Did Donald Trump send a letter to Norway about Greenland
Executive summary
Yes: multiple news outlets report that President Donald Trump sent a written message to Norway’s prime minister that explicitly tied his push to acquire Greenland to being denied the Nobel Peace Prize and demanded “complete and total control” of Greenland, a missive confirmed by Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre and reported by international press [1] [2] [3].
1. The message and its explosive lines
The letter — described in full or via excerpts by outlets including Sky News, The Independent, Reuters and others — told Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that, having been denied the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump “no longer feel[s] an obligation to think purely of Peace” and pressed that the United States needed “Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” language that provoked immediate alarm in Europe [4] [5] [2].
2. Confirmation from Oslo and how it reached the press
Norway’s prime minister publicly confirmed he received a message from President Trump in reply to a short note sent by Støre (on behalf of himself and Finland’s president) urging de‑escalation and proposing a three‑way call, and Norwegian officials characterized the exchange as a text or message rather than a formal diplomatic note [1] [4] [6].
3. Where the reporting came from and who first disclosed it
PBS Newshour’s reporting — cited by Forbes and other outlets — appears to have been an early conduit for the text’s disclosure, and the document has since been published in full by some outlets and excerpted by others, while National Security Council staff reportedly circulated the letter to European ambassadors in Washington, according to reporting cited by Forbes and PBS [7].
4. International and domestic reactions to the letter
European leaders, NATO officials and members of Congress reacted with alarm and, in some cases, ridicule: Democratic lawmakers publicly denounced the letter and some European governments warned of trade and diplomatic consequences after Trump paired the demand with threatened tariffs on several European countries; at the same time Norway’s government pushed back by noting it does not itself award the Nobel Prize [8] [9] [3].
5. Key factual clarifications embedded in coverage
Coverage uniformly notes a crucial factual point the letter misstated or misattributed: the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by an independent Norwegian Nobel Committee, not by the government of Norway, a distinction Støre and multiple outlets emphasized when responding to Trump’s complaint that “your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize” [1] [3].
6. What is reliably known and what reporting does not resolve
Reliable reporting establishes that a message containing those lines was sent and received between Trump and Støre and that the contents were widely reported and circulated to diplomats [1] [7]; reporting does not, however, determine beyond the published excerpts the internal White House deliberations that produced the message, nor does it show any formal legal step toward changing Greenland’s status — coverage focuses on the letter’s content, reception and diplomatic fallout [7] [2].
7. Stakes and the wider context
Journalists and analysts interpret the letter as more than rhetorical flourish because Trump paired the letter with threats of punitive tariffs on Denmark, Norway, the UK and other European states unless they acquiesced, raising tangible economic leverage alongside the belligerent language about sovereignty over a semi‑autonomous territory of Denmark [7] [2]; critics frame the missive as an unprecedented strain on allied relations and a diplomatic escalation whose concrete legal consequences would require far more than a presidential letter [10] [11].