U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT) walks past protesters as Pete Marocco, deputy administrator-designate at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), attends a meeting with members of Congress to discuss foreign assistance, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 5, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
President Donald Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill are downplaying his threats to take over Greenland by force. To them it’s just the art of the deal — hinting back to his popular 1987 book.
Republicans largely fell in line after Trump over the weekend ordered a strike that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro without congressional approval. Now, as Trump refuses to rule out military action to annex Greenland, some members of the GOP say his aggressive posturing is a bluff to secure a deal that gives the U.S. more influence over the Arctic island.
“He’s from New York, he’s one of the best negotiators and how he negotiates sometimes is everything is on the table,” Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., who was Trump’s Secretary of the Interior in his first term, said in an interview with CNBC.
“I think [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio is correct in that he’s downplaying that we’re gonna land the Marines on Greenland,” Zinke said. “I’d be supportive of negotiating a deal with Denmark to make sure that it stays influenced in the West.”
Trump has long coveted Greenland, a self-governing island territory of NATO ally Denmark. He has argued U.S. influence over the island is critical to national security for deterring Russian and Chinese aggression. The president has doubled down on his efforts to make the island part of the U.S. after the Venezuela raid that captured Maduro and hauled him to New York to face criminal drug charges.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to CNBC on Tuesday of the Greenland plan.
The effort has rattled European leaders and enraged Denmark, which, along with Greenland, has repeatedly denied Trump’s overtures.
“Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” wrote Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as the leaders of Italy, Spain and Poland in a joint statement earlier this week.
Moderate Republicans have taken solace in the idea that Trump is only negotiating, as Zinke argued. Maintaining the NATO alliance remains paramount on Capitol Hill.
“Obviously there is strategic national security importance to it with respect to the Arctic, with respect to NATO, with respect to combating Russia,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.
“If you can enter into negotiations with Denmark, with Greenland, great. The idea of taking it by force, no … there is strong bipartisan opposition to any use of force with respect to Greenland,” Lawler said.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) speaks to reporters ahead of a vote to pass the American Relief Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Dec. 19, 2024.
Anna Rose Layden | Reuters
Rep. Nick LaLota, another New York Republican, agreed: “To Trump, everything is a deal, everything is a negotiation, a lot of things come down to leverage and I think his administration is comfortable with the term about not taking any options off the table, I hope we don’t read too much into that.”
Democrats have erupted at the prospect that Trump could invade Greenland with the military, warning it would shatter the NATO alliance that has propped up U.S. and European security since World War II.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz, on Tuesday said he plans to introduce a resolution known as a War Powers Resolution to block Trump from ordering military action.
And Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said in an interview with CNBC that he’s working on a new War Powers Resolution in the House.
“The people around him need to stage an intervention,” McGovern said. “He wants to destroy and blow up our NATO alliances … he’s just not well, the stuff that he’s saying is so damaging to our country.”
Some Republicans agree with Democrats. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., called Trump’s actions in Greenland “appalling.”
“It’s creating a lot of long-term anger and hurt with our friends in Europe,” Bacon said. “I feel like we have a bunch of high school kids playing Risk.”
And Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., issued a joint statement with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., arguing that “Any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow NATO ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend.”
Even Trump’s allies generally agree that any military action would require congressional approval. They have argued the action that captured Maduro did not, since the U.S. was carrying out a law enforcement function.
“This would require congressional authorization,” Zinke said. “It doesn’t meet the litmus test on Venezuela or some of the other ones that he’s talked about.”
Trump, in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, said, “RUSSIA AND CHINA HAVE ZERO FEAR OF NATO WITHOUT THE UNITED STATES, AND I DOUBT NATO WOULD BE THERE FOR US IF WE REALLY NEEDED THEM.”
“We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us,” he said.
Powerful House Republicans on Capitol Hill, for now, are sticking by Trump as he pursues Greenland — continuing to insist the threats are all part of his negotiation strategy. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., said the “post World War 2 order is not over in any way whatsoever.”
“There’s not a goal to break up NATO right now, there’s looking to say, is there a good deal that can be made for what is a very strategic location, not just for the United States of America, but for others,” he said.
CNBC’s Emily Wilkins and Justin Papp contributed to this report.
