Iceland has summoned the United States ambassador to protest a social media post by President Donald Trump depicting a map in which the US flag overlays several countries, including Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and others. The Icelandic government condemned the image, describing it as an insult and a disrespectful gesture toward the sovereignty of the nations shown.

The post appeared on Trump’s Truth Social platform on Monday and highlighted a map stretching from Panama in the south to Canada in the north, with the Stars and Stripes covering the area. Kristún Frostadóttir, Iceland’s prime minister, labeled the image as "ridiculous" and said it was offensive to Icelanders, Canadians, and Greenlanders. She emphasized that there was nothing humorous or acceptable about undermining the independence of these states.

Relations between the US and countries in the region have grown tense since Trump began his second presidential term, marked by a security strategy called “hemispheric defence,” which prioritizes American interests in the Western Hemisphere. This approach has stirred concern in Greenland, Canada, Panama, and Iceland. Notably, Greenland has been a focal point of US defense plans, with Trump previously insisting that control over the island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, is critical to American security. Trump has also proposed missile defense systems in Greenland.

Iceland, a nation of roughly 400,000 residents, has responded to these developments by moving forward with a referendum scheduled for this summer to reconsider resuming EU accession talks—a process largely dormant since prior Icelandic voters rejected closer integration. The increasing US pressure and perceived provocations, including repeated confusion between Greenland and Iceland by some US officials, have motivated this political response. Earlier this year, Iceland’s newly appointed US ambassador, Billy Long, was overheard joking about Iceland becoming the 52nd US state, comments that added to diplomatic unease.

Iceland’s foreign minister, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, formally summoned the US envoy on Monday, expressing serious concerns about the map post. She characterized it as a “bad joke” if intended as humor and noted that while US officials have advised Iceland not to interpret the president’s words literally, they must nonetheless be taken seriously.

Denmark, which oversees Greenland’s foreign affairs, echoed the criticism. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the visual “disturbing and in many ways also completely inappropriate,” signaling Copenhagen’s unease with the US’s assertive posture in the Arctic region.

Meanwhile, US-Canada relations have also faced strain amid a trade dispute, with Trump recently sharing a cartoon of himself tackling Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, captioned “Get Up, Governor.” This further illustrates the increasingly contentious atmosphere between the United States and its northern neighbors.