Trump’s ambassador to Iceland made a ’52nd district’ joke. Icelanders don’t laugh
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Many Canadians did not find it very funny when US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to make Canada its 51st country.
And Trump’s comments about taking control of Greenland, once considered a joke, are now a real threat.
So when Trump’s pick for US ambassador to Iceland joked this week that the Nordic country should be the 52nd county — and that he should be its governor — it didn’t go down well.
“These words … may have been said in good faith, but they offend the people of Iceland and the Icelanders, who have had to fight for their freedom and have always been friends of the United States,” notes a circulating petition urging Iceland’s foreign minister to reject the appointment of William Long as the country’s ambassador.
“This is not a funny joke given the ongoing discussion on the West Coast about Greenland, and in fact this is a serious comment,” Sigmar Guðmundsson, a member of the Icelandic Parliament, told Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið on Thursday.
He also called the Minister of Foreign Affairs Katrín Gunnarsdóttir rejects Long as ambassador, added the US should “nominate someone else who shows Iceland and Icelanders more respect.”
Iceland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Morgunblaðið on Thursday that it had been contacted American Embassy in Iceland “to verify the authenticity of the alleged comment.”
CBC News reached out to the US State Department, the US Embassy in Iceland and the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment and have not received a response.
Denmark has strengthened its security in the Arctic by sending troops to Greenland, along with many other European countries, sending a strong message to US President Donald Trump. The move comes a day after Denmark and Greenland noted there were ‘significant differences’ with the US over its plans to annex the independent Danish island.
‘There’s nothing serious about that’
Trump formally appointed Long, a former member of the US House of Representatives from Missouri, to the post of ambassador to Iceland on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the news website Politico wrote in its morning bulletin that, “We heard that former Representative Billy Long, who was appointed by Trump to be the ambassador to Iceland, played to the members on the floor last night that Iceland will become the 52nd state and he will be the governor.”
The reaction in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, was swift. As of Friday, nearly 5,000 people had signed the petition Gunnarsdóttir rejects Long’s nomination. Iceland has a population of about 400,000.
On Thursday, Long apologized, telling Arctic Today that he made the comment in jest in response to a joke about Jeff Landry – the US special envoy to Greenland – becoming Greenland’s governor.
“There was nothing serious about that, I had some people I hadn’t seen in three years, and they were joking about Jeff Landry being the governor of Greenland and they started making jokes about me and if anyone is mad about it, I’m sorry,” Long said.
He added that he understood the reaction, given the tense situation between Greenland and the US, but reiterated that his comment was a joke and nothing else.
“I’m sorry it was taken that way, I was with friends and there was nothing serious about it,” Long told the news site.
The comments are ‘very serious,’ the MP said
Guðmundsson, an Icelandic Member of Parliament, told Morgunblaðið that Long’s jokes show a growing disdain in the US towards the sovereignty of small states.
“It cannot be said that this is worse in a small country like Iceland. We must realize that all the security arguments made by the Americans against Greenland also apply to Iceland,” he told the news site.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to seize Greenland, an island nation northwest of Iceland. This week, he he called anything under US control of Greenland “unacceptable.”
Tsaid Rump Greenland, which is part of Denmark, it is vital to US security for its own sake strategic location and a large supply of minerals and he has not yet begun the use of force to take it. European countries this week sent small quantities military personnel on the island at the request of Denmark.
Trump said on Friday he might impose tariffs on countries that don’t agree with his plan, “because we need to Greenland in national security.
At a press conference last Sunday about the future of Greenland, days before Long’s comments, Iceland’s Foreign Minister Katrín Gunnarsdóttir told reporters that Iceland’s relations and cooperation with the US are “very good.”
“Are we afraid of what’s next on the show? No, I wouldn’t think so, yet,” she said.
January 14, 2026 | US President Donald Trump is standing firm on his plan to annex Greenland as a Danish delegation meets with officials in Washington. Quebec Premier François Legault resigned. And an increase in customer complaints about their phone, internet and television services.
