Iceland Summons US Envoy Over Trump's Map Showing Island as American Territory
Iceland summoned the US ambassador after Trump posted a map depicting North America, including Iceland, as US territory. Denmark and Mexico also reacted.
Iceland's government summoned the United States ambassador on Monday after President Donald Trump posted a map on social media that appeared to claim Icelandic territory as part of America.
The image, shared on Trump's Truth Social platform, showed the US flag superimposed over a landmass encompassing the US, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, Central America, and parts of the Caribbean. The entire area was labelled "United States of America."
Iceland's Foreign Secretary Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir met with US Ambassador Billy Long and conveyed that the post was unacceptable, according to national broadcaster RÚV.
The incident follows a recent gaffe in which Trump repeatedly referred to Iceland while discussing his interest in acquiring Greenland. That mistake had already prompted Iceland's coalition government to advance a planned referendum on EU membership, though voters rejected the measure in August.
Thousands of Icelanders had also signed a petition against Long's appointment after he joked earlier this year about Iceland becoming the 52nd US state. He later apologised and assumed his post in Reykjavik last month.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, whose country oversees Greenland as a self-governing territory, responded sharply to the map. "The Greenlandic government and the Greenlandic people have said again and again that they do not want to be American," she told the Ritzau news agency, expressing hope that this position is clear to the US and the world.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the post "disturbing and, in many ways, completely inappropriate," adding that it signals the US president still harbours a "maximalist vision" that needs to be reined in.
The map was posted amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa, with both sides imposing tariffs on each other's goods. Trump has also signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America."
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded on social media, asserting that Mexico "is neither nor will be a colony or protectorate of any foreign country," and emphasised the nation's sovereignty and independence.