The incoming US ambassador nominee’s “52nd state” joke has sparked widespread anger in Iceland, amid concerns over the Trump administration’s expansionist rhetoric toward Arctic territories.
Billy Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri and a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump, was nominated as ambassador to Iceland. According to reports from Politico, Long joked on Tuesday evening to fellow lawmakers on the House floor that Iceland would become the 52nd US state, with himself serving as its governor.
This remark came amid heightened tensions over Trump’s repeated threats to acquire or seize control of Greenland (a self-governing Danish territory), which some US Republicans have proposed making the 51st state through legislation.
The United States currently has 50 states, along with various territories and areas of special jurisdiction.
Politico reported the comment on Wednesday, just hours before high-level meetings in Washington between top officials from Greenland, Denmark, and the US, aimed at addressing Trump’s push for control over the Arctic island.
Talks over Greenland have stalled after Denmark rejected US demands for control, calling them “totally unacceptable.”
The joke provoked swift backlash in Iceland, where it was seen as insensitive and reflective of broader US territorial ambitions in the region.
Iceland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted the US Embassy in Reykjavík to verify the remarks. An online petition urging Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir to quickly reject Long’s nomination quickly gathered thousands of signatures.
“These words, spoken by Billy Long, whom Donald Trump has nominated as ambassador to Iceland, may have been said in jest. Still, they are offensive to Iceland and the Icelandic people, who have had to fight for their freedom and have always been a friend to the United States,” the petition signed by critics read.
More than 3,200 people signed the petition, urging the Trump administration to replace Long and “nominate another person who shows greater respect for Iceland and the Icelandic people.”
Long later apologized in an interview with Arctic Today, describing the comment as lighthearted banter among old acquaintances joking about Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (Trump’s special envoy to Greenland) potentially becoming governor there.
He stated: “There was nothing serious about that, I was with some people who I hadn’t met for three years, and they were kidding about Jeff Landry being governor of Greenland and they started joking about me… If anyone took offense to it, then I apologise… I look forward to working with the people of Iceland.”
Long’s nomination has not yet been confirmed by the US Senate, and the controversy has raised questions about his suitability for the post in a strategically important NATO ally.
Icelandic MP Sigmar Guðmundsson (from the centrist Liberal Reform party in the governing coalition) called the joke “not particularly funny,” especially given the ongoing Greenland controversy, noting that similar US security arguments could apply to Iceland itself.
Guðmundsson told the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið that the people took the remarks seriously.
“It goes without saying that this is extremely serious for a small country like Iceland,” Guðmundsson said.
“We must realise that all the security arguments that the Americans cite regarding Greenland also apply to Iceland. This is about the location of these two islands,” Guðmundsson added.
The lawmaker described Long’s remarks as a sign of the growing disrespect in the US towards the sovereignty of small states. “Icelanders also have to have the courage, despite our very friendly relations with the United States, not least through Nato, to discuss where and how our security interests are best served in this changing world.”
In the meantime, the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers have informed US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in their meeting with them in Washington that Greenlanders intended to remain under Danish governance.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen of Denmark and Vivian Motzfeldt of Greenland had met with Vance and Rubio in a failed attempt to dissuade them from Trump’s plan to seize control of the territory in one way or another.
Rasmussen announced that the meeting ended with the sides agreeing to disagree on the matter.
Trump has said that he “badly needs” the territory and he will take it one way or another. While suggesting paying money to Greenlanders to join the US, Washington has not ruled out the possibility of a US military force taking the island.