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More Americans think the U.S. is losing ground in scientific achievements compared to other countries, and a clear split emerges when the numbers are analyzed by political parties, according to a new poll.
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Michael A. Brooks
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MOSCOW, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Russia is ready for the new reality of a world with no nuclear arms control limits after the New START treaty expires later this week, Russia’s point man for arms control said on Tuesday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said that if the U.S. pumped lots of missile defence systems onto Greenland then Russia would have to take compensatory measures in its military sphere.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.
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Politics and entertainment frequently intertwined during the 2026 Grammy Awards. Artists spoke out against federal immigration enforcement tactics and host Trevor Noah directed more than one zinger at President Donald Trump.
One of Noah’s jokes prompted Trump to threaten legal action. In a Feb. 2 Truth Social post published at 1 a.m. Eastern Time, about 90 minutes after the Grammys ended, Trump wrote:
“Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!! I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.”
Trump said he planned to ask his lawyers to sue Noah “for plenty$.” “Get ready Noah, I’m going to have some fun with you!” he wrote.
The joke Trump referred to came after Noah referenced two recent high-profile news stories: Trump’s aggressive pursuit of Greenland and the web of powerful people linked to deceased convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Noah congratulated musician Billie Eilish on her Song of The Year win before making the political analogy that sparked Trump’s threat:
“Wow,” Noah said. “That is a Grammy that every artist wants — almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense, I mean, because Epstein’s island is gone he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton, so.”
Trevor Noah takes another jab at Donald Trump #Grammys: “Song of the Year — that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton” pic.twitter.com/quUWEpX4NL
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) February 2, 2026
At the White House Feb. 2, Trump criticized Noah as “a lousy host” and told reporters, “I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Here’s more context about the controversy.
Reports and evidence available as of midday Feb. 2 support Trump’s statement that he was never on Epstein’s private island, Little St. James in the Virgin Islands, where prosecutors said Epstein sex trafficked underage girls. The Justice Department on Jan. 30 released more than 3.5 million pages from its files related to Epstein. Trump was mentioned more than 1,000 times in those documents.
News organizations have started analyzing how Trump appeared in the newly released documents and photos, and so far they have not reported evidence showing Trump ever visited Epstein’s private island. Although the files are online, they’re not all searchable.
In 2019, Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail as he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Trump and Epstein were friends until a falling out at some point in the 2000s. Photos show them partying with Victoria’s Secret models in New York City and spending time together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Flight logs also show that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane at least seven times in the 1990s, traveling between Florida and New York. In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine that Epstein was a “terrific guy.”
It’s unclear exactly when and why their friendship ended. After Epstein was arrested in 2019, Trump said he’d fallen out with Epstein and had not spoken to him in 15 years.
Trump has repeatedly said he has never been to Epstein’s island.
PolitiFact and other fact-checking organizations have reported that evidence does not show that Trump had been to Epstein’s private island.
Public figures including former President Bill Clinton were also documented guests on Epstein’s plane.
Flight logs show that Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane more than once. FactCheck.org reported that Clinton flew on Epstein’s planes 26 times during six multi-stop trips in 2002 and 2003.
Clinton’s team previously acknowledged this Epstein connection but denied going to the private island.
“In 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane: one to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation,” Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said in 2019. “He has not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida.”
It’s unclear how many separate flights Clinton took for those trips.
The fresh Epstein documents have revealed no evidence that Clinton visited Epstein’s island.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
RELATED: What we know about the Trump-Epstein falling out
RELATED: No evidence President-elect Donald Trump visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island
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Hundreds of Danish veterans, many of whom fought alongside U.S. troops in the Middle East, staged a silent protest Saturday outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen in response to the Trump administration’s threats to take over Greenland and belittling their combat contributions.
“Denmark has always stood side by side with the USA — and we have showed up in the world’s crisis zones when the USA has asked us to. We feel let down and ridiculed by the Trump Administration, which is deliberately disregarding Denmark’s combat side by side with the USA,” Danish Veterans & Veteran Support said in a statement.
“Words cannot describe how much it hurts us that Denmark’s contributions and sacrifices in the fight for democracy, peace and freedom are being forgotten in the White House,” it said.
Emil Helms / Ritzau Scanpix /AFP via Getty Images
Danish veterans are furious at the White House’s rhetoric, which disregards Greenland’s right to self-determination, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. They also strongly object to President Trump’s claim that Denmark is incapable of protecting the West’s security interests in the Arctic.
On Saturday, veterans first gathered at a monument honoring fallen Danish service members, then marched to the nearby U.S. Embassy, where they observed five minutes of silence — one each for Denmark’s army, air force, navy, emergency management agency and police.
“We also want to tell Americans that what Trump said is an insult to us and the values that we defended together,” Soren Knudsen, vice president of Denmark’s veterans association, told the Agence France-Presse.
He added that the organizers were pleasantly surprised by the support they’ve received.
“It all started within the association and grew into a large event,” Knudsen said.
Emil Helms / Ritzau Scanpix /AFP via Getty Images 
Danish combat veteran Martin Aaholm, who served in Afghanistan alongside U.S. troops and lost both of his legs to an improvised explosive device, told CBS News earlier this week that he feels “angry and betrayed” by Mr. Trump’s comments about Greenland and Denmark.
“I have sacrificed a lot of friends, family, girlfriends, all because I was placed on the path of helping America after 9/11,” he said, adding that it was worth helping America. “I was amazed that we would answer the call, us little Denmark. I was amazed that we were able to fight with the big guys.”
“I think America has lost its soul. It’s not the America I grew up with, where America was the defender of peace in the world and wanted to spread democracy,” Aaholm added.
Forty-four Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces. Eight more died in Iraq.
Tensions were further inflamed on Tuesday when 44 Danish flags — one for every Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan — that had been placed in front of the embassy were removed by embassy staff.
Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/NurPhoto via Getty Images 
The embassy apologized and replaced them.
“We have nothing but the deepest respect for Danish veterans and the sacrifices Danish soldiers have made for our shared security. There was no ill intent behind the removal of the flags,” it said in a post on its Facebook page.
The State Department later said that, as a general rule, guard staff remove items left behind following demonstrations and other “legitimate exercises of free speech.” The flags were returned to those who left them, it said.
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President Donald Trump was riding high early this month after the U.S. military pulled off a stunning raid that captured dictator Nicolas Maduro.
But just three weeks later, he has run into significant resistance on multiple fronts, challenging his economic, foreign relations, and immigration policies. The second deadly shooting in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents this weekend has unleashed broad outrage that could signal a tipping point.
“Starting to feel like we are in the midst of a historic hinge moment here,” political scientist Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the New America think tank, posted on X.
Trump appeared to acknowledge his new situation, telling the Wall Street Journal on Sunday night that the administration is “reviewing everything” about the shooting and indicated willingness to eventually withdraw immigration officers from Minneapolis.
A retreat could hint at an eroding base after Trump enjoyed widespread support among Republicans for much of 2025 even as his aggressive tariffs shocked businesses and trading partners, including close U.S. allies.
But cracks emerged late in the year as November elections highlighted the affordability crisis and Congress ordered the release of the Epstein files on near-unanimous votes. Heavy redactions and the Justice Department’s failure to disclose all of the records by the deadline added to the tension.
The conversation quickly changed when Maduro was toppled as Trump basked in the U.S. military’s proficiency and his new ability to call the shots in Venezuela, despite grumblings that another foreign intervention strayed from his “America first” motto.
Then two weeks ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell issued an unprecedented video statement that revealed he was facing a Justice Department criminal investigation related to a renovation project at the central bank’s headquarters.
It capped a long-running feud between Powell and Trump, who has repeatedly demanded that rates should be lower.
The backlash was swift as lawmakers sought to protect the Fed’s independence. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis vowed to block any nominations to the Fed, including for Powell’s replacement, until the case was resolved.
Other Republicans rallied around Powell, marking another divergence from Trump’s earlier lockstep support. And after weeks of teasing that he would soon nominate a new Fed chair, Trump has yet to officially offer a name.
Still, the resounding success of the Venezuela operation was continuing to prop up his confidence, and Trump threatened Iran while promising to help protesters taking on the regime.
But then the bravado extended to Greenland. After flirting with the idea of taking over the semi-autonomous Danish territory in his first term and last year, the insistence that the island belong to the U.S. became more urgent after Venezuela.
Several European countries, all NATO allies, then deployed troops to Greenland, ostensibly to show Trump that they were willing to secure it from China and Russia, which he warned were major threats.
But that angered Trump, who announced tariffs against the NATO countries unless they supported his bid to take over Greenland. It triggered an existential crisis for the trans-Atlantic alliance as Trump had also refused to rule out using the military.
At the World Economic Forum this past week in Davos, furious rounds of diplomacy ensued to pull Trump back from the brink of smashing the nearly 80-year-old defense pact. Republicans like Tillis also voiced support for NATO.
Canada and Europe held firm on protecting Greenland’s sovereignty, contrasting with a less combative approach in last year’s tariff battles, which yielded a lopsided U.S.-EU trade pact that’s heavily favors Trump.
On Wednesday, he backed down, saying he will not impose the NATO tariffs and claimed to have a “framework” of a deal that grants the U.S. full access to Greenland. He later said the U.S. is negotiating sovereignty over parts of Greenland that host American military bases.
Fury had been building for weeks after Trump surged thousands of federal agents to the state to carry out his immigration crackdown.
Saturday’s shooting was the third one in Minnesota this month, and the second deadly one. It also followed days of reports about immigration officers detaining young children, arresting U.S. citizens, and forcibly entering homes without judicial warrants.
Video evidence also clearly contradicted the Trump administration’s claim that Alex Pretti, who was a nurse in a veterans hospital, threatened the Border Patrol before being shot.
Silicon Valley workers expressed their anger, and Minnesota-based CEOs pleaded for de-escalation. Democrats in Congress stiffened their opposition to an appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, more Republicans have started to voice some uneasiness with federal agents’ tactics and are demanding congressional hearings.
“I think the death of Americans, what we’re seeing on TV, it’s causing deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told CNN on Sunday. “Americans don’t like what they’re seeing right now.”
Phil Scott, the Republican governor of deep-blue Vermont, took the rhetoric further. In a post on X, he said Trump should pause the immigration operations to reset the focus on criminals. He also urged Congress and the courts to “restore constitutionality” in the absence of presidential action.
“It’s not acceptable for American citizens to be killed by federal agents for exercising their God-given and constitutional rights to protest their government,” he wrote. “At best, these federal immigration operations are a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices, training, and leadership. At worst, it’s a deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens that’s resulting in the murder of Americans.”
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NUUK, Greenland — One year ago, days before Donald Trump reclaimed power, the head of Denmark’s People’s Party took a trip to Mar-a-Lago. Morten Messerschmidt thought he and Trump shared a common view on the perils of European integration. Together, he told local media at the time, they could make the West great again.
In Europe, just as in the United States, Messerschmidt thought it was “nationale suverænitet” — national sovereignty — that had over centuries given countries large and small the tools to build their culture, traditions and institutions. Those were the values that conservative movements across the European continent are fighting to protect.
But Messerschmidt now finds himself on the defensive. The far-right politician is suddenly distancing himself from an American president who, off and on over the last year, has made aggressive plays to annex Greenland, targeting Danish borders that have existed for roughly 300 years.
Trump pulled back from military threats against the island this week. “It’s total access — there’s no end,” he said in an interview on Thursday with Fox Business. Asked whether he still intended on acquiring the island, Trump replied, “It’s possible. Anything is possible.”
Despite Trump’s fixation on Greenland since his first term, he declined to meet with Messerschmidt at Mar-a-Lago last January. Instead, the Danish politician found himself discussing the matter with Marla Maples, the president’s ex-wife.
“Portraying me as someone who serves a cause other than Denmark, and who would sympathize with threats to our kingdom, is unhealthy,” Messerschmidt wrote on Facebook this weekend. “It is slander.”
The Danish People’s Party is one of many far-right groups across Europe, which aligned with Trump’s MAGA movement in their fervent opposition to immigration and related issues, suddenly in rebellion against an administration it once thought of as an ideological ally.
The president’s moves are now compelling them to reconcile their alliance with Trump with a core tenet on the political right, that nationalism is largely defined by people and place over historic stretches of time — or as Trump often said on the campaign trail, “without a border, you don’t have a country.”
“Donald Trump has violated a fundamental campaign promise — namely, not to interfere in other countries,” Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany Party, or AfD, said in Berlin. Her colleague added: “It is clear that Wild West methods must be rejected.”
The rupture could jeopardize the Trump administration’s own stated goals for a future Europe that is more conservative and aligned with the Republican Party — a plan that relied on boosting the very same parties now questioning their ties to the president.
In its national security strategy, published in November, the White House said it would “cultivate resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations,” hoping to restore “Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.”
And it is not clear whether the president’s decision to walk back his most aggressive threats is enough to contain the diplomatic damage. “The process of getting to this agreement has clearly damaged trust amongst allies,” Rishi Sunak, former prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of its Conservative Party, told Bloomberg on Thursday.
Trump’s pressure campaign urging Ukraine to accept borders redrawn by a revanchist Russia had already strained relations between his inner circle and Europe’s far-right movements. But several prominent right-wing leaders say his aggressive posture toward Greenland amounted to a bridge too far.
On Wednesday in Switzerland, addressing growing concerns over the plan, Trump still left threats lingering in the air, warning European leaders that he would “remember” if they blocked a U.S. takeover.
“Friends can disagree in private, and that’s fine — that’s part of life, part of politics,” Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform UK party in Britain, told House Speaker Mike Johnson in London earlier this week. “But to have a U.S. president threatening tariffs unless we agree that he can take over Greenland by some means, without it seeming to even get the consent of the people of Greenland — I mean, this is a very hostile act.”
In France, the head of Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, National Rally, said the United States had presented Europe “with a choice: Accept dependency disguised as partnership or act as sovereign powers capable of defending our interests.”
With overseas territories across the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian oceans, France has the second-largest maritime exclusive economic zone in the world after the United States. If Trump can seize Greenland by force, what is stopping him, or any other great power, from conquering France’s islands?
“When a U.S. president threatens a European territory while using trade pressure, it is not dialogue — it is coercion. And our credibility is at stake,” said the party’s young leader, Jordan Bardella.
“Greenland has become a strategic pivot in a world returning to imperial logic,” he added. “Yielding today would set a dangerous precedent.”
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Michael Wilner
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Jan 22 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said the details of a U.S. agreement over Greenland were still being worked out on Thursday, speaking one day after he stepped back from a tariff threat and ruled out the use of force to seize the Danish territory.
Trump, in an interview on Fox Business Network from Davos, also acknowledged the impact of his quest for Greenland on global markets and said he did not plan to pay to acquire it.
“It’s really being negotiated now, the details of it. But essentially it’s total access. It’s – there’s no end, there’s no time limit,” Trump said from the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
“I noticed the stock market went up very substantially after we announced it,” he told FBN’s “Mornings with Maria” program.
Asked about the possibility of Europeans selling U.S. stocks and bonds, he added: “If they do, they do. But if that would happen, there would be a big retaliation on our part, and we have all the cards.”
Trump began floating the idea of acquiring Greenland after taking office last year but stepped up his rhetoric in recent weeks, threatening a 10% tariff on eight European countries over the weekend that shook investors.
He continued his push in a more than hour-long speech at Davos on Wednesday before meeting with the head of NATO and announcing plans for a new deal that has yet to be defined.
Asked on Thursday what he was willing to pay for the semi-autonomous territory, he added: “We’re going to not have to pay anything other than the fact that we are building the Golden Dome.”
Trump said any deal would allow “total access” to Greenland, including for the military: “We’re getting everything we want at no cost”.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Alex Richardson, William Maclean)
Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.
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COPENHAGEN, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Thursday that Denmark and Greenland will continue to engage in a constructive dialogue on security in the Arctic, provided that this is done with respect for her country’s territorial integrity.
U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly stepped back on Wednesday from threats to impose tariffs as leverage to seize Greenland, ruled out the use of force and suggested a deal was in sight to end a dispute over the Danish territory.
After meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said Western Arctic allies could forge agreement that satisfies his desire for a “Golden Dome” missile‑defence system and access to minerals while blocking Russia and China’s ambitions.
Frederiksen said NATO was fully aware of Denmark’s position, and that she had been informed that Rutte’s talks did not involve her country’s sovereignty.
“”Security in the Arctic is a matter for the entire NATO alliance. Therefore, it is good and natural that it is also discussed between NATO’s secretary general and the president of the United States,” Frederiksen said in a statement.
“The Kingdom of Denmark wishes to continue to engage in a constructive dialogue with allies on how we can strengthen security in the Arctic, including the United States’ Golden Dome, provided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity,” she said.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Essi Lehto)
Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.
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After President Donald Trump announced a new Greenland “framework” had been agreed upon with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the NATO chief told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” the U.S. forcibly taking control of Greenland from Denmark was not discussed during meetings between him and Trump in Switzerland during the World Economic Forum.
“That issue did not come up anymore in my conversations with Mr. President. He’s very much focused on what we need to do to make sure that that huge Arctic region, where change is taking place at the moment, where the Chinese and Russians are more and more active, how we can protect that,” Rutte said when pressed on the details of the reported “framework” that has been agreed upon.
Trump said the agreement resulted in his decision not to impose tariffs scheduled to go into effect Feb. 1.
“That was really the focus of our discussions,” Rutte insisted.
TRUMP’S ‘SMALL ASK’ FOR GREENLAND WOULD BE THE REAL ESTATE DEAL OF A LIFETIME
NATO chief Mark Rutte says Europe never would have stepped up its defense spending without Trump. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)
Trump announced the new “framework” for Greenland in a post on his social media site Truth Social Wednesday afternoon while at the World Economic Forum this week.
“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” the president wrote. “Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress.”
Trump noted that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will lead “the negotiations” and report directly to him.
TRUMP TELLS DAVOS US ALONE CAN SECURE GREENLAND, INSISTS HE WON’T ‘USE FORCE’
People wave Greenlandic flags during a mass demonstration opposing President Donald Trump’s proposal to acquire Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 17, 2026. (Getty Images)
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that,” Trump said earlier in the morning at the World Economic Forum. “Now everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, good.’ That’s probably the biggest statement I made because people thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”
During the exclusive interview with Fox News, Rutte called Trump “totally right” about needing to shore up security in the Arctic region, noting that the chance of Russia or China becoming a threat in that region is increasing every day. The NATO Secretary General also praised Trump’s leadership in getting other NATO countries to pay more money for the alliance’s defenses.
“I would argue tonight with you on this program he was the one who brought a whole of Europe and Canada up to this famous 5%,” Rutte insisted, “which is crucial for us to equalize our spending, but also protect ourselves. And this is the framework which you see in his post that we will work on.”
Rutte also noted that increased volatility between NATO-aligned countries, Russia and China underscored the need to shore up security in the Arctic region.
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The NATO chief was asked whether he thought other countries were dealing with the Russians and the Chinese differently than they have in the past.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (AP)
“It’s not up to me to comment on what individual allies are doing in terms of their relationship with China,” Rutte responded. “I think collectively, as NATO, we have a position. The position is that we should not be naive. I can tell you’ll regret these huge investments the Chinese are making in the military. They are not there to organize parades in Beijing, and the military in Russia are not there to organize parades in Moscow. They are there to be used.”
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President Donald Trump said Thursday that proposed tariffs against European allies are off the table after what he described as a tentative agreement with NATO tied to Greenland and Arctic security.
Trump said there is now a “concept of a deal” following talks in Switzerland, easing trade tensions that flared after European countries pushed back on his interest in acquiring Greenland.
“I think it’s going to be a very good deal for the United States — also for them,” Trump said to CNBC.
The announcement came after the president said the United States would not use military force to take Greenland from Denmark. Instead, Trump said the focus has shifted to cooperation with allies on security concerns in the Arctic region.
“We’re going to work together on something having to do with the Arctic as a whole, but also Greenland — and it has to do with the security, great security, strong security, and other things,” Trump said.
NBC10 Boston political commentator Sue O’Connell weighs in on Greenland.
Earlier Thursday, the European Union said it would pause adoption of a U.S. trade deal reached last summer in response to Trump’s proposal to impose tariffs on a handful of EU countries opposed to U.S. ownership of Greenland.
Trump later said those tariffs were removed as negotiations progressed.
“We took that off, because it looks like we have, pretty much, a concept of a deal,” he said. “It’s a little bit complex, but we’ll explain it down the line.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Alan Leventhal told NBC10 Boston he agrees with the president on security concerns in the Arctic, particularly as ice caps continue to melt.
“Minerals and resources on the seabed in the Arctic Ocean are going to open up,” Leventhal said.
However, he warned that pressuring allies could risk a broader trade conflict and send the wrong signal to adversaries like Russia and China as it pertains to taking over territory by force.
“I think the best path is to work with the Danes and the Greenlanders to achieve whatever we want on Greenland, short of owning Greenland,” Leventhal said.
Trump said the agreement would “last forever,” though he did not provide details. He also said owning Greenland would give the United States a greater incentive to defend it through his proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system.
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Oscar Margain
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President Trump has made a series of claims about Greenland in recent weeks, insisting the United States needs to take control of the island to protect Americans — a view Greenland officials and NATO allies reject.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Mr. Trump called acquiring Greenland “a core national security interest of the United States of America,” reiterating his interest in acquiring the self-governing territory from Denmark.
Later Wednesday, following a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, the president seemed to temper his language, saying that he and Rutte had reached “the framework of a future deal” regarding Greenland. The president did not provide details on the alleged deal.
As he’s sought to justify his efforts, Mr. Trump has claimed in interviews and conversations with world leaders that Denmark has no legal claim to Greenland. He’s also exaggerated threats from China and Russia, and falsely suggested Denmark provides almost no defense for the island.
Here’s a closer look at several of those claims.
Mr. Trump wrote in a text exchange with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Jan. 19: “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.”
Details: In the text exchange with Støre, Mr. Trump questioned Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland, writing there are “no written documents” establishing ownership.
The claim is false.
There are written agreements and court rulings establishing Denmark’s claim to Greenland, including a declaration by the U.S. secretary of state in 1916 which explicitly recognized Danish control over the territory. An international court also ruled in 1933 that Denmark held valid sovereignty over the entire island.
Danish explorers and settlers began colonizing Greenland in the early 1700s, at a time when the U.S. was still a British colony.
“Danish expeditions reached and settled Greenland centuries ago,” Marc Jacobsen, a professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, told CBS News in an email. “Since then, Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland has been internationally recognized, including by the U.S., just as similar claims are recognized for many other nations around the world.”
Trump said in a press gaggle on Jan. 4: “Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.” (Press gaggle, January 4)
Mr. Trump said at a Jan. 9 press conference: “We need that because if you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers. There are Chinese destroyers and bigger. There are Russian submarines all over the place. We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that’s what they’re going to do if we don’t.”
Details: Trump has also repeatedly claimed that a large number of Russian and Chinese ships are currently operating near Greenland.
There is no evidence to support that claim.
Greenland’s minister of business Naaja Nathanielsen said she was “not aware” of any Russian and Chinese ships or submarines around Greenland when asked about Mr.Trump’s comments earlier this month.
Public ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic does not show any Russian- or Chinese-flagged commercial vessels around Greenland, with most traffic consisting of fishing boats. While vessels can turn off their transponders or spoof their locations, experts say there is no indication of the large-scale naval presence Mr. Trump has described.
MarineTraffic.com
“The claim by President Trump of Russian and Chinese ships all over the place does not hold,” Romain Chuffart, the managing director of The Arctic Institute, a non-profit think tank, told CBS News by email.
Other experts have noted that Russian naval activity in the Arctic is concentrated near Norway, while China’s Arctic involvement has focused on trade with Russia and exercises near Alaska.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Jan. 11: “And Greenland basically, their defense is two dog sleds. Do you know that? You know what their defense is? Two dog sleds.”
Details: In jest or not, that is incorrect. While Danish special forces do operate the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol — a special force which patrols remote, icy areas using sled dogs — that is just one part of its military presence.
Denmark deploys Arctic patrol vessels, surveillance aircraft, and maintains a military base in Nuuk with about 150 personnel, according to the Danish Ministry of Defense.
Danish officials have also committed roughly $6.5 billion to modernize military capabilities in Greenland over the next decade, Chuffart said.
As for the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, the 12-person team uses dog sleds because it is “the most adequate mode of transportation in the region,” according to Chuffart.
The U.S. already operates an air base in Greenland and has the option to expand its presence under a 1951 agreement with Denmark. Danish officials have said they would welcome greater U.S. cooperation on security — but insist Greenland is not for sale.
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NUUK, Greenland — President Trump retreated Wednesday from his most serious threats toward Denmark, easing transatlantic tensions and lifting Wall Street after rejecting the prospect he would use military force to annex Greenland, a Danish territory and the world’s largest island.
Instead, the United States struck a “framework” agreement in talks with NATO’s secretary general regarding the future of Greenland, “and in fact, the whole Arctic region,” Trump wrote on social media. He did not immediately provide details on the contents of the plan.
The whiplash of developments followed weeks of escalating threats from the president to control Greenland by any means necessary — including by force, if left with no other choice.
Now, “the military’s not on the table,” Trump told reporters at the economic forum in Switzerland, acknowledging sighs of relief throughout the room.
“I don’t think it will be necessary,” he said. “I really don’t. I think people are going to use better judgment.”
It was a turn of events that came as welcome news in Nuuk, where signs hang in storefronts and kitchen windows rejecting American imperialism.
“It’s difficult to say what are negotiating tactics, and what the foundation is for him saying all of this,” said Finn Meinel, an attorney born and raised in the Greenlandic capital. “It could be that joint pressure from the EU and NATO countries has made an impact, as well as the economic numbers in the states. Maybe that has had an influence.”
President Trump speaks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
In his speech at Davos, Trump took note of the market turmoil his threats against Greenland had caused entering the conference. Announcing the agreement framework on social media Wednesday, he said he would pause punitive tariffs planned against longstanding European allies that had refused to support his demands.
Prominent world leaders — including from Canada, France and the United Kingdom, among Washington’s closest allies — had warned earlier this week that Trump’s militant threats against a fellow NATO member were ushering in a new era of global order accommodating a less reliable United States.
For years, Trump has called for U.S. ownership over Greenland due to its strategic position in the Arctic Circle, where ice melting due to climate change is making way for a new era of competition with Russia and China. An Arctic conflict, the president says, will require a robust U.S. presence there.
While the president rejects climate change and its perils as a hoax, he has embraced the opportunities that may come with the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet, the world’s largest after Antarctica, including the opening of new shipping lanes and defense positions.
The United States already enjoys broad freedom to deploy any defense assets it sees fit across the island, raising questions in Europe over Trump’s fixation on outright sovereignty over the land.
“We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else,” Trump said, addressing members of the NATO alliance.
“I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force,” Trump said. But Europe still has a choice. “You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative,” he continued, “or you can say no, and we will remember.”
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The day before Trump’s speech, allies warned about a “rupture” in a global order in which the United States could be relied upon as a force of good. Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, in a speech Tuesday characterized Trump’s push to acquire Greenland as an example of why “the old order is not coming back.”
Trump apparently took note of Carney’s remarks, and told the crowd on Wednesday that Canada “should be grateful.”
“But they are not,” Trump said. “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
The president struck a similar tone with his demands for Greenland, repeatedly characterizing the United States as a “great power” compared with Denmark in its ability to protect the Arctic territory. At one point, he cited the American military’s role in World War II to justify his demands, telling the eastern Swiss audience that, “without us, you’d all be speaking German, or a little Japanese perhaps.”
It was a slight carried forward by the president’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who derided Copenhagen for its decision to divest from U.S. treasuries. “Denmark’s investment in U.S. treasury bonds like Denmark itself is irrelevant,” the secretary said.
In several instances, Trump framed the transatlantic alliance as one that benefits other countries more than the United States.
“We will be with NATO 100%, but I’m not sure they will be there for us,” Trump said. But NATO Secretary Gen. Mark Rutte responded to the concern in their meeting, noting that the alliance’s Article 5 commitment to joint defense has only been invoked once — by the United States, after the September 11th attacks. “Let me tell you: they will,” Rutte said.
But Trump expanded on his thinking over Greenland in his speech to the summit, describing his fixation on Greenland as “psychological,” and questioning why the United States would come to the island’s defense if its only investment was a licensing agreement.
“There’s no sign of Denmark there. And I say that with great respect for Denmark, whose people I love, whose leaders are very good,” Trump said. “It’s the United States alone that can protect this giant, massive land – this giant piece of ice – develop it, and improve it, and make it so that it’s good for Europe, and safe for Europe, and good for us.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was among the people in the audience reacting to Trump’s remarks in real time. The president’s speech, he told CNN afterward, was “remarkably boring” and “remarkably insignificant.”
“He was never going invade Greenland. It was never real,” Newsom said. “That was always a fake.”
Wilner reported from Nuuk, Ceballos from Washington, D.C.
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President Donald Trump made his pitch to acquire Greenland to international leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 21, saying for the first time he did not plan for the U.S. to take the land by force.
Trump, who talked up his tariff-based negotiation strategy, cited Greenland’s strategic position between the U.S., Russia and China as the main reason he wants to acquire the territory.
Retelling United States’ history with Greenland and Denmark, Trump said that during World War II, “We saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere.”
This much is accurate: After Germany invaded Denmark, the U.S. assumed responsibility for Greenland’s defense and established a military presence on the island that remains today, albeit in diminished scope.
But Trump overstepped when he said that after World War II, “We gave Greenland back to Denmark.”
“All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago,” Trump said.
Although the U.S. defended Greenland during World War II, it never possessed the nation — and could not have given it back. Experts have told PolitiFact that Greenland’s status as part of Denmark is not in question, and hasn’t been for more than a century.
Denmark’s colonization of Greenland dates to the 1720s. In 1933, an international court settled a territorial dispute between Denmark and Norway, ruling that as of July 1931, Denmark “possessed a valid title to the sovereignty over all Greenland.”
After the 1945 approval of the United Nations charter — the organization’s founding document and the foundation of much of international law — Denmark incorporated Greenland through a constitutional amendment and gave it representation in the Danish Parliament in 1953. Denmark told the United Nations that any colonial-type status had ended; the United Nations General Assembly accepted this change in November 1954. The United States was among the nations that voted to accept Greenland’s new status.
Since then, Greenland has, incrementally but consistently, moved toward greater autonomy.
Greenlandic political activists successfully pushed for and achieved home rule in 1979, which established its parliament. Today, Greenland is a district within the sovereign state of Denmark, with two elected representatives in Denmark’s parliament.
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By Sarah Marsh and Elizabeth Pineau
BERLIN/PARIS/, Jan 21 (Reuters) – European far-right and populist parties that once cheered on Donald Trump and gained in standing through his praise are now distancing themselves from the U.S. president over his military incursion into Venezuela and bid for Greenland.
The Trump administration has repeatedly backed far-right European parties that share a similar stance on issues from immigration to climate change, helping legitimize movements that have long faced stigma at home but are now on the rise.
The new U.S. National Security Strategy issued last month said “the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.”
But those parties now face a dilemma as disapproval of Trump rises across the continent over his increasingly aggressive foreign policy moves and in particular his efforts to acquire Greenland from Denmark.
GERMANY’S AFD BERATES TRUMP
“Donald Trump has violated a fundamental campaign promise — namely, not to interfere in other countries,” Alice Weidel of the far-right Alternative for Germany said, while party co-leader Tino Chrupalla rejected “Wild West methods”.
The AfD has been cultivating ties with Trump’s administration – but polls suggest this may no longer be beneficial. A survey by pollster Forsa released on Tuesday showed 71% of Germans see Trump more as an opponent than an ally.
Wariness of Trump has grown since he vowed on Saturday to slap tariffs on a raft of EU countries including Germany, France, Sweden and Britain, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland.
Those countries had last week sent military personnel to the vast Arctic island at Denmark’s request.
National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said on Tuesday Europe must react, referring to “anti-coercion measures” and the suspension of the economic agreement signed last year between the EU and the United States.
British populist party Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage has long feted his close ties with Trump, said it was hard to tell if the president was bluffing.
“But to use economic threats against the country that’s been considered to be your closest ally for over a hundred years is not the kind of thing we would expect,” Reform said in a statement published on Jan. 19.
Blunter still was Mattias Karlsson, often cited as chief ideologist of the far-right Sweden Democrats.
“Trump is increasingly resembling a reversed King Midas,” he wrote on X. “Everything he touches turns to shit.”
Political scientist Johannes Hillje said it would always be hard for nationalists to forge a common foreign policy “because the national interests do not always converge.”
Not all European far-right and populist parties have been so critical. Some, like the far-right Dutch Party for Freedom and Spanish Vox, praised Trump for removing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yet kept silent on his Greenland threats.
Others, such as Polish President Karol Nawrocki and the nationalist government of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban have called for the issue of Greenland to be settled bilaterally between the United States and Denmark.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis posted a video on social networks on Tuesday in which he brandished a map and a globe to show how big Greenland was and how close it was to Russia if it were to send a missile.
“The U.S. has a long-term interest in Greenland, it is not just an initiative of Donald Trump now,” he said, calling for a diplomatic resolution.
MILD CRITICISM FROM MELONI
Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is seen as one of the closest European leaders to Trump, said his decision to slap tariffs on European allies was a “mistake”.
“I spoke to Donald Trump a few hours ago and told him what I think,” she said on Sunday, adding that she thought there was “a problem of understanding and communication” between Washington and Europe. She has not said anything since, but Italian media have said she is against slapping tariffs on the U.S. in response and is instead seeking to defuse the crisis with talks.
However, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party, blamed the renewed trade tensions on the European nations who dispatched soldiers to Greenland.
“The eagerness to announce the dispatch of troops here and there is now bearing its bitter fruit,” he wrote on X.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Crispian Balmer in Rome, Jesus Calero in Madrid, Bart Meijer in Amsterdam, Johan Ahlander in Stockholm, Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Jan Lopatka in Prague and Krisztina Than in Budapest, Elizabeth Piper in London and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris)
Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.
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That is interesting, but it’s not exactly ideological. It’s that he sees European weakness and wants to exert power.
That is true. When Trump first came to power, there was some very interesting analysis from historians trying to gain an understanding of Trump’s world view. Something that they figured out was that, throughout his career, President Trump has held a strong belief that there was something totally wrong that, after the end of World War Two, countries like Germany and Japan were able to do so well. In his understanding, it did not make sense that the United States, the United Kingdom, and even the Soviet Union won the war, but the Germans and the Japanese were doing so well. And then it transformed into “America won, so why are Europeans living better than us? Why do they have better cars?” Etc.
And I do believe that world view stayed with him. Moreover, he does not understand what the European Union is. Europeans believe in win-win scenarios. They do believe that you really can find a way to compromise. If there is a religion of European politics, it is about compromise and consensus. And then you have somebody like Trump, who’s not interested in this.
I was talking to an American analyst, a colleague of mine, and he made an observation, which I found profound, but will probably seem trivial to you. He said President Trump had a successful business career in many respects, but he was not spectacularly successful in one business that he tried, and this was the casino business. The problem is that in the casino business, in order to win, you should try to create the illusion that others are winning.
I think that’s pretty good. I don’t find that trivial, actually.
This was looking like a Crimean moment. So trust in the United States was very much based on the fact that, regardless of our differences, Europe can rely on the Americans when it comes to Russia, and now nobody believes it anymore.
When you say a Crimean moment, I assume you’re referring to Russia taking Crimea twelve years ago, and that that was only the beginning of their designs on Ukraine, and that Trump’s desire to seize Greenland could similarly be a first step. Is that what you meant?
No. It is that in 2012 and 2013, prior to the invasion of Crimea, President Putin’s popularity had declined a bit, and there had been some protests in Russia. And then suddenly you have basically this super-majority of support that emerges after he annexes Crimea. And, in my view, President Trump also thinks that if suddenly, overnight on July 4, 2026, Greenland becomes part of the United States, then America is going to understand how great they have become. And I do believe this is really scaring many in Europe because they imagine that this is going to be a politics that others want to imitate.
I think Trump is totally wrong about how Americans would react to that, but it also just might not matter. And that in itself is scary enough. Are there off-ramps you see?
I believe there is going to be a group of countries, including those in Eastern Europe, saying, “Listen, let’s talk seriously. We are going to recognize the strategic dimension of Greenland, but what we cannot talk about is America owning it.” And here President Trump basically has an option. Either he’s going to say, “I achieved what I wanted to do. I never meant owning it. It was just about a deal, and now we are going to, for example, increase our military presence there, or it is going to be our companies that are going to develop some of the rare-earth resources of Greenland.” Something like this can happen. But my feeling is that at this moment President Trump is not interested in this. It has become too symbolic for him.
The other option for compromise is that Europeans are going to keep Greenland, and we are going to make Trump the chair of the Nobel Prize Committee so he can give the next Nobel Prize to himself. But, as of now, I do believe that Europeans probably are going to target some American goods. And we will see about the Anti-Coercion Instrument going forward.
You mentioned earlier that Europeans thought Trump really did care about building a coalition against China. But now it seems possible that one of the long-term effects of America potentially breaking with Europe in a major way would be to provide an opening for China.
Totally. This is the story. And I also believe Europeans are still hanging on to the hope that some part of the American élite—the financial élite but also the military élite—is going to go to President Trump and say, “Listen, you dislike Europe. And, of course, Europeans are idiots as you told us, but they’re idiots that we need.” If you look at global public opinion, people believe China is rising, but what is more interesting is that they have stopped fearing this. And I do believe this is something that President Trump slightly underestimated.
And then there is the question of NATO. Many Europeans have started to ask themselves the question of whether their belief in NATO has started to resemble the French belief in the famous Maginot Line. Before World War Two, the French created this “fortification” on the German-French border, which created the feeling that they were defended, and then it turned out that it was not the case. So, suddenly, this destabilization of Europe can really have far-reaching consequences. This is why some Europeans still believe that at a certain point there is going to be a strategic realization on the side of the Trump Administration that this is not a war worth fighting.
I hope you’re right, but you said Trump may have “underestimated” what effect all this would have with regard to China’s potential influence going forward. I don’t think this was underestimated or overestimated. I don’t think it goes into the equation of what he’s thinking about. The concept of a misguided national interest is one thing. Lots of Presidents have had those. The concept of a person who has no conception of the national interest is maybe closer to the mark.
No, you’re right. And do you know what the real risk for Europe is? The real risk for Europe is that Greenland will become Trump’s obsession. Because one of the important things about President Trump is that he has strong views, but he cannot keep his attention for a very long time on the same issue. And, if this basically becomes an obsession, then the nature of the change to the transatlantic relationship is going to be really, really dramatic. ♦
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“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in his speech at Davos on Monday. “Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.”
“You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination,” Carney said, making a case for “middle powers” like Canada to work together to gain leverage against “great powers,” which he said have the luxury of going it alone.
“When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what’s offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating,” Carney said. “This is not sovereignty. It’s the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination. In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice — compete with each other for favor, or to combine to create a third path with impact.”
Harun Ozalp/Anadolu/Getty
He called other nations to join Canada to pursue shared values, supporting Ukraine, NATO, and Danish and Greenlandic sovereignty, and warned them to “stop invoking rules-based international order as though it still functions as advertised. Call it what it is — a system of intensifying great power rivalry, where the most powerful pursue their interests, using economic integration as coercion.”
“The powerful have their power,” Carney said. “But we have something too — the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home and to act together. That is Canada’s path. We choose it openly and confidently, and it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us.”
His remarks drew a standing ovation.
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President Donald Trump will deliver a speech today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, focusing on a plan to make housing more affordable, while his comments about acquiring Greenland continue to stir tensions with European allies.”This will be an interesting trip. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but you are well represented,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for Switzerland.The speech comes shortly after he threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark and seven other allies due to their opposition to his interest in acquiring Greenland. Trump announced that the tariffs would start at 10% next month and increase to 25% by June. The tensions over the U.S. interest in the Danish territory have already affected Wall Street, with stocks rattled on Tuesday.In Davos, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney warned global leaders that the world is “facing a rupture,” emphasizing the risks of countries trying to avoid conflict by compliance. “There is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along, to accommodate to avoid trouble, to hope that compliance will buy safety. Well, it won’t,” Carney said.Carney also added that Canada opposes tariffs over Greenland. Trump’s speech is expected to focus largely on housing, and following his address, he will meet with leaders at the forum, according to the White House.Home sales in the U.S. are at a 30-year low with rising prices. Reports show elevated mortgage rates are keeping prospective home buyers out of the market. Rent, for several years, has been the largest contributor to inflation.This comes as Trump announced his plan to buy $200 billion in mortgage securities to help lower interest rates on home loans. He’s also called for a ban on large financial companies buying houses. Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:s
President Donald Trump will deliver a speech today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, focusing on a plan to make housing more affordable, while his comments about acquiring Greenland continue to stir tensions with European allies.
“This will be an interesting trip. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but you are well represented,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for Switzerland.
The speech comes shortly after he threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark and seven other allies due to their opposition to his interest in acquiring Greenland.
Trump announced that the tariffs would start at 10% next month and increase to 25% by June.
The tensions over the U.S. interest in the Danish territory have already affected Wall Street, with stocks rattled on Tuesday.
In Davos, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney warned global leaders that the world is “facing a rupture,” emphasizing the risks of countries trying to avoid conflict by compliance.
“There is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along, to accommodate to avoid trouble, to hope that compliance will buy safety. Well, it won’t,” Carney said.
Carney also added that Canada opposes tariffs over Greenland.
Trump’s speech is expected to focus largely on housing, and following his address, he will meet with leaders at the forum, according to the White House.
Home sales in the U.S. are at a 30-year low with rising prices. Reports show elevated mortgage rates are keeping prospective home buyers out of the market. Rent, for several years, has been the largest contributor to inflation.
This comes as Trump announced his plan to buy $200 billion in mortgage securities to help lower interest rates on home loans. He’s also called for a ban on large financial companies buying houses.
Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:
s
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In a fight over President Donald Trump’s quest to acquire Greenland, the president made false and misleading statements about the Nobel Peace Prize and his own peace record.
“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 Jan. 18 in a text message to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Trump added, “I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
Trump made similar comments in a Jan. 20 press conference on the anniversary of his inauguration. He again inferred that the country of Norway awards the Nobel Peace Prize. “Don’t let anyone tell you that Norway doesn’t control the shots, OK? It’s in Norway!”
Trump sent the text messages to Støre the same weekend he moved to add 10% tariffs on eight European countries, including Norway, that have opposed his quest to acquire Greenland.
Here, we fact-checked Trump’s remarks.
This is inaccurate.
Støre issued a statement in response, “I have clearly explained, including to president Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.”
Trump has long said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who recently won the prize for her fight for democracy, gave her prize medal to Trump. But the Norwegian Nobel Committee said the award can’t be revoked, shared or transferred.
Stein Tønnesson, Norwegian historian and former director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo who has worked for the Nobel committee as a consultant, said, “There is absolutely no truth in the claim that the government controls the prize. Trump is wrong, wrong and wrong.”
We asked the White House for Trump’s evidence that Norway awards the prize. Spokesperson Anna Kelly provided a statement that did not answer that question.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee includes five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. Committee members must be former politicians or civilians, not active members of parliament.
Erik Aasheim, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Nobel Institute, which supports the Nobel Committee, told PolitiFact the committee is an independent body that operates with no government influence over its decisions.
Peter Wallensteen, a University of Notre Dame international peace researcher, told PolitiFact that committee members span the political spectrum and the committee’s funding comes from the Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation.
“It has happened a number of times that the committee has given the prize to recipients that pursue different policies than the Norwegian government,” Wallensteen said.
For example, In 2017, the committee awarded the prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. That organization promotes the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which Norway has not signed.
This is exaggerated.
We wrote in October that Trump had a hand in ceasefires that have recently eased conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. But these were mostly incremental accords, and some leaders dispute the extent of Trump’s role.
Trump made notable progress by securing the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage agreement, but the deal involves multiple stages, so it will take time to see if peace holds.
The other conflicts Trump referenced are between Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Cambodia and Thailand, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Kosovo and Serbia.
Trump went even further in a Jan. 20 Truth Social post, writing, “If I didn’t come along, there would be no NATO right now!!!”
Trump has influenced NATO, but whether he has done more for the alliance than anyone else in decades is debatable. NATO, formally the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was created in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. The alliance has 32 members, including the United States.
Experts said Trump gets some credit for allies agreeing to increase their NATO spending, but pointed to other influences on NATO as well.
Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Trump “frightened the Europeans” into promising additional spending on NATO by 2035.
A White House official pointed us to the European pledge and said the U.S. spends $1 billion on the alliance, more than other countries.
Since NATO’s founding, the alliance has faced several challenges, said Barry R. Posen, a MIT professor of political science and expert on international relations.
“I do agree, however, that President Trump deserves credit for starting a long delayed and necessary rebalancing of responsibilities in the alliance,” Posen said.
Logan said Russia president Vladimir Putin’s 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine shook Europeans and spurred defense spending increases.
Jytte Klausen, a Brandeis University professor of international cooperation, echoed Logan, saying Trump pushed through the European deal in 2025 and deserves credit. But Russia’s war against Ukraine and concerns it would move on to attack other countries motivated the increased spending.
“On the other side of the ledger, Trump’s threat to annex Greenland has made the breakup of NATO a near-possibility,” Klausen said.
RELATED: Trump administration sets its sights on Greenland after Venezuela. How does Denmark factor in?
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In a text exchange with Norway’s Prime Minister, President Donald Trump said Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland is flimsy. But the U.S.’s own actions over the past 100 years say otherwise.
In Trump’s message, sent Jan. 18, he said, “Why (does Denmark) have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.”
It’s inaccurate that there are no written documents establishing Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland. Not only is Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland well-established under international law, but the U.S. also has acknowledged it on several occasions, including in writing.
Denmark’s colonization of Greenland dates to the 1720s, and in 1933 an international court settled a territorial dispute between Denmark and Norway, ruling that Denmark “possessed a valid title to the sovereignty over all Greenland.”
Greenland’s status as a Danish colony ended in 1953 when the territory was incorporated by constitutional amendment and given representation in the Danish Parliament. As a member of the United Nations, the U.S. voted to accept this change.
Since then, the Greenlandic people have pushed for greater autonomy, such as achieving home rule in 1979 and creating a separate parliament. The territory is now a district within the sovereign state of Denmark, with full voting rights in the Danish parliament. A 2009 law established that the Greenlandic people have the power to pursue independence from Denmark if they choose. To date, they have not done so.
Under international law, Greenland is still part of Denmark, much as Ohio is part of the U.S., one expert told us.
The United States has acknowledged Denmark’s control over Greenland several times.
As part of a 1917 agreement with Denmark to buy the Danish West Indies — now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands — then-Secretary of State Robert Lansing issued a written declaration that the U.S. “will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.”
After taking responsibility — through written agreement — for Greenland’s defense in 1941, the U.S. established a military presence on the island. President Harry Truman tried to buy Greenland in 1946, but Denmark declined to sell.
The U.S. and Denmark signed another defense agreement in 1951 — and then updated and re-signed in 2004 — that affirms Greenland is “an equal part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
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