US President Donald Trump's increasingly aggressive campaign to take control of Greenland has drawn sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers, raising the likelihood that Congress will try to curb the president's territorial ambitions, the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.
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At least one Republican lawmaker has publicly stated that if Trump uses military force to seize Danish territory, it would be an impeachable offense and would mean the end of his presidency.
Several others said they expect a war powers resolution, which would prohibit the president from deploying troops to Greenland without congressional approval, to gain the support of a majority of lawmakers in the coming weeks.
The Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress, but has done little to restrain Trump after he pushed the boundaries of presidential power at their expense over the past year, the publication notes.
A war powers resolution aimed at limiting further military action in Venezuela failed last week after Trump successfully pressured two Republican lawmakers to change their votes.
"But the chorus of criticism within the party over Greenland is one of the first significant signals that more and more Republicans are willing to stand up to what they see as an overreach of presidential power," the publication says.
At the same time, Democratic lawmakers are considering ways to censure the president for his threats to impose tariffs on European allies who refuse to comply with his plans to control the territory.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis said on Tuesday that he is trying to "de-escalate" the situation with Greenland. He has shown a willingness to criticize Trump in recent weeks, the publication notes.
"I'm not criticizing the president. I'm criticizing the bad advice he's getting on Greenland," Tillis told CNBC, adding that "kinetic action or some kind of military buildup" would trigger a war powers resolution that would be supported by a majority of Republicans in the Senate.
"I think we could easily get a veto-proof majority," Tillis added, suggesting that at least two-thirds of the 100 members of the Senate would sign on.
Republican Senator Rand Paul echoed his comments, telling NBC News over the weekend that he had heard of "no Republican support" for a military invasion of Greenland, adding, "Even the most hawkish members of our caucus have said they wouldn't support it."
Tillis spoke on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, days after joining a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers who traveled to Denmark to meet with Danish officials and their Greenlandic counterparts.
Senator Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican, besides Tillis, to visit Copenhagen. But after meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials, she said many other party members shared her concerns about the president's actions.
"Greenland needs to be seen as our ally, not as an asset," Murkowski said. "I don't think the absence of Republicans [in Denmark] is because they don't care about this issue."
Last week, Murkowski proposed legislation with Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen that would prohibit the US military from occupying or annexing NATO territories, including Greenland. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House with bipartisan support.
House Republican Don Bacon has been one of the most vocal critics of Trump's Greenland policy. He has also insisted that a silent majority of lawmakers in the president's party are ready to try to block any military action on the Arctic island.
"Most Republicans know this is immoral and wrong, and we will stand against it," the Nebraska lawmaker told CNN over the weekend.
Bacon, who is not seeking re-election in this November's midterm elections, told a local newspaper in Omaha last week that the president's approach to Greenland was "complete buffoonery" and that an invasion would be "the end of his presidency."
"The initial stage is to realize that Republicans are not going to tolerate this, and he's going to have to back down," Bacon added. "[Trump] hates being told 'no,' but in this case, I think Republicans need to be firm."
Bacon also criticized the US president's threat to impose new 10 percent tariffs on European countries starting next month until they agree to support his ambitions to acquire Greenland, urging Congress to "reclaim its tariff authority."
On Tuesday, Bacon said that "most Americans disagree with the president's harshness," adding, "He's threatening NATO members, which is shameful."
Despite a US Supreme Court decision on whether Trump has the authority to impose sweeping tariffs, lawmakers have separately proposed legislation to curb the president's latest trade threats.
Peter Welch, a Democratic senator who also joined the US delegation to Copenhagen, said on Tuesday that he would introduce a resolution next week that would require the Senate to vote on prohibiting the president from using tariffs to punish NATO allies. It remains unclear how many Republican lawmakers will support the effort.
"This is a dead-end confrontation that will only harm us, NATO, and our standing in the world," Welch said. "We stand for self-determination. We stand for sovereignty. And President Trump is challenging that in a way that will be very damaging."
Opinion polls show that Trump's plans to acquire Greenland — either by purchase or by military force — are extremely unpopular with the American public. A CNN poll last week showed that only 25% of US adults support the president's attempt to control the territory. Republicans were evenly divided, with only half saying they supported the idea.
Nevertheless, several of the president's allies continue to be vocal in their support of Trump's tactics, the publication writes.
Speaking at a joint session of the UK Parliament in London on Tuesday, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said his "mission" was to "encourage our friends and help calm the waters, so to speak."
In a nearly 30-minute speech, Johnson, the most powerful member of the US Congress, did not mention Greenland by name. But he referenced past cooperation between the US and the UK, urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European leaders to embrace Trump's vision.
"We have always been able to calmly resolve our differences as friends. We will continue to do so," Johnson said. "Let us strive for agreement, continue our dialogue, and find solutions, as we always have in the past."
But he added that Trump "is serious about the modern and dynamic threats that China and Russia pose to our global security, especially... with regard to the Arctic," and warned against inaction.
"While we may have thoughtful debates... among our friends about how best to confront these threats, we all certainly agree that they need to be countered," Johnson said. "We ignore these threats at our peril."