Republicans move to block Trump from seizing Greenland by force

Republican lawmakers are vowing to block any attempt by President Donald Trump to seize Greenland by military force, warning that such a move would damage NATO, weaken U.S. alliances and undermine Arctic security.

According to The Hill, Republican senators have grown increasingly alarmed by Trump’s public statements suggesting he is willing to use force to take control of Greenland from Denmark, a fellow NATO member.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said Congress would push back strongly against any such move.

“I’m going to remind them that we have coequal branches of government and I believe that there [is a] sufficient number of members, whether they speak up or not, that are concerned with this,” Tillis said of Trump’s threats.

“The actual execution of anything that would involve a taking of a sovereign territory that is part of a sovereign nation, I think would be met with pretty substantial opposition in Congress,” he said.

“Right now, people are trying to be deferential, but this is just an example of, whoever keeps on telling the president that this idea is achievable should not be in Washington, D.C.,” Tillis said.

Other Republican senators, some speaking on background, told The Hill that Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland has generated unusually strong resistance within his own party because of the potential consequences for NATO and for Ukraine, which relies heavily on alliance support against Russia.

Public opinion appears to mirror that skepticism. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week found that only 17 percent of Americans support a U.S. takeover of Greenland, and just 4 percent said using military force would be a good idea. Sixty-six percent said such efforts could damage relations with European allies.

The congressional pushback is also taking legislative form. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen have introduced legislation that would bar the use of Defense Department or State Department funds to blockade, occupy, annex or conduct military operations against Greenland or any other NATO member’s territory.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has also warned that using force against Greenland would “incinerate” NATO alliances and hand Russia a strategic advantage.

Trump, however, has continued to press the issue publicly, saying he would prefer a negotiated deal but was prepared to act if Denmark refused, later posting on social media that anything short of U.S. control of Greenland would be “unacceptable.”

Danish and Greenlandic leaders have rejected that position. Following Wednesday’s talks in Washington, the two nations said they agreed to establish a working group to explore whether U.S. security concerns can be addressed while respecting Danish and Greenlandic red lines, including territorial integrity and self-determination.