Sign In
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
New Delhi: Senators in the United States have introduced a bill aimed at preventing US President Donald Trump from seizing NATO territory, including the self-governing Danish island of Greenland. This comes at the back of recent aggressive and expansionistic rhetoric from Trump.
The bipartisan NATO Unity Protection Act introduced on Tuesday would bar the Department of Defense and Department of State from using funds to “blockade, occupy, annex or otherwise assert control” over the territory of any other NATO member state.
The idea that the United States might want control over Greenland is not new. US President Donald Trump first floated buying Greenland from Denmark in 2019, a proposal immediately rejected by Danish and Greenlandic leaders. At that time Copenhagen made it clear the island was “not for sale.”
After returning to office in 2025, Trump revived this ambition, casting Greenland as an “absolute necessity” for US national security. Trump claimed his move was aimed to deter Russia and China’s influence in the Arctic. Rich mineral resources of Greenland are seen as another reason that Trump is eyeing Greenland.
With time Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland has only become more aggravated. Trump has not ruled out using force, suggesting the US might acquire Greenland “whether they like it or not” and that military options remain on the table. It is this which has become problematic and a major reason for worry across the West.
Such aggressive comments by Donald Trump have not been taken well by many in Europe. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Tuesday pushed back on Trump’s comments yet again. “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Nielsen said at a joint news conference in Copenhagen. “We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU,” he added.
European institutions have backed Copenhagen’s stance. The European Union has made clear it will support Denmark and Greenland “when needed” and rejects any violations of international law. Many NATO members also claim that the possibility of a US military move on Greenland is a direct affront to the alliance’s core principle, that an armed attack on one member is an attack on all.
While the West resists, many in the US too have been vocal against this idea and as a result a bill authored by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Lisa Murkowski has come about. The bill would bar the Department of Defense and Department of State from using federal funds to “blockade, occupy, annex, or otherwise assert control over the territory of any NATO member state,” explicitly including places like Greenland.
Importantly the legislation is bipartisan, signalling unease among lawmakers across party lines about executive overreach and the potential diplomatic fallout. “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, who represents the state of New Hampshire, 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,” the senator added.
Murkowski, a rare Republican critic of Trump who represents Alaska, said the 32-member NATO security alliance was the “strongest line of defence” against efforts to undermine global peace and stability. “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,” Murkowski added.
