President Donald Trump is on thin ice with Iceland after he posted a map that showed the American flag superimposed onto Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and much of the Caribbean. Iceland’s leaders summoned U.S. Ambassador Billy Long for a formal rebuke on Monday and publicly condemned the social media post on Tuesday.
Embassy in Reykjavik for comment. While Trump has not publicly proposed taking over Iceland before, the map marks his latest provocation involving the expansion of U.S. control over foreign territory. Trump has repeatedly expressed his ambition to bring Greenland, Iceland’s closest neighbor and an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, under U.S. control, citing its strategic position and concerns about Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic.
He said in January, soon after the U.S. deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, that anything short of U.S. control of Greenland was “unacceptable”—to the vexation of world leaders, not least those in the European Union, Denmark, and Greenland. He initially declined to rule out using military force, although in January, he said, “I don’t want to use force, I won’t use force.” During the same speech, the President confused Iceland with Greenland, saying “Iceland has already cost us a lot of money” in reference to a stock market dip. Trump has also similarly advocated making Canada, now embroiled in a trade war with the U.S., the 51st state.
While Trump has repeatedly joked about the matter, he said in February last year that the idea to annex Canada was “a real thing.” He said he would use “economic force,” rather than military force, to pressure the U.S. neighbor. Trump officials have continued the rhetoric. Last month, Vice President J.D.
Vance called Canada a “state” before apologizing for the “Freudian slip.” In March, Trump called Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney the country’s “future governor.” And Trump ordered Lake Ontario, which borders the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. State of New York, renamed “Lake America” for official U.S. use, drawing sharp criticism from Canadian leaders. Trump has also floated a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, one of the Caribbean nations blanketed by the American flag on the map he posted, and renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” On Monday, Trump posted several other maps on Truth Social showing the U.S. state of New Mexico renamed as “New America.” Iceland’s sovereignty has been a prickly topic for the Nordic nation, especially on the heels of a referendum over joining the European Union.
The country’s population of 400,000 narrowly voted on Aug. 29 to reject restarting negotiations to become a member of the E.U. The question of membership came into focus after Trump’s push to annex Greenland, as some Icelandic voters saw the bloc as a potential political and economic bulwark against similar pressure on Iceland. Iceland, a founding member of NATO, does not have its own military.
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