The standoff has raised alarm on Capitol Hill and among allied governments about whether Trump’s go-it-alone foreign policy could fracture the NATO alliance — a decades-old coalition that lawmakers in both parties describe as a cornerstone of American strength in Europe and around the globe.
WASHINGTON — Bipartisan U.S. senators traveled to Copenhagen last week, Republican lawmakers introduced legislation, and senior members of both parties delivered floor speeches on NATO’s importance, as Congress attempted to push back against President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to seize Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.
Trump escalated on Saturday, saying he would impose a 10 percent import tax beginning in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to his Greenland plans. He posted on social media that because of modern weapons systems, “the need to ACQUIRE is especially important.”
“When the most powerful military nation on earth threatens your territory through its president over and over and over again, you start to take it seriously,” Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, told The Associated Press. Coons organized the bipartisan congressional trip to Denmark to “bring the temperature down a bit,” he said, as well as to pursue further talks about mutual military agreements in the Arctic.
Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska accompanied Coons and a handful of Democrats to Copenhagen. Republican lawmakers also joined meetings in Washington last week with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, who told senators there is no evidence of Chinese or Russian activity in Greenland.
Republican leaders resist but stop short of rebuking Trump
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, told reporters that “there’s certainly not an appetite here for some of the options that have been talked about or considered.” Former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky delivered a floor speech warning that an attempt to seize Greenland would “shatter the trust of allies” and damage Trump’s foreign policy legacy.
Tillis called Trump’s tariff plans “bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America’s allies.” Murkowski wrote 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.”
Neither senator directly rebuked Trump. Key Republicans have made clear they view forcefully taking Greenland as out of the question, but none has confronted the president directly over his continued insistence that the U.S. will take control of the island.
Legislative options and war powers resolutions
Murkowski is pushing legislation that would prohibit Department of Defense funds from being used to attack or occupy territory belonging to other NATO members without their consent. She also suggested Congress could act to nullify Trump’s tariffs, though earlier resolutions meant to undo tariffs globally did not advance in the House and would have required either Trump’s signature or two-thirds support in both chambers to override a veto.
Democrats are pursuing war powers resolutions that would force the president to obtain congressional approval before engaging in hostilities. Republicans narrowly defeated a Democratic war powers resolution last week that would have prohibited Trump from attacking Venezuela.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who has forced several such votes, said the tactic creates pressure even when the resolutions fail. “What I’ve noticed is these war powers resolutions, they do put some pressure on Republicans,” Kaine said.
Republican leaders have argued that war powers resolutions should be ruled out of order when no U.S. troops are on the ground in the relevant country — a standard that, if accepted, would give Republicans a procedural basis to block similar resolutions applying to Greenland. Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, said the prospect of taking Greenland over Denmark’s objections is nothing “more than a hypothetical.”
Sharpest Republican critics are leaving Congress
The most direct Republican opposition has come from lawmakers not seeking reelection. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, told The Omaha World Herald that an invasion of Greenland would lead to Trump’s impeachment — something he said he would “lean” towards supporting.
Tillis, who is retiring from the Senate, has aimed his criticism at White House advisors rather than Trump directly. “The fact that a small handful of ‘advisors’ are actively pushing for coercive action to seize territory of an ally is beyond stupid,” Tillis said, directing his remarks at White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
Trump has argued that the U.S. must control Greenland before China or Russia do. The Danish and Greenlandic diplomats who met with lawmakers in Washington said they found no evidence supporting that claim. Troops from several nations have been sent to Greenland in support of Denmark as the standoff has continued.