President Donald Trump's threats to acquire Greenland is a great victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian rulers around the world, a Republican lawmaker said.
TIME Magazine reported Monday that a number of GOP officials publicly denounced Trump's attempts to annex an island using military force. But Trump is now doubling down. In an overnight message, Trump linked his pursuit of the Arctic island to his inability to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said last week, “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.”
In retaliation, Trump intends to kill the trade agreement with Europe and issue a 10 percent tariff on countries that sent military to Greenland's aid. If Greenland isn't in his possession soon, he'll issue another 25 percent tariff.
“It's great for Putin, Xi [Jinping] and other adversaries who want to see NATO divided,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told TIME. "It hurts the legacy of President Trump and undercuts all the work he has done to strengthen the NATO alliance over the years."
“This response to our own allies for sending a small number of troops to Greenland for training is bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America's allies,” Tillis said in a post on X.
He also criticized Trump's "advisors who are actively pushing for coercive action to seize” Greenland, adding the move is “beyond stupid.”
Trump has long complained about NATO, saying that other countries weren't paying enough.
European leaders were scheduled to speak on Monday and E.U. leaders will gather for an emergency meeting on Thursday. Trump will be in Europe on Thursday as well, where he will speak to the conference in Davos.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told TIME, “These tariffs are unnecessary, punitive, and a profound mistake. They will push our core European allies further away while doing nothing to advance U.S. national security."
She agreed that dividing NATO plays “directly into Putin’s hands."
Murkowski wants to see lawmakers “work together to reassert our Constitutional authority over tariffs so that they are not weaponized in ways that harm our alliances and undermine American leadership.”
Tillis and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) wrote in a joint letter that there is “no need, or desire, for a costly acquisition or hostile military takeover of Greenland.”
Republican Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) stood with his colleageues, saying, “I and most Americans disagree with the President’s heavy-handedness. He is threatening NATO members, which is shameful. The fact that Greenland is part of NATO’s umbrella gives the President all he needs to put more bases there,” said Bacon.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, “There certainly is no authority that the President has to use military force to seize territory from a NATO country. And certainly, this is problematic that the President has made this statement and has caused tension among the alliance."
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) argued Trump cannot legally “write up new taxes and threaten them any time he wishes.”
“We can't throw out all of the Constitution's rules on where taxes originate because someone declares an emergency. There is no emergency with Greenland. That's ridiculous," Paul said, saying that the Greenland matter has nothing to do with Trump's emergency powers.
