Bipartisan Bill Would Cut Trump Off at the Pass on Greenland

US lawmakers are trying to put a legal fence around Greenland before President Trump can test NATO's borders. A bipartisan pair of senators has introduced the NATO Unity Protection Act, a bill that would prohibit the Pentagon and State Department from spending money to "blockade, occupy, annex, or otherwise assert control" over any NATO ally's territory—a direct response to Trump's repeated suggestions that the US should take control of Greenland, by force if required, per Al Jazeera. The island is a semi-autonomous part of Denmark and lies within the US-led alliance's mutual defense framework.

Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said the measure is meant to ensure US funds aren't used to "fracture NATO" or undermine treaty obligations. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, meanwhile, called NATO the "strongest line of defense" against threats to global stability and said the idea that Washington would turn its power on its own allies "must be wholly rejected by Congress in statute."

Jessica Peake, an international law specialist at UCLA, says the bill could restrain a president from acting alone and threatening the NATO partnership, though she noted Trump has previously signaled a willingness to push past congressional limits. Trump argues that US control of Greenland is vital to national security and has warned that China or Russia could move in if Washington doesn't. The island holds significant fossil fuel reserves and critical mineral deposits and occupies a strategic Arctic location.

European officials have reacted sharply to Trump's rhetoric. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the territory sides with Denmark, NATO, and the European Union, not Washington, if forced to choose. Trump, in response, said Tuesday, per the AP: "I disagree with [Nielsen]. I don't know who he is. I don't know anything about him. But that's going to be a big problem for him." Polling cited by Danish newspaper Berlingske indicates about 85% of Greenland's roughly 57,000 residents oppose joining the US. Foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland are set to meet US officials in Washington on Wednesday. One GOP congressman, meanwhile, has introduced a bill to make Greenland America's 51st state, per CBS News.