Senators vow to block Trump from seizing Greenland
WASHINGTON—Republican lawmakers are scrambling to contain President Donald Trump’s threats of taking possession of Greenland, with some showing the most strident opposition to almost anything the Trump administration has done since taking office.
They gave floor speeches on the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) last week. They introduced bills meant to prevent the United States from attacking Denmark. And several traveled to Copenhagen to meet with Danish counterparts.
But it’s not clear that it will be enough, as the president continues to insist that he will take control of the Arctic island. It’s raised fears of an end to Nato—a decades-old alliance that has been a pillar of American strength in Europe and around the globe—and raised questions on Capitol Hill and around the world about what Trump’s aggressive, go-it-alone foreign policy will mean for world order.
Take it seriously
“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 told The Associated Press (AP).
The Delaware Democrat organized the bipartisan trip to Denmark to “bring the temperature down a 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. Also, Republican lawmakers joined meetings in Washington last week with the Danish foreign minister and his Greenlandic counterpart, where they discussed security agreements.
Import tax
Yet it’s clear Trump has other ideas. He said on Saturday he will charge a 10-percent 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 ACQUIRE is especially important.”
Key Republicans have made clear they think that forcefully taking Greenland is out of the question. But so far, they’ve avoided directly rebuking Trump for his talk of possessing the island.
‘Bad for America’
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, R-S.D., told reporters on Thursday that “there’s certainly not an appetite here for some of the options that have been talked about or considered.”
In a floor speech, Thune’s predecessor as Republican leader, Sen. 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 bolstering American interests in Greenland while keeping the relationship with Nato ally Denmark intact.
