US Politics
Karoline Leavitt falsely claims Trump didn’t mix up Iceland and Greenland in Davos speech
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday falsely claimed that President Trump did not repeatedly mix up Iceland and Greenland in a marquee speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as the Republican detailed his contentious plans to take control of the latter island.
“No he didn’t,” Leavitt wrote on X in response to a reporter accurately describing the speech, sharing a Google result featuring an image of Greenland. “His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is. You’re the only one mixing anything up here.”
In fact, during the president’s speech on Wednesday, he used the wrong country’s name four times.
“I’m helping Europe, I’m helping NATO, and until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me,” Trump told the crowd at one point.
“They’re not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you,” he continued shortly after, referring to European nations. “I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland’s already costs a lot of money.”
open image in gallery
Elsewhere in the speech, the president did refer to Greenland as a “piece of ice,” as Leavitt pointed out.
“But now what I’m asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection,” Trump said.
The Davos gaffe was not the first time Trump has mixed up Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory off the northeast coast of Canada, and Iceland, an island nation in northern Europe.
“As an example, Iceland – without tariffs, they wouldn’t even be talking to us about it,” Trump said on Tuesday during a White House press conference.
open image in gallery
On social media, meanwhile, the president has announced he’s putting aside his threat to tariff U.S. allies who objected to his Greenland plans.
Instead, Trump wrote on Truth Social, U.S. and NATO reps have “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” following closed-door discussions at Davos.
The Greenland-Iceland mistake was not Trump’s only geographical error during his Davos speech. Referring to some of the eight wars he claims to have ended, he once again mispronounced Azerbaijan as “Aberbaijan,” something he has done before. However, this time he correctly identified the other country involved in the conflict as Armenia, having previously referred to it as Albania.
