Republicans and Democrats are trying to contain Trump’s Greenland aggression. Will it be enough?

WASHINGTON– Republican lawmakers are working to contain President Donald Trump’s threats to take possession of Greenland, with some expressing the fiercest opposition to almost everything the Trump administration has done since taking office.

Last week they gave speeches about the importance of NATO. They introduced bills intended to prevent the United States from attacking Denmark. Several of them traveled to Copenhagen to meet their Danish counterparts.

But it’s unclear whether that will be enough as the president continues to insist he will take control of the Arctic island. It has raised fears about 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, go-it-alone 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 to take it seriously,” Sen. Chris Coons told the Associated Press.

The Delaware Democrat organized the bipartisan trip to Denmark to “lower the temperature a little bit,” he said, as well as further discussions on mutual military agreements in the Arctic. Republican Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska accompanied a handful of Democrats on the trip. Additionally, Republican lawmakers participated in meetings in Washington last week with the Danish foreign minister and his Greenlandic counterpart to discuss security arrangements.

Yet it is clear that Trump has other ideas. He announced on Saturday that he would impose a 10% import tax from February on goods from eight European countries because of their opposition to his plans in Greenland.

Trump said on social media that because of modern weapons systems, “the need to ACQUIRE is especially important.”

Leading Republicans have made it clear that they believe seizing Greenland by force is out of the question. But so far they have avoided directly reprimanding Trump for his comments about owning the island.

Tillis on social media called Trump’s 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 Thursday that “there’s certainly not an appetite here for some of the options that have been talked about or considered.”

In a speech, Thune’s predecessor as Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, warned that an attempt to seize Greenland would “break the trust of allies” and tarnish Trump’s legacy with a disastrous foreign policy decision.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers see an obvious path to strengthening U.S. interests in Greenland while keeping relations 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 could work together to develop critical mining industries and military cooperation, Coons said. Diplomats also told senators there was no evidence of Chinese or Russian activity in Greenland.

Trump has made the argument that the United States should seize Greenland before China or Russia, sparking concern across Europe. Troops from several countries were sent to Greenland to support Denmark.

Murkowski said on social media that “our NATO allies are being forced to divert their 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 known.”

Lawmakers are considering some options to stave off a military attack on Greenland. Yet the Trump administration has shown little or no willingness to obtain 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 reverse Trump’s tariffs. Murkowski and several other Republicans already helped pass resolutions last year to roll back tariffs around the world, but those pieces of legislation failed to find traction in the House. They also would have required Trump’s signature or support from two-thirds of both chambers to override his veto.

Democrats have also found some appeal with war powers resolutions intended to force the president to obtain congressional approval before engaging in hostilities. Last week, Republicans narrowly rejected one such resolution that would bar Trump from attacking Venezuela again, and Democrats believe there may be more Republicans who would support such a resolution on Greenland.

“What I’ve noticed is that these war powers resolutions are putting some pressure on Republicans,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who has forced votes on several similar resolutions. He said the tactic also forced the Trump administration to provide lawmakers with information and commitments to gain congressional approval before deploying troops.

Yet while rejecting the Venezuela war powers resolution on Wednesday, Republican leaders argued that the legislation should be ruled out of order because the Trump administration has said there are currently no U.S. troops on the ground in Venezuela.

The 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 troops on the ground, it’s a moot point,” Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, said of war powers resolutions in general. He also argued that the prospect of seizing Greenland over Denmark’s objections is nothing “more than hypothetical”.

Other Republicans expressed support for Trump’s insistence that the United States own Greenland, while downplaying the idea that the United States would seize it by force.

That leaves the strongest objections on the Republican side from a handful of lawmakers who will leave Congress next year.

Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, told the Omaha World Herald that an invasion of Greenland would result in Trump’s impeachment — something he “would tend” to support.

Tillis, another retired Republican, directed his criticism at Trump advisers, such as White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

“Having a small handful of ‘advisors’ actively pushing for coercive action to seize an ally’s territory is beyond stupid,” he said.