The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland has summoned the ambassador of the United States in Reykjavik, Billy Long, after the American president, Donald Trump, spread on his social media a map that shows countries like Iceland, Canada, and Mexico, in addition to the Danish island of Greenland, all covered by the American flag.
"There were reasons to summon the ambassador and convey a very clear message from our side that this is totally unacceptable," pointed out the Icelandic Foreign Minister, Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, at a press conference this Tuesday alongside the country's Prime Minister, Kristrún Frostadóttir.
The head of Icelandic diplomacy explained that U.S. officials from the Trump Administration have conveyed to the Reykjavik Government "on repeated occasions" that they should not "take literally" everything that the Republican magnate says, although she made it clear that she rejects this approach.
"That is precisely what we are doing: emphasizing that Iceland is sovereign, an independent state responsible for its own destiny. No one else can manipulate or control our independence or sovereignty," she emphasized.
Gunnarsdóttir insisted that the dissemination of this type of message on social media is "no joke" and that, if that were the purpose, it would be "a tasteless joke." "We are a sovereign and independent state. I made this very clear. Otherwise, the conversation was cordial," she added.
In the same vein, the Icelandic Prime Minister expressed that the background of the matter is "ridiculous." "It is an insult to Icelanders, Canadians, and Greenlanders to express themselves this way. We should be clear about this. It is neither funny nor normal to mock the sovereignty of states, especially today, when it is not something that should be taken for granted," she stated.
The map, published the day before by the occupant of the White House, showed the United States, Canada, Iceland, Mexico, the Danish island of Greenland, and the areas of Central America and the Caribbean covered by the American flag and under the label of "United States of America."
Trump's threats to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish island of Greenland after the success of his military intervention in Venezuela --which resulted in the detention of President Nicolás Maduro-- have generated concern in Europe over the expansionist aspirations of the Republican, who has referred on numerous occasions to Canada as "the 51st state" and who recently renamed Lake Ontario as Lake America.