Trump Appears To Get Confused During Speech About Greenland, Repeatedly Calling It "Iceland"

Donald Trump has drawn a lot of criticism for comments he's made about acquiring the country of Greenland, either by purchasing the island or taking it by force, which has set America's international partners on edge.

The chatter about the mineral-rich slice of land, which also stands as a gateway to international waters that are very important to military and trade routes, has become so intense that it appeared to be all anyone would be talking about at January's World Economic Forum.

However, after Trump gave a speech on Jan. 21, 2026, people around the world couldn't stop talking about the president's plans for another reason. That's because he appeared to get confused about which country the U.S. wanted to acquire mid-speech, and frequently referred to another island nation instead.

It was the second time in as many days that the president appeared to make a flub, leaving some asking if Trump really did confuse Greenland for Iceland, and what that means for his mental state.

Trump's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland was televised, which allowed people from around the world to see what world leaders had to say about the state of the economies of our international partners, and what the plans were for future collaboration, especially given Trump's decision to impose (and then withdraw) confusing and expensive tariffs on some of our country's biggest trade partners.

However, during his speech, he repeatedly referenced Iceland.

"They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you," he said at one point, according to USA Today. Later, he mentioned them again, saying that the U.S. stock market had taken a hit "because of Iceland," adding that the country has cost the U.S. money.

Iceland appeared in his speech later, when he said that NATO had become less fond of him since he "told them about Iceland," confusing those who watched the video.

Before he left for Davos, Trump spoke with reporters while giving a briefing at the White House, telling them that he planned to impose tariffs on the countries that didn't support American plans to obtain the country. "As an example, Iceland — without tariffs, they wouldn't even be talking to us about it," he said at the time.

A member of the European Union's envoy spoke privately to Politico about the gaffe, saying, "Well, he now wants Iceland, not Greenland, so we are good."

After the speech aired, a reporter posted on X about the mistake, prompting White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to call her out. "During his @wef remarks, President Trump appeared to mix up Greenland and Iceland around three times," Libbey Dean wrote.

Leavitt responded by misspelling Libbey's name in the tweet, writing, "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."

It's worth noting that Greenland is not just a piece of ice, and instead it's a land mass approximately the size of western Europe — The Journal notes that it's about six times the size of Germany — that is, about 80 percent covered in ice.