also shared the message exchange between PM Støre and President Trump.
“I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” Trump added.
Trump’s message was in response to a text message PM Støre sent on behalf of himself and President of Finland Alexander Stubb less than half an hour before, urging Trump to “de-escalate” on “Greenland, Gaza, Ukraine and your tariff announcement.”
The US leader also questioned Denmark’s claim to Greenland, saying, “There are no written documents,” and adding, “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you!”
The tensions over Greenland have sharply escalated in the last week, and the message injected a new level of uncertainty into Trump’s thinking and his campaign to gain control of the island, analysts said.
After President Trump’s response, Store, the Norwegian premier, said in a statement, “As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have on several occasions clearly explained to Trump what is well known, namely that it is an independent Nobel Committee, and not the Norwegian government, that awards the prize,” Store said.
The White House has not yet responded to requests for comment.
President Trump has repeatedly challenged Denmark’s claims to Greenland, but in decades-old agreements that the United States has signed with Denmark, the United States has recognized Denmark’s close connection to the island.
A 2004 amendment to an older defense pact between Denmark and the United States, which grants the United States broad military access, explicitly recognizes Greenland as “an equal part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
And in 1916, Denmark sold what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands to the United States for $25 million in gold. In the treaty for that deal, a clause reads, “The United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.”
On Saturday night, President Trump had written on his Truth Social media platform that he would impose tariffs on imports from the countries, after they had deployed limited military personnel to Greenland to participate in a Danish-led Arctic exercise known as ‘Arctic Endurance.’
Trump said America would levy a 10% tariff on goods from the eight countries starting on Feb. 1, which would rise to 25% on June 1, and remain in place “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland” by the United States.
The open dispute comes after weeks of increasingly assertive U.S. claims regarding Greenland, in which Trump has repeatedly said that Greenland is strategically vital to U.S. national security, citing its location and untapped mineral deposits.
In his text message, Trump questioned Denmark’s right to claim Greenland. “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also,” Trump said.