Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 19, 2026
5 min readLast updated: January 19, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleTrump links Greenland acquisition to Nobel snub, prompting EU to consider trade retaliation. This could impact NATO and EU-US relations.
By John Irish and Nora Buli
PARIS/OSLO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he no longer thought "purely of Peace" as the row over the island threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe.
Asked by NBC News in a brief telephone interview on Monday if he would use force to seize Greenland, Trump said “No comment,” adding he would "100%" follow through on plans to hit European nations with tariffs without a Greenland deal.
Trump has intensified his push to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with its own measures.
The dispute is threatening to upend the NATO alliance that has underpinned Western security for decades and which was already under strain over the war in Ukraine and Trump's refusal to protect allies which do not spend enough on defence.
Trump's threat has rattled European industry and sent shockwaves through financial markets amid fears of a return to the volatility of 2025's trade war, which only eased when the sides reached tariff deals in the middle of the year.
In a text message on Sunday to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Trump said: "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America."
Norway's government released the messages on Monday under the country's freedom of information act.
Stoere had sent an initial message on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, calling for de-escalation of tensions and suggesting a call, eliciting a response from Trump less than half an hour later.
NOBEL COMMITTEE GAVE 2025 PEACE PRIZE TO MACHADO, NOT TRUMP
The Norwegian Nobel Committee annoyed Trump by awarding the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize not to him but to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
In his message, Trump also repeated his accusation that Denmark cannot protect Greenland from Russia or China.
"... And why do they have a 'right of ownership' anyway?" he wrote, adding: "The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
Trump vowed on Saturday to implement a wave of increasing tariffs from February 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland, home to only 57,000 people.
"We are living in 2026, you can trade with people, but you don't trade people," Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said during a visit to London on Monday.
In a post on Facebook, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the territory should be allowed to decide its own fate.
"We will not let ourselves be pressured. We stand firm on dialogue, on respect and on international law," he said.
Denmark's military told Reuters that planes carrying Danish soldiers and Army Commander Peter Boysen would land in Kangerlussuaq, western Greenland, on Monday, describing it as a "substantial contribution" to the Arctic Endurance military exercise.
TALKS WITH TRUMP IN DAVOS?
Norway's Stoere amended his schedule, announcing that he would attend the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday and Thursday, overlapping with Trump's planned appearance at the annual gathering of the global political and business elite.
Trump is expected to deliver a keynote address on Wednesday in his first appearance at the conference in six years.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he too would try to meet Trump on Wednesday, adding that a trade dispute was not wanted. "But if we are confronted with tariffs that we consider unreasonable, then we are capable of responding," Merz said.   U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it would be "very unwise" for European governments to retaliate.
"I think it’s a complete canard that the president will be doing this because of the Nobel prize. The president is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States," he told reporters in Davos.
EU LEADERS TO MEET ON THURSDAY
EU leaders will discuss their options at an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday. One option is a package of tariffs on 93 billion euros ($108 billion) of U.S. imports that could automatically kick in on February 6 after a six-month suspension.
Another option is the "Anti-Coercion Instrument" (ACI), which has never yet been used and which could limit access to public tenders, investments or banking activity or restrict trade in services, in which the U.S. has a surplus with the bloc, including in digital services.
The EU said it was continuing to engage "at all levels" with the U.S. but said the use of its ACI was not off the table.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for calm discussion between the allies, adding that he did not believe Trump was considering military action to seize Greenland.
Russia declined to comment on whether the U.S. designs on Greenland were good or bad but said it was hard to disagree with experts that Trump would "go down in... world history" if he did take control of the island. ($1 = 0.8604 euros)
(Reporting by John Irish, Nora Buli, Ismail Shakil, Bhargav Acharya, Stine Jacobsen, Terje Solsvik, Søren Sirich Jeppesen, Simon Johnson, Maria Martinez, Leigh Thomas; Christoph Steitz, Linda Pasquini, Elizabeth Piper, William James, David Milliken and Alistair Smout; writing by Matthias Williams and Keith WeirEditing by Gareth Jones)
The Nobel Peace Prize is an international award given annually to individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to peace efforts. It was established by the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.
Sovereignty refers to the authority of a state to govern itself or another state. It includes the power to make laws, control territory, and conduct foreign relations.
A letter of demand is a formal request for payment or action sent to a debtor. It outlines the amount owed and the consequences of non-payment, often serving as a precursor to legal action.
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