US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified that President Donald Trump mistakenly referred to Greenland as Iceland during remarks at the Davos summit, framing it as an understandable verbal stumble. This directly contradicted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who had pushed back on assertions that Trump conflated the two Arctic locations. Trump's comments at the forum linked a stock market dip to "Iceland" and discussed U.S. interest in Greenland. The President later clarified the U.S. would not use force for Greenland and reversed proposed tariffs after a framework deal with NATO's chief.

Marco Rubio clarifies Trump's geographical mix-up, contradicting Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's defense of the President's Davos comments.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that President Donald Trump had misspoken when he repeatedly referred to Greenland as Iceland during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this month, contradicting an earlier explanation from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Rubio made the comment while testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing focused on the Trump administration's operations in Venezuela, signalling that the president's geographical error was unintentional.

"He meant to say Greenland," Rubio told lawmakers, framing the mix-up as an understandable mistake.

"But I think we're all familiar with presidents that have verbal stumbles. We've had presidents like that before. Some made a lot more than this one," he said.

Trump's confusion over the names of the two Arctic locations stemmed from his remarks to world leaders at the Davos summit about his interest in bringing Greenland under US ownership this month.

According to an official transcript, he said, "I'm helping Europe. I'm helping NATO, and until the last few days when I told them about Iceland, they loved me."

While making that comment, Trump was also emphasising the United States' longstanding commitment to NATO, even as he questioned whether alliance members would come to its aid in the event of an attack.

"So with all of the money we expend, with all of the blood, sweat and tears, I don't know that they'd be there for us. They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you," he continued.