Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said there was no connection between Donald Trump’s quest for a Nobel Prize and his campaign to take over Greenland, even though the president himself linked the two in a message to his Norwegian counterpart.
“I think it’s a complete canard that there’s any kind of equivalence with the Nobel Prize,” Bessent told CNBC’s Squawk Box from the World Economic Forum in Davos. “This has been on the president’s mind since his first term. It’s been on the presidential mind for 150 years, 160 years [that] the U.S. has been trying to acquire Greenland. This is not something new.”
Instead, the Treasury Secretary continued, the U.S. pursuit of Greenland is because it is “strategically important” in defense terms to counter Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic and beyond.
The comments from Bessent, who often serves as a more moderate messenger for the administration’s plans, contrasted with those from Trump himself.
In a messaged leaked this week, Trump reportedly told Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre the quest for Greenland was tied directly to the president’s long-running claim he deserves a Nobel.
“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,” Trump reportedly wrote.
“The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” he reportedly added.
An independent committee awards the prize, and it was won in October by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who gave the prize to Trump during a White House visit this month. The Nobel Committee has reiterated that the gesture did not alter who should be considered the 2025 honoree.
The president’s quest for the island territory, which is opposed by both local officials and Greenland’s parent country, Denmark, has rattled the NATO bloc.
Tensions have only increased given Trump’s repeated suggestions military force could be on the table to take Greenland, as well as recent U.S. threats to tariff the UK, Denmark, and other European countries if they oppose his bid for the island.
During his CNBC interview, Bessent sought to tamp down on larger speculation that Trump is harming the U.S. reputation as a reliable financial and diplomatic partner to the point that Europeans might sell their U.S. assets.
Bessent said such suggestions were media “hysterics” and called on peer countries to “take a deep breath” and not to “escalate.”
