After days of fixation on fully “owning” the NATO territory, US President Donald Trump seemed to mix up Greenland and Iceland multiple times at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
During a speech at Davos, Trump repeatedly referred to Greenland as “Iceland”.
Iceland and Greenland neighbour one another, and are both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). But Greenland is roughly 20 times larger.
“I’m helping NATO, and until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me,” Trump said, airing his frustration that NATO allies have spoken out against his attempts to take Greenland, especially after Secretary-General Mark Rutte called him the “daddy” of NATO previously.
Trump also said that he is only asking for “a piece of ice, cold and poorly located, that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection. It’s a very small ask compared to what we have given [NATO] for many, many decades.”
During his speech, Trump brought up Iceland four times.
At another point, addressing the Greenland-related US stock market dip on Tuesday, Trump said, “They’re not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.”
Trump’s apparent Iceland gaffes were soon pointed out by a NewsNation correspondent, Libbey Dean, in an X post, prompting White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to jump to the US president’s defence.
“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 said, replying to Dean’s post.
However, Leavitt’s X post was soon community-noted for a quick fact check, alongside a link to Trump’s speech. “President Trump said ‘Iceland’ in his remarks multiple times when speaking in reference to Greenland,” the note read.
“President Trump delivered a historic speech in Davos, laying out America’s compelling national security interests involving Greenland,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told PEOPLE while reacting to the Iceland gaffe.
“Mere hours afterwards, President Trump announced the framework for a future deal with respect to Greenland. President Trump continues to deliver results while the failing, liberal media melts down,” he added.