A bipartisan group of lawmakers from Capitol Hill sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland on Friday that they supported Denmark’s control of Greenland despite President Trump’s vow to seize it “one way or another.’’ But there appeared to be little progress in solving what has become a crisis in Denmark and Europe more broadly.
Even as the delegation was meeting with Danish officials, Mr. Trump said at an event in Washington that he was considering using tariffs to pressure countries to accept the U.S. annexation of the semiautonomous territory some 2,000 miles from Copenhagen.
Senator Chris Coons, the Delaware Democrat who led the delegation, said in a news conference after a meeting with Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederickson, that the United States was grateful to Denmark for being “a good and trusted ally and partner’’ and for the sacrifice of Danish soldiers who “served and fought and died alongside Americans’’ in the wars after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
His comments were in sharp contrast to those of Vice President JD Vance, who said last year that Denmark was “not being a good ally” for what he said was an insufficient military presence on Greenland.
Although Mr. Coons said he would support legislation to limit Mr. Trump’s powers to act unilaterally on Greenland, he said the purpose of the trip was to listen to colleagues from Denmark and Greenland, discuss ways to develop the island’s resources and “lower the temperature.’’ Among those in the delegation were Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both Republicans, and Representative Steny Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland.
The delegation was in Copenhagen 24 hours after Washington and Denmark contradicted each other in public about what the two sides had agreed on in a meeting hosted by Mr. Vance the day before.
On Wednesday Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, emerged from talks in the White House complex with Mr. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, to say that despite a “fundamental disagreement” over Mr. Trump’s “wish of conquering Greenland,” a group would continue talks.
Danish officials thought they had cooled tempers and bought some time, but on Thursday Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters that the delegation from Denmark and Greenland had agreed “to continue to have technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland.” Mr. Rasmussen said the agreement at Wednesday’s meeting had been “to launch a high-level working group to explore if a common way forward can be found to address the American security concerns in relation to Greenland.”
Mr. Trump’s view is that the United States needs to take over Greenland because Russia and China pose a security threat in the Arctic, and because the island is essential for the “Golden Dome” missile shield he wants to build to protect the United States. Denmark, NATO allies and most security experts say that Mr. Trump already has all the access to Greenland that he needs given existing treaties and Denmark’s closeness as an ally.
American lawmakers in both parties have been deeply unsettled by the notion that the United States might try to buy Greenland or use military force against a NATO ally. Some Republicans have framed the idea as a serious strategic misstep upending decades of alliance building.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former Republican leader, delivered a forceful rebuke this week on the Senate floor, warning that talk of seizing Greenland would lead to the White House single-handedly “incinerating the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful change in U.S. access to the Arctic,” and amount to “strategic self-harm.”
Lawmakers from both parties say they would support legislation to limit the president’s ability to act unilaterally, tying the Greenland debate into a broader fight over Congress’s constitutional authority over war powers spurred by actions in Venezuela and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere.
Still, some vocal pro-Trump lawmakers seeking to appear in lock step with the administration embraced the president’s rhetoric.
Representative Randy Fine, Republican of Florida, introduced legislation to annex Greenland and make it the 51st state, arguing that control of Arctic shipping lanes and resources was too important to leave to other governments.
Though that position remains isolated, officials from Denmark and Greenland arrived at Mr. Fine’s office hours after the bill was filed to make it clear that the territory was not for sale and would not accept U.S. control.
Elisabeth Bumiller writes about the people, politics and culture of the nation’s capital, and how decisions made there affect lives across the country and the world.
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