U.S. Diplomacy and NATO Allies

Former Rep. Billy Long, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Iceland, has apologized after privately joking to House colleagues that the Arctic island would become the "52nd state" with him as its governor, remarks that leaked and triggered pushback in Reykjavík. Long told Arctic Today he was "just joking" during a reunion with former colleagues and said "if anyone took offense to it, then I apologize," but Iceland’s Foreign Ministry has already demanded an explanation from the U.S. Embassy and an Icelandic MP called the episode "very serious for a small country like Iceland." The controversy lands as Trump openly threatens to take neighboring Greenland "one way or the other," has named Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland, and has said he wants Canada as the 51st state, rhetoric European governments read as undermining NATO norms. Some Icelanders have launched a petition—now with roughly 2,000 signatures—urging their government to reject Long if the Senate confirms him, reflecting public unease that U.S. talk of forcibly acquiring Greenland could extend to other North Atlantic allies. The flap underscores how Trump’s statehood and annexation talk is complicating the normally low-drama process of staffing key embassies in allied countries critical to Arctic and NATO security.