Trump Ties Greenland Push to Nobel Snub in Message to Norway’s Prime Minister

President Trump told Norway’s prime minister in a text message that he no longer feels obliged to “think purely of Peace” because Norway’s country “decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize,” and he repeated his demand for U.S. control of Greenland, according to PBS NewsHour and ABC News Australia. The message, made public Monday, adds a new element to a dispute that began over the weekend when Trump announced tariffs on eight European countries.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Trump’s message came Sunday in reply to a letter he wrote on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, PBS reported. That letter opposed the tariffs, called for de-escalation and proposed a three-way phone call. ABC said Trump replied in under 30 minutes. According to PBS, the message ended: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”

Store said he had told Trump that the Nobel prize is awarded by “an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government,” PBS reported. The committee’s five members are appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Last year it awarded the prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who presented her medal to Trump last week at the White House. PBS reported that Trump said he planned to keep it, while the committee has said the prize cannot be revoked, transferred or shared.

The White House confirmed the message was authentic. Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Trump “is confident Greenlanders would be better served if protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region,” PBS reported. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the Nobel link “a complete canard” and said he did not know anything about the letter, PBS and ABC reported. He described Greenland as a “strategic asset” and said it would be “very unwise” for European governments to retaliate, ABC said.

Asked by NBC whether he would use force to take Greenland, Trump answered “No comment,” ABC reported. He also said he would follow through “100 per cent” on tariffs against European nations that do not agree to hand Greenland to the United States, and that Europe “ought to focus on the war with Russia and Ukraine,” according to ABC.

The tariff plan Trump announced Saturday would put a 10 percent import tax starting in February on goods from eight countries, six of which are in the European Union, PBS reported. Reaction from allies was sharp. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he did not believe Trump was considering military action and that “a tariff war is in nobody’s interests,” ABC reported. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure called the pressure “blackmail between allies,” and France and Germany both said they would not be blackmailed, ABC said.

Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said, “We will not be pressured,” PBS reported. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, asked whether Trump could invade, said “you can’t leave anything out until the president himself has decided to leave anything out.” The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc had “no interest to pick a fight” but would “hold our ground,” and European Council President Antonio Costa announced a summit for Thursday, according to PBS. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discussed the Arctic’s importance for collective security with Denmark’s and Greenland’s foreign ministers, PBS said.

Diplomacy is likely to continue this week. ABC reported that the Group of Seven is expected to discuss trade and Greenland’s sovereignty in the coming days, and that Trump is due at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Store and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have said they are willing to talk to him about Greenland.