The White House reacts after Trump confused Greenland with Iceland. Karoline Leavitt responded with a picture to a journalist
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at a news conference in Washington, DC on August 12, 2025. In the background, a monitor displays an image of US President Donald Trump. PHOTO: Andrew Harnik / Getty images / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to confuse the island of Greenland, which belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, with another Arctic nation, Iceland, several times during his speech in Davos, Switzerland.
But the spokeswoman of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, firmly denied the existence of a confusion, in the answer given to a journalist, on social networks, write Sky News and The Guardian.
“No, Libby. In his (Trump's, no) written comments, he referred to Greenland as a 'piece of ice,' because that's what it is. You're the only one messing things up here,” Leavitt wrote.
Her response included a screenshot of a search for Greenland, which shows a block of ice in the middle of water in front of a larger piece of land.
No he didn't, Libby. 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. https://t.co/awRQO3eN3Y pic.twitter.com/pkAQysW06h
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 21, 2026
The American president invoked Iceland at least four times in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
At one point, he said NATO “loved me” until “the last few days when I told them about Iceland.”
VIDEO President Donald Trump's blunder during the Davos speech. He talked about Iceland, although he meant Greenland
The US leader later said: “They (NATO, no) are not there for us in Iceland, I can tell you that, I mean our stock market had its first drop yesterday because of Iceland, so Iceland has already cost us a lot of money.”
Obviously, the island Trump was referring to is Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, not Iceland, which is an independent nation.
CNN noted that Trump could have been referring to arctic ice in the two areas, given some of his previous descriptions of the Danish island. “A big piece of ice in the middle of the ocean” – is how he once described Greenland.
“We want a piece of ice for the protection of the world, and they won't give it to us,” complained the US president.
