US senators have proposed legislation that prohibits the American military from occupying or annexing NATO territories, including Greenland, the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.
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The bill would prohibit the Pentagon and the US State Department from using funds appropriated by Congress to "blockade, occupy, annex, conduct military operations against the territory of a NATO member state, or otherwise establish control" over it.
The bill by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Lisa Murkowski comes as lawmakers from both parties have expressed concern about US President Donald Trump's renewed interest in taking control of Greenland after the US recently captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Murkowski said: "Our NATO alliances are what set the United States apart from our adversaries. The very idea that America would use our vast resources against our allies is deeply concerning and should be fully rejected by Congress legislatively."
A bipartisan group in Congress led by Democrat Bill Keating introduced similar legislation on Monday in the US House of Representatives.
On Sunday, Trump said the US would acquire the Danish territory "one way or another," prompting Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen to state 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."
Responding to Nielsen, Trump said: "Well, that's their problem. I disagree with him. I don't know who he is. I don't know anything about him, but it's going to be a big problem for him."
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland are scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Vice President J.D. Vance in Washington on Wednesday, while a bipartisan group of US lawmakers is set to visit Denmark later this week to meet with senior Danish and Greenlandic officials.
Trump's Republican allies in Congress have sought to downplay the possibility that the US might use force to seize Greenland.
"I don't think anyone is thinking about that," House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday. "A declaration of war on Greenland is not expected. It just doesn't exist."