Oslo (Somalia Today) – U.S. President Donald Trump has declared he no longer feels bound to “think purely of Peace” after being passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying in a blistering diplomatic note that his attention has shifted to securing American control over Greenland.
The blunt message was delivered in writing to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, marking a sharp escalation in transatlantic tensions.
The note, widely circulated in diplomatic circles and seen by Somalia Today, amounted to a rejection of European appeals for Washington to roll back punishing new tariffs imposed on allies.
“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,” Trump wrote, tying a personal grievance directly to U.S. foreign policy.
The President added that while peace would remain “predominant,” he now felt free to focus on “what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
The exchange comes days after Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb sent a joint message urging Trump to lower the temperature and requesting a phone call.
The Nordic leaders had hoped to defuse a standoff triggered by Trump’s decision to levy tariffs on European allies over their refusal to facilitate a U.S. acquisition of Greenland.
Instead of talks, the White House responded in writing, brushing aside Denmark’s sovereignty over the Arctic territory and demanding that NATO repay the United States for its support by ceding the island.
A ‘right of ownership’
The dispute over Greenland, a vast autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has shifted from a diplomatic curiosity to a central fracture point inside the NATO alliance.
In his letter, Trump openly challenged the legal basis of Denmark’s claim to the island.
“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” the note read.
Trump waved away centuries of history, writing: “There are no written documents; it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.”
Legal experts in Copenhagen were quick to reject the argument. Danish sovereignty is codified in multiple binding treaties, including the Treaty of Kiel of 1814.
Furthermore, the United States has formally recognized Danish sovereignty over the island for decades, including in the 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement, which grants the U.S. military rights to operate the Thule Air Base.
Despite this, Trump cast the acquisition as an urgent security requirement.
“The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” the President wrote, signing off with his initials, “DJT.”
Nobel frustrations
The letter also laid bare Trump’s long-running fixation on the Nobel Peace Prize. The President has repeatedly complained that his efforts to broker ceasefires have gone unrecognized by the Oslo-based committee.
His frustration appeared to crest after last year’s decision to award the prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. In a symbolic gesture at the White House last week, Machado presented her gold medal to Trump.
However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee clarified that the prize cannot be transferred or revoked.
Prime Minister Støre voiced irritation at Trump’s apparent conflation of the Norwegian government with the independent Nobel Committee.
“I have several times explained clearly to Trump the well-known fact that it is an independent Nobel Committee, and not the Norwegian government, which awards the prize,” Støre said in a statement Monday.
Alliance under Strain
The link between the Nobel snub and the tariff dispute has unsettled European capitals. Officials fear the administration is shifting toward a more transactional foreign policy, using economic pressure to win territorial concessions.
Trump defended his stance by pointing to his record on alliance spending.
“I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States,” the letter concluded.
The row echoes a similar episode in 2019, during Trump’s first term, when he abruptly cancelled a state visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described his interest in buying Greenland as “absurd.”
Six years later, the idea has returned not as a suggestion, but as an ultimatum backed by economic sanctions.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
