A senior United States senator has issued a stark warning that former President Donald Trump's renewed interest in forcibly acquiring Greenland would precipitate the collapse of the NATO alliance.
A Dire Warning from the Senate
Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the grave assessment during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, 6 January. He argued that any US military action against the Arctic territory would oblige NATO members to defend it, effectively putting America at war with its closest allies.
"It would be the end of NATO, right? NATO would have an obligation to defend Greenland," Murphy stated. He elaborated that this would mean "clearly … we would be at war with Europe, with England, with France".
Trump's Persistent Ambition and European Backlash
Murphy's comments came as Trump amplified his fixation on Greenland, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that "one way or the other, we are going to have Greenland". This followed a report in the Mail on Sunday alleging Trump had ordered plans to be drawn up for an invasion, a move reportedly resisted by military leaders on grounds of illegality.
The senator's warning finds strong agreement among European political leaders. Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister of Denmark, accused the US of "turning its back on NATO". Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, with foreign and security policy controlled by Copenhagen.
Frederiksen described a meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Washington DC between Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a "fateful moment", stating, "We are at a crossroads".
Broader Implications and Domestic Criticism
The potential consequences were further underscored on Monday by Andrius Kubilius, the defence commissioner of the European Union. He noted that EU treaties would obligate member states to come to Denmark's aid if faced with military aggression from the US. "I agree with the Danish prime minister that it will be the end of NATO," he told Reuters at a security conference in Sweden.
Meanwhile, Senator Murphy accused Trump of using the Greenland issue, alongside other actions like discussing the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and building a White House ballroom, to distract from pressing domestic crises.
"The president is spending every single day thinking about invading Greenland, managing the Venezuelan economy, building a ballroom," Murphy said. "He is spending no time thinking about the actual crises that are being visited on American families." He cited rising health insurance premiums for millions and cuts to food assistance programmes as evidence of a White House "that has become out of control".
In a related diplomatic move, a bipartisan group of US senators, including Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, announced plans to visit Copenhagen to meet with members of the Danish parliament's Greenland committee.
