Lawmakers in the United States have introduced bipartisan legislation aimed squarely at preventing President Donald Trump from using US power to seize territory from NATO allies, including Greenland.
The proposed NATO Unity Protection Act, introduced on Tuesday by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, would prohibit the Departments of Defense and State from using federal funds to “blockade, occupy, annex or otherwise assert control” over the territory of any NATO member state.
The bill lands amid growing alarm in Washington and Europe over Trump’s repeated assertions that the US must take control of Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, by force if necessary.
“This bipartisan legislation makes clear that US taxpayer dollars cannot be used for actions that would fracture NATO and violate our own commitments to NATO,” Shaheen said in a statement. “This bill sends a clear message that recent rhetoric around Greenland deeply undermines America’s own national security interests and faces bipartisan opposition in Congress.”
Murkowski, one of the few Republicans willing to openly challenge Trump, warned that even entertaining the idea of using US power against allies strikes at the heart of the alliance.
“The mere notion that America would use our vast resources against our allies is deeply troubling and must be wholly rejected by Congress in statute,” she said, describing NATO as the “strongest line of defence” against global instability.
Legal scholars say the bill is designed to rein in unilateral presidential action.
Trump has brushed aside criticism from allies, insisting that Greenland is vital to US national security and warning that China or Russia could otherwise move in. On Sunday, he again signalled he was undeterred.
“I’d love to make a deal with them. It’s easier,” he said. “But one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”
The comments have triggered unusually blunt pushback from leaders in Copenhagen and Nuuk. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen both stressed this week that Greenland is not for sale — and not up for seizure.
“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Nielsen said at a joint news conference. “We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
Diplomatic efforts to cool the standoff are now intensifying. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt are due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Wednesday, while a bipartisan group of US senators is expected in Denmark later this week.
Public opinion in Greenland, meanwhile, is overwhelmingly against US control. A poll commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske last year found that 85 percent of Greenlanders oppose joining the US, with just 6 percent in favour.
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