WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers are scrambling to contain President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, with some showing the most strident opposition to almost anything the Trump administration has done since taking office.
They gave speeches on the importance of NATO last week. They introduced bills designed to prevent the United States from attacking Denmark. And many traveled to Copenhagen to meet their Danish counterparts.
But it is not clear that it will be enough, as the president still insists that he will take control of the Arctic island. It raised fears of the end of NATO — a decades-old alliance that has been a pillar of American strength in Europe and around the world — and raised questions on Capitol Hill and around the world about what Trump’s aggressive foreign policy will mean for the world order.
“When the most powerful military nation in the world threatens your territory through its president over and over again, you start taking it seriously,” Senator Chris Coons told The Associated Press.
The Delaware Democrat organized the bipartisan trip to Denmark to “turn the temperature down a little bit,” he said, as well as further talks about mutual military agreements in the Arctic. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska accompanied a handful of Democrats on the trip. In addition, Republican lawmakers joined meetings in Washington last week with the Danish foreign minister and his Greenlandic counterpart to discuss security deals.
But it is clear that Trump has other ideas. He said on Saturday that he will demand a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to his Greenland plans.
Trump said on social media that because of modern weapons systems “the need to GET is especially important.”
The push towards Trump’s plans for Greenland
Leading Republicans have made it clear they think taking Greenland by force is out of the question. But so far, they have avoided directly rebuking Trump for his talk about owning the island.
Tillis on social media called Trumps tariff plans “bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America’s allies.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., told reporters Thursday that “there’s certainly not an appetite here for some of the options that have been talked about or considered.”
In a speech on the floor, Thune’s predecessor as Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, warned that an attempt to seize Greenland would “shatter the trust of allies” and tarnish Trump’s legacy with a disastrous foreign policy decision.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike see an obvious path to strengthening American interests in Greenland while keeping the relationship with NATO ally Denmark intact.
In a meeting with lawmakers Thursday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt discussed how the countries can work together to develop critical mineral industries and military cooperation, Coons said. The diplomats also told the senators that there is no evidence of Chinese or Russian activity in Greenland.
Trump has made the argument that the United States should take Greenland before China or Russia do, raising concerns across Europe. Troops from several nations were sent to Greenland in support of Denmark.
Murkowski said on social media that “our NATO allies are being forced to divert attention and resources to Greenland, a dynamic that plays directly into Putin’s hands by threatening the stability of the strongest coalition of democracies the world has ever seen.”
What can Congress do?
Lawmakers are looking at a few options to take a military attack on Greenland off the table. Still, the Trump administration has shown little willingness to get congressional approval before taking military action.
Lawmakers, including Republicans like Murkowski, are pushing legislation that would prohibit Defense Department funds from being used to attack or occupy territory belonging to other NATO members without their consent.
The Alaska senator also suggested that Congress could act to nullify Trump’s tariffs. Murkowski and several other Republicans already helped pass resolutions last year designed to lift tariffs around the world, but those pieces of legislation have not gained traction in the House. They also needed Trump’s signature or support from two-thirds of both chambers to override his veto.
Democrats also found some traction with the war powers resolutions designed to force the president to get congressional approval before engaging in hostilities. Republicans last week narrowly defeated one such resolution that would have barred Trump from attacking Venezuela again, and Democrats think there could potentially be more Republicans backing one that would apply to Greenland.
“What I noticed are these war powers resolutions, they put some pressure on the Republicans,” said Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia who forced votes on several similar resolutions. He said the tactic also forced the Trump administration to provide lawmakers with briefings and commitments to get congressional approval before sending troops.
Still, while rejecting the Venezuela war powers resolution on Wednesday, Republican leaders argued that the legislation should be ruled out because the Trump administration has said there are currently no US troops in Venezuela.
That argument could set a precedent for future war powers resolutions, giving Republicans a way to avoid voting against Trump’s wishes.
“If you don’t have boots on the ground, it’s a moot point,” Sen. Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, said of war powers resolutions in general. He also claimed that the prospect of Greenland taking on Denmark’s objections is nothing “more than hypothetical.”
Other Republicans expressed support for Trump’s insistence that the United States own Greenland, although they played down the idea that the United States would take it by force.
This left the strongest objections on the Republican side of the aisle coming from a small number of lawmakers who are leaving Congress next year.
Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, told The Omaha World Herald that an invasion of Greenland would lead to Trump’s impeachment — something he would “lean” toward support.
Tillis, another retired Republican, directed his criticism at Trump advisers such as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
“The fact that a handful of ‘advisors’ are actively pushing for coercive action to seize ally territory is beyond stupid,” he said.