Greenland, two bills in the US Congress to prevent Trump from annexing NATO territories

President Donald Trump is threatening Greenland, which he wants to take by 'fair means or foul', but the US Congress is not standing idly by. In fact, two bills have been introduced, one in the Senate and one in the House, which aim to prevent annexations of any kind. Specifically in the Senate, the bill would prohibit the Pentagon and the State Department from using funds appropriated by Congress to "blockade, occupy, annex, conduct military operations, or otherwise assert control" over the territory of a NATO member state.

The proposal by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Lisa Murkowski comes after members of both parties expressed alarm at Trump's repeated insistence that he wants to take over Greenland after the 3 January capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Murkowski said: 'Our alliances in NATO are what distinguishes the US from our adversaries. The very idea that America could use our vast resources against our allies is deeply troubling and must be totally rejected by Congress in law'.

A similar bill aimed at preventing Trump from invading a NATO country or territory, such as Greenland, has been introduced in the House of Representatives. 'This is about our fundamental shared goals and our fundamental security, not just in Europe, but in the United States itself,' said Bill Keating, who leads the group of MPs who introduced the proposal.

Trump's Republican allies in Congress have tried to play down the possibility that the United States might use force to conquer Greenland. "I don't think anybody is considering that possibility," House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday. "There is no declaration of war hanging over Greenland. It simply does not exist."

Trump said on Sunday that the US will get Greenland "one way or another" while Greenland Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Tuesday that the Arctic territory would prefer to remain part of Denmark. "If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark, here and now, we choose Denmark," Nielsen said. "We choose NATO, the Kingdom of Denmark and the European Union." Trump replied to Nielsen: "Well, that's their problem. I don't agree with him. I don't know who he is. I don't know anything about him, but it will be a big problem for him."