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Donald Trump posted private messages from the leaders of Nato and France just a day after his leaked correspondence over Greenland with the prime minister of Norway caused a major diplomatic stir in Europe.
The US president shared a fawning message from Nato secretary general Mark Rutte on his Truth Social platform, in which he said he would use his platform at the World Economic Forum to champion Trump’s work in Gaza and Ukraine.
“I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark,” he said.
Trump also shared a message from Emmanuel Macron calling for a meeting and dinner in Paris, as the US leader threatened France with 200 per cent tariffs on French wine over Macron’s refusal to join his so-called Board of Peace.
Trump’s reply, if any, was not part of the screenshot. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The messages come after Trump linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he no longer thought “purely of Peace” as the row over the island threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe.
The leaked message from Mark Rutte praised the president for his work in Syria, as president Ahmed al-Sharaa spoke with Trump about Kurdish rights after Damascus reached a deal with Kurdish forces including a ceasefire agreement.
It read: “Mr. President, dear Donald – what you accomplished in Syria today is incredible. I will use my media engagements in Davos to highlight your work there, in Gaza, and in Ukraine. I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark”
Last summer, Rutte’s unique praise of Trump were in focus as he commended his handling of the Israel-Iran conflict.
“Daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get them to stop,” he said, defending the US president’s use of an expletive.
Trump on Tuesday also shared comments from French president Macron, who told his American counterpart that he could set up a meeting after Davos in Paris on Thursday afternoon, according to screenshots. Macron also invited Trump to have dinner in Paris on Thursday, according to the screenshots.
The apparent message in full read: “My friend, We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland. Let us try to build great things: 1) i can set up a g7 meeting after Davos in Paris on thursday afternoon. I can invite the ukrainians, the danish, the syrians and the russians in the margins 2) let us have a dinner together in Paris together on thursday before you go back to the us. Emmanuel.”
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The Truth Social post by Trump (Truth Social)
Trump also shared an AI image of him talking to European leaders in The White House with the American Flag over Greenland.
Trump also said he had agreed to a meeting of various parties in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum. He did not specify who the various parties were.
He declined to tell NBC News in an interview whether he would use force to seize Greenland. He did reiterate his threat to hit European nations with tariffs if a deal is not reached.
Trump has intensified his push to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with its own measures.
The dispute threatens to upend the NATO alliance that has underpinned Western security for decades and which was already under strain over the war in Ukraine and Trump’s refusal to protect allies unless they increase defence spending.
Trump’s threat has rattled European industry and sent shockwaves through financial markets. Investors fear a return to the volatility of 2025’s trade war, which only eased when the sides reached tariff deals in the middle of the year.
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Ships, including the HDMS Knud Rasmussen patrol ship of the Danish Navy, and shipping containers lie in Nuuk Port on January 19, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland (Getty Images)
In a text message on Sunday to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Trump said: “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, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
Norway’s government released the messages on Monday. Stoere had sent an initial message with Finnish President Alexander Stubb calling for a de-escalation of tensions, eliciting a response from Trump less than half an hour later.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee annoyed Trump by awarding the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize not to him but to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
In his message, Trump also repeated his assertion that Denmark cannot protect Greenland from Russia or China.
“… And why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” he wrote, adding: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
Trump vowed on Saturday to implement a wave of increasing tariffs from February 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland, home to only 57,000 people.
“We are living in 2026, you can trade with people, but you don’t trade people,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said during a visit to London on Monday.
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Mark Rutte (left) has been careful to shower Trump with praise (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
In a post on Facebook, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the territory should be allowed to decide its own fate.
“We will not let ourselves be pressured. We stand firm on dialogue, on respect and on international law,” he said.
Denmark’s military told Reuters that Danish soldiers would land in Kangerlussuaq, western Greenland, on Monday, as part of the Arctic Endurance military exercise.
Trump dismissed the arrival of NATO allies in Greenland.
“That wasn’t a military,” Trump told reporters on Monday in Florida before he boarded a flight back to Washington, DC.
“They sent a few people, and they say they sent them not for me, but to guard against Russia. But you know, NATO has been warning Denmark for about 20 years now, longer than that, 25 years, they’ve been warning Denmark about the Russian threat, and it’s not only Russia, it’s also China.”
Norway’s Stoere said he would change his schedule to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday and Thursday, overlapping with Trump’s planned appearance at the annual gathering of the global political and business elite. The country will not change its stance on Greenland, the country’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he too would try to meet Trump on Wednesday, adding that a trade dispute was not wanted. “But if we are confronted with tariffs that we consider unreasonable, then we are capable of responding,” Merz said.
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The HDMS Vaedderen frigate of the Danish Navy patrols on January 18, 2026 near Nuuk, Greenland (Getty Images)
Asked by reporters on Monday what he planned to say to European leaders in Davos about his Greenland plan, Trump said: “I don’t think they’re going to push back too much. Look, we have to have it.”
“They have to have this done. They can’t protect it. Denmark, they’re wonderful people, and I know the leaders – they’re are very good people, but they don’t even go there.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it would be “very unwise” for European governments to retaliate.
“I think it’s a complete canard that the president will be doing this because of the Nobel prize. The president is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States,” he told reporters in Davos.
EU leaders will discuss options at an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday. One option is a package of tariffs on 93 billion euros ($108 billion) of U.S. imports that could automatically kick in on February 6 after a six-month suspension.
Another option is the “Anti-Coercion Instrument” (ACI), which has never yet been used and which could limit access to public tenders, investments or banking activity or restrict trade in services, in which the U.S. has a surplus with the bloc, including in digital services.
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People march during a pro- Greenlanders demonstration, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) (Ritzau Scanpix)
The EU said it was continuing to engage “at all levels” with the U.S. but said the use of its ACI was not off the table.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for calm discussion between the allies, adding he did not believe Trump was considering military action to seize Greenland.
Russia declined to comment on whether the U.S. designs on Greenland were good or bad but said it was hard to disagree with experts that Trump would “go down in… world history” if he did take control of the island.