Iceland’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it had summoned the US ambassador after President Donald Trump posted a map that seemingly showed the island as part of the United States.
“Minister for Foreign Affairs, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, summoned the US Ambassador yesterday to convey a clear message that the image was wholly inappropriate,” the ministry said in a statement to AFP.
Trump on Monday posted an image to social media with a map of North America in which Canada, Greenland, Mexico, much of central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland, were coloured in with the US flag.
The entire landmass was labelled “United States of America” and the image was posted without any further explanation.
Iceland relies on Washington for its security as the subarctic island has not had a military since gaining independence in 1944.
It is a founding member of NATO and has a 1951 bilateral defence agreement with the United States,
Trump’s repeated threats to take control of Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory located fewer than 300 kilometres (185 miles) from Iceland, and his trade showdown with Canada have already rattled Iceland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, told media late Monday that “the Greenlandic government and the Greenlandic people have said again and again that they do not wish to be American.”
“We can certainly repeat that message today,” she told news agency Ritzau, commenting on the map while on a visit to Greenland.
