Trump Tells Norway He No Longer Feels Obligation to ‘Think Purely of Peace’ in Acquiring Greenland

U.S. President Donald Trump told Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store that he no longer feels obligated “to think purely of peace” in his bid for the United States to acquire the island of Greenland, a recognized territorial holding of the Kingdom of Denmark under international law.

“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,” Trump wrote in a Jan. 18 text message to Store. He repeated his demand for U.S. control over Greenland.

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China,” Trump said in the text message.

“The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”

The text message was forwarded to multiple European leaders as tensions over the issue heat up between the United States and the European Union.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

On Jan. 15,  Machado gifted Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal during her visit to the White House. While the Nobel Committee has said the prizes are nontransferable, Trump has expressed the intention to keep the medal.

Store issued a statement on Jan. 19 restating Norway’s support for Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland and saying that the Nobel Peace Prize is presented by an independent committee, not the government.

“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” Store said in the statement.

When asked by reporters on the night of Jan. 19 whether the Nobel Prize influenced his thinking on Greenland, Trump said, “I don’t care about the Nobel Prize.”

“If anybody thinks that Norway doesn’t, doesn’t control the Nobel Prize, they’re just kidding. They have a board, but it’s controlled by Norway, and I don’t care what Norway says, but I really don’t care about that. What I care about is saving lives, and I think I’ve saved tens of millions of lives. ”

Trump also told reporters that the United States would talk about acquiring Greenland at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment on Trump’s message to Store.

Trump later said on early Jan. 20 that he had a “very good” telephone call with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte concerning Greenland.

Trump also said he had agreed to a meeting of various parties at the World Economic Forum. He did not specify who the various parties were.

“As I expressed to everyone, very plainly, Greenland is imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back — On that, everyone agrees!” he said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump has said that U.S. acquisition of the island is critical to U.S. national security, citing its abundant natural resources, utility for U.S. missile defense programs, and proximity to U.S. adversaries such as Russia, and has not ruled out military conquest of the island.

The full context of the text exchange was later released under Norway’s freedom of information act.

Trump was replying to a joint message from Store and Finnish ‌President Alexander Stubb, referred to as “Alex.”

“Dear Mr President, dear Donald—on the contact across the Atlantic—on Greenland, Gaza, Ukraine—and your tariff announcement yesterday. You know our position on these issues. But we believe we all should work to take this down and de-escalate—so much is happening around us where we need to stand together. We are proposing a call with you later today—with both of us or separately—give us a hint of what you prefer!”

Store and Stubb, alongside the rest of the EU, have strongly resisted Trump’s proposal to take over Greenland.

Following an emergency meeting on Jan. 18, EU leaders expressed “readiness to defend” themselves if any form of coercion were to be used against Greenland.

That meeting, which is expected to be followed by a full summit of EU leaders later this week, came after Trump announced plans to add a 10 percent tariff on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland starting on Feb. 1, which would increase to 25 percent on June 1.

In a Jan. 17 Truth Social post, Trump said this tariff regime would remain in place “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”

In the Jan. 18 text message, Trump questioned Denmark’s historical “right of ownership” over the island, saying, “There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.”

He also said that he has done more for NATO than anyone since the political and military alliance’s founding and that NATO now owes the United States support in securing “Complete and Total Control of Greenland” in the name of global security.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended Trump’s approach on Greenland.

“I think it’s a complete canard that the president would be doing this because of the Nobel Prize. The president is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States. We are not going to outsource our hemisphere security to anyone else,” Bessent told reporters in Davos, adding he did not “know anything about the president’s letter to Norway.”

Reuters contributed to this report.