Iceland summons U.S. envoy after Trump map claims island for America
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OTTAWA — An uncaptioned social media post by U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend prompted the government of Iceland to summon the U.S. ambassador.
Capping off a weekend of unhinged posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump Monday evening posted a map of the entirety of North and Central America coloured in with an American flag, proclaiming the entire landmass as the “United States of America.”
Aside from Canada and Greenland, other nations and principalities ostensibly claimed by the U.S. President include Mexico, Cuba, the entirety of the Caribbean and Antilles island chains, Central America north of Nicaragua, and the Nordic European nation of Iceland.
New media post from Donald J. Trump
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) September 7, 2026
( TS: Sep 7 2026, 10:43 AM ET ) pic.twitter.com/bbFdV8LC9R
That last inclusion prompted Iceland’s Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Gunnarsdottir to summon U.S. Ambassador Billy Long to receive a blunt rebuke, with the foreign ministry calling the post “completely inappropriate.”
That meeting reportedly took place on Monday.
“There is nothing funny or normal about making fun of the sovereignty of states,” Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said in a statement.
Trump spent the Labour Day weekend unleashing an erratic string of posts on social media, with many targeting Canada — including an AI-generated cartoon of Trump beating Prime Minister Mark Carney with a hockey stick, telling Carney to “get up, governor.”
Tweet escalates tensions
Ambassador Long, who began his new role as U.S. ambassador to Iceland in August, was roundly criticized in January after joking with lawmakers that Iceland would become the 52nd American state and he would be named governor.
That prompted outrage from Reykjavík and movements to rescind his appointment, followed by a mea culpa from Long apologizing for the quip.
Iceland, a NATO member with no standing military since its independence from Denmark in 1944, relies heavily on the transnational alliance for defence and security.
Trump’s criticism of NATO, active during his first term, has ramped up greatly in his second as U.S. President.
The Trump White House also rankled European leaders late last year after making public his intentions to annex Greenland, framing the takeover as a strategic necessity, claiming that Denmark was ill-equipped to protect the territory from Russia or China.
Rhetoric ramped up in January, with the U.S. President threatening to take Greenland from Denmark “whether they like it or not,” and “one way or another.”
While Trump walked back threats of using the military to seize control of Greenland at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he repeatedly confused Greenland with Iceland, claiming that the people of Iceland loved him so much they called him “daddy.”