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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspondent

Anger in Iceland over incoming US ambassador’s ‘52nd state’ joke

Billy Long pictured in 2020 during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington
Billy Long, a former US representative for Missouri, apologised for the remarks, saying they ‘should not be taken seriously’. Photograph: Greg Nash/AP

Thousands of people have signed a petition expressing anger after Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Iceland reportedly joked that the Nordic country should become the 52nd US state.

On Wednesday, hours before top officials from Greenland and Denmark were to meet with the US in the hope of warding off Trump’s threats to seize the Arctic island, the news outlet Politico said it had heard of musings regarding another Nordic island.

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