Trump cites Nobel Peace Prize snub in angry letter about Greenland to Norway’s PM

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said he no longer feels an obligation to think “purely of peace”, in a letter sent to the prime minister of Norway attempting to justify his threats against Greenland. 

The letter, which was reported by PBS in the US, was addressed to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and forwarded to a number of European embassies in Washington DC. 

Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, as European countries close ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish autonomous territory.

German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by Trump to wield new tariffs against countries which oppose his plans for the Arctic island.

They said that Europe was preparing trade countermeasures – though US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that any retaliatory levies would be “very unwise”.

The European Union said it was holding an emergency summit on Thursday to weigh its response, and that while its priority is to “engage not escalate” it is ready to act if needed.

Greenland, for its part, said the tariffs threat does not change its desire to assert its own sovereignty.

“We will not be pressured,” Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post, adding that the autonomous territory “is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions”.

But Trump had earlier doubled down, announcing in a message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store that the world “is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland”.

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The message also saw Trump brush aside peace as a primary goal.

“I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” he said, citing his failure to win the last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, despite openly coveting it.

He said although peace would still be “predominant,” he could “now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

Store said the statement had been received in response to a message from him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, where they had “conveyed our opposition” to Trump’s tariff threats.

Store also underlined that the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded by the Norwegian government.

“I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known – the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee,” he said in a written statement.

Last week, the recipient of the prize, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, gifted Trump her medal during a visit to the White House, but the Nobel Committee insisted that possession of the medal did not equate to being a laureate. 

“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the committee said in a statement last Friday. 

“Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” it added.

The US president has ramped up his hostile rhetoric in recent days, threatening to impose tariffs on eight Nato members unless he can reach a deal for the US to take over Greenland.

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It’s understood that Taoiseach Micheál Martin held  a meeting this afternoon with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister Thomas Byrne, Minister Sean Canney and senior officials in the Department of Finance to discuss the situation in Greenland the threat of tariffs.

The meeting discussed the need for continued solidarity and dialogue across the EU, as well as respect for the integrity and rights of the people of Greenland.

The Taoiseach is due to attend an EU Council on the issue on Thursday.

Yesterday, in an interview on RTÉ Radio, Martin said that the European Union would retaliate if the extra tariffs came into effect and Tánaiste Simon Harris is due to attend a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels today to discuss a response. 

A vote to ratify an EU-US trade agreement negotiated after Trump imposed a 15% tariff on the bloc now looks to have been put on ice.

In a statement, Manfred Weber, the president of the European People’s Party (EPP), the bloc’s largest group, said the EU Parliament would not vote in favour of the deal. 

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has said he will ask the EU to activate its powerful “anti-coercion instrument” if the United States imposes the tariffs.

The bloc’s weapon, which has never been used before and is commonly referred to as its trade “bazooka”, allows for the curbing of imports of goods and services.

Thousands of people took part in demonstrations opposing the US threats in Denmark and Greenland over the weekend, with protesters crying “hands off Greenland”.  

With reporting from David MacRedmond, Emma Hickey, Christina Finn and AFP 

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