White House responds after Trump repeatedly refers to Greenland as ‘Iceland’ in Davos
White House denies Arctic territories mix-up after the US president’s freewheeling speech in Davos
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FULL EVENT: US President Donald Trump speaks at Davos
US President Donald Trump repeatedly made an apparent gaffe in a speech on Wednesday to world leaders assembled in Switzerland by referring to “Iceland” several times instead of his much coveted “Greenland”, with the White House furiously denying any confusion on his part.
The 79-year-old Republican has been clamouring for the United States to acquire Greenland, a large island territory of Denmark, citing what he called security threats from Russia and China in the Arctic Circle.
“I’m helping Nato, and until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me,” Trump said during his remarks to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
“They’re not there for us on Iceland – that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.”
It seemed obvious he was referring to Greenland and not the smaller neighbouring Iceland, an island in the North Atlantic famous for its breathtaking volcanic landscapes.