U.S. President Donald Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last yearrsquo;s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norwayrsquo;s prime minister that he no longer felt ldquo;an obligation to think purely of Peace,rdquo; in a text message released on Monday.Trump's mes sage to Jonas Gahr Stoslash;re appears to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. On Saturday, Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight nations that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland, including Norway.Those countries issued a forceful rebuke.Many longtime allies of the U.S. remained resolute that Greenland was not for sale but encouraged Washington to discuss solutions. In a statement on social media, the European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc had ldquo;no interest to pick a fightrdquo; but would ldquo;hold our ground.rdquo;The White House has not ruled out taking control of the strategic Arctic island by force. Asked whether Trump could invade Greenland, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loslash;kke Rasmussen said on Monday that ldquo;you canrsquo;t leave anything out until the president himself has decided to leave anything out.rdquo;British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also sought to de-escalate tensions on Monday. "I think this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion,rdquo; he said, adding that he did not believe military action would occur.Strong opposition in Greenland to U.S. threatsIn a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their stance.ldquo;We will not be pressured,rdquo; he wrote.Meanwhile, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenlandrsquo;s minister for business, minerals, energy, justice and equality, told The Associated Press that she was moved by the quick response of allies to the tariff threat and said it showed that countries realize ldquo;this is about more than Greenland.rdquo;ldquo;I think a lot of countries are afraid that if they let Greenland go, what would be next?rdquo;Trump cites Nobel as escalation in text to Norwegian leaderTrumprsquo;s Sunday message to Gahr Stoslash;re, released by the Norwegian government, read in part: ldquo;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.rdquo;It concluded: ldquo;The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.rdquo;The Norwegian leader said Trumprsquo;s message was a reply to an earlier missive sent on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in which they conveyed their opposition to the tariff announcement, pointed to a need to de-escalate, and proposed a telephone conversation among the three leaders.ldquo;Norwayrsquo;s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,rdquo; the Norwegian leader said in a statement. ldquo;As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.rdquo;The Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body whose five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the presidentrsquo;s approach in Greenland during a brief QA with reporters in Davos, Switzerland, which is hosting the World Economic Forum meeting this week.ldquo;I think itrsquo;s a complete canard that the president would be doing this because of the Nobel,rdquo; Bessent said, immediately after saying he did not ldquo;know anything about the presidentrsquo;s letter to Norway.rdquo;Bessent insisted Trump ldquo;is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States,rdquo; adding that ldquo;we are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to anyone else.rdquo;Trump has openly coveted the peace prize, which the committee awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Mariacute;a Corina Machado last year. Last week, Machado presented her Nobel medal to Trump, who said he planned to keep it, though the committee said the prize canrsquo;t be revoked, transferred or shared with others.Trump says he will use tariffs as a bargaining chipIn his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated they would be retaliation for last weekrsquo;s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland mdash; though he also suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.European governments said that the troops traveled to the island to assess Arctic security, part of a response to Trumprsquo;s own concerns about interference from Russia and China.Six of the eight countries targeted are part of the 27-member European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trade. European Council President Antoacute;nio Costa said Sunday that the blocrsquo;s leaders expressed ldquo;readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion.rdquo; He announced a summit for Thursday evening.Permalink| Comments ...read more read less