US President Donald Trump has drawn sharp criticism from world leaders after sharing a captionless, AI-generated map on his social media platform Truth Social. The image, which showed the star-spangled banner draped across the USA, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico and roughly thirty Central American and Caribbean nations, has triggered concern and fury across the North Atlantic.
Iceland summons US ambassador
Iceland’s Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir summoned US Ambassador Billy Long to her office on Monday to “convey a clear message that the image was wholly inappropriate,” according to a statement. She added on Tuesday: “There was a reason to call the ambassador to a meeting and present a very clear message on our part that this was completely unacceptable.”
“I have been repeatedly advised by within the American administration that we should perhaps not take the current US president literally, but we should take him seriously,” Gunnarsdóttir said. “That is exactly what we are doing and emphasising that Iceland is sovereign, it is an independent state that is responsible for its own destiny.”
Denmark and Mexico respond
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters that “the Greenlandic government and the Greenlandic people have said again and again that they do not wish to be American.” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called Trump’s post “disturbing,” telling national broadcaster DR: “It’s obviously a sign that the US President still harbours some kind of maximalist vision in his own mind. We need to rein that in.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued a rebuke at a press conference on Monday, dubbing the US as a “country that is not doing well, that is not leading with power”. She followed up with a post on X, writing: “We reaffirm that Mexico is neither, nor will, be a colony or protectorate of any foreign country. Proudly we are a free, independent, and sovereign nation.”
Referendum and other posts
Iceland’s left-leaning coalition government moved up a referendum, originally planned for next year, on whether the country should resume long-stalled negotiations to become a member of the EU. Voters rejected the measure on August 30. Thousands of Icelanders also signed a petition urging the prime minister to reject Long as ambassador after he made a crack earlier this year about Iceland becoming the 52nd US state and making him governor. Long apologised and took up his post in Reykjavik last month.
The map was among dozens of posts shared to Trump’s Truth Social account over Labor Day weekend, including at least eight images showing the state of New Mexico changed to “New America” and an AI-generated clip depicting the US leader beating Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with a hockey stick. Trump has also launched another trade war with Canada and stoked tensions by trying to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America'.
