Iceland Summons US Ambassador After Trump Posts Flag Map

Iceland's leaders publicly condemned President Donald Trump's social media post depicting Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and much of the Caribbean covered by the American flag.

Iceland summoned U.S. Ambassador Billy Long on Tuesday to deliver a formal rebuke. Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Gunnarsdottir stated the meeting was necessary to make it absolutely clear that, from their perspective, this was completely unacceptable. Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir called the post an insult to Icelanders, Canadians, Greenlanders, adding, "There is nothing funny or normal about making fun of the sovereignty of states."

Trump posted the image on Truth Social on Monday without comment. The image showed the entire landmass labeled "United States of America." Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen described the post as disturbing and, in many ways, completely inappropriate. Trump has previously expressed ambition to bring Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, under U.S. control.

He said in January that anything short of U.S. control of Greenland was unacceptable. Trump also advocated making Canada the 51st state, saying in February last year that the idea was a real thing. Iceland became alarmed when Trump mistakenly named their country four times while speaking about his designs on Greenland. Thousands of Icelanders signed a petition urging the prime minister to reject Long as ambassador after he made a crack earlier this year about Iceland becoming the 52nd US state.