On Saturday, Donald Trump announced that he would impose additional tariffs of 10% from February 1. on products imported into the United States from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland. As he said, these are the countries that sent their soldiers to Greenland. Trump and other representatives of his administration are saying more and more that “for national security reasons” they must take over Greenland.
What tariffs will Trump impose on specific countries?
Who condemns Trump's announcements?
Can Congress stop Trump from intervening in Greenland?
What are senators' plans for Trump's tariffs?
Trump wants to occupy Greenland. How Congress will respond
Immediately after Trump announced his plan to impose additional tariffs on Europeans, American senators – Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis – issued a statement in Copenhagen in which they condemned Trump's announcements and appealed to the administration to “abandon threats and use diplomacy.”
Shaheen and Tillis, heads of the bipartisan Senate NATO observer group, emphasized in a statement that Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway “are the U.S.'s closest allies. “It is our NATO allies who fight alongside us, die alongside us, and make America safer and more prosperous,” it said.
The senators noted that during bipartisan meetings with representatives of the Danish and Greenland authorities in Copenhagen, “the message was clear and unambiguous: Denmark and Greenland want to cooperate with the United States and pursue common security goals, as we have done for decades.”
“There is no need or desire for a costly acquisition or hostile military takeover of Greenland when our Danish and Greenlandic allies are willing to cooperate with us on Arctic security, critical minerals and other priorities under long-standing treaties,” it says.
Will Congress prohibit Trump from intervening in Greenland?
At the same time, some senators — including Republican Lisa Murkowski, a frequent Trump critic — are working on a bill that would prohibit the administration from using Pentagon funds to attack or occupy territory belonging to another NATO member.
As AP describes, Murkowski and other Republicans are also considering legislation that would repeal Trump's tariffs. This path is much more difficult, however, because it would also need to gain the support of at least two-thirds of congressmen in the House of Representatives (currently controlled by Republicans) to override a possible Trump veto.
Democrats also suggest they could advance a resolution that would limit Trump's right to carry out military interventions without congressional approval. Recently, such a resolution failed to be passed in the Senate regarding the repeated use of force against Venezuela. Then the difference of one vote was decisive. However, Democrats suggest that in the case of Greenland, more Republican senators may support such a resolution.
