Donald Trump has told Norway’s prime minister he no longer feels “obliged to think purely of peace”, marking an escalation in tensions with Europe over Greenland.
The US president’s letter to Jonas Gahr Støre was forwarded to multiple European ambassadors in Washington by National Security Council staff, PBS News revealed on Monday.
“Dear Jonas – Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped eight 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 wrote.
The letter challenged Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland. “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” Trump wrote.
“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 claimed he had “done more for NATO than any other person since its founding” and demanded reciprocity. “Now, NATO should do something for the United States,” he wrote.
“The world is not secure unless we have complete and total control of Greenland,” the president concluded.
The letter emerged days after Støre declared that “threats have no place” amongst allies in response to Trump’s tariff announcement.
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