President Donald Trump repeatedly referred to Greenland as “Iceland” during his speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, even as he demanded that the U.S. be handed ownership of the territory.
When the president initially raised Greenland, which he said he was originally “going to leave … out of the speech,” he referred to it correctly. He issued veiled threats to Denmark, invoking the U.S.’s illegal bombardment of Venezuela and abduction of its president when referring to the U.S.’s “great power.” He said Denmark is “ungrateful” toward the U.S., and suggested that seizing control of Greenland is a matter of self-defense.
“Without us, right now, you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps,” he told the crowd in Davos, Switzerland, referring to the U.S.’s role in World War II, and ignoring that German is the primary language spoken in Switzerland. “After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it, but we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?”
He said he is “seeking immediate negotiations” on the U.S. acquiring Greenland, vowing that he “won’t use force.”
Later, however, after an aside on Israel and Ukraine, and complaints about unfairness toward the U.S. in NATO, Trump returned to the topic of Greenland — this time, referring to it as “Iceland” four times.
“Until the last few days when I told [European leaders] about Iceland, they loved me. They called me daddy,” he said. “But what I’m asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located that can play a vital role in world peace.”
Later, he complained that European officials are opposed to his attempted seizure of Greenland, saying: “Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So, Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.”
Shortly after the speech, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was already on the defense. In a post on X, she quoted News Nation reporter Libbey Dean, who pointed out that Trump mixed up the two names.
“No he didn’t, Libby[sic]. 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 wrote, attaching a screenshot of a Google result for Greenland showing a large chunk of ice floating in the ocean.
In reply, numerous users posted clips of Trump clearly referring to Iceland when he meant to speak about Greenland, saying that Leavitt was lying.
The slip-up is sure to elicit yet more concerns about Trump’s mental fitness, which has been a persistent issue in the 10 years since his first presidential run.
The incident may also spark further scrutiny from critics of Trump’s plan to forcibly acquire Greenland. This criticism has been on display at this year’s Davos conference, especially with many European and other wealthy countries opposed to the campaign. Numerous European leaders have condemned Trump’s plan in remarks this weekend; French President Emmanuel Macron said it is “not a time for new imperialism or new colonialism” and said that Trump is seeking to economically hurt Europe in order to force leaders into submission. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney didn’t mention Greenland by name, but harshly criticized “American hegemony” in his remarks, saying that the U.S. is using “economic integration as weapons” to yank away sovereignty from less powerful countries.
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