Trump’s Greenland annexation plan could end NATO, Murphy warns
Trump’s Greenland annexation plan could end NATO, Murphy warns
Democrat senator warns any US move on Greenland would unravel NATO as European leaders call the issue a fateful misstep.
President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland have become a flashpoint for alliance politics, drawing sharp warnings from lawmakers that any American move could tear at the fabric of NATO. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut and a member of the foreign relations committee, told NBC’s Meet the Press that a unilateral push to seize Greenland would force NATO members to respond, potentially dragging Europe into conflict. “It would be the end of Nato, right? Nato would have an obligation to defend Greenland,” Murphy said, arguing that such a move would redraw longstanding security commitments and might put the United States at odds with its European allies. Trump has publicly floated plans to have Greenland, a former Danish colony and an autonomous part of the Danish kingdom, come under U.S. control, even as Pentagon leaders reportedly resist on legality grounds and as reports of an invasion plan circulate in the press.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the idea as a dangerous turn for the alliance, telling rally crowds that Denmark is at a crossroads and accusing the United States of turning its back on NATO. The issue has sharpened tensions ahead of a scheduled Washington, D.C. meeting between Denmark’s Greenland ministers and the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, underscoring how quickly the dispute has escalated from a political fantasy into a diplomatic flashpoint.
A bipartisan cohort of U.S. senators, including Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, said they planned to travel to Copenhagen to press Danish lawmakers on Greenland policy, signaling that concern about alliance cohesion crosses party lines. Analysts from across the spectrum have warned that a forced acquisition would complicate NATO’s unity and raise questions about international law and the legitimacy of long-standing security guarantees.
The uneasy debate highlights Greenland’s special status as part of Denmark, with its foreign and security policy controlled in Copenhagen. If Washington pursues any form of annexation, it could provoke a fracturing of alliances and a reevaluation of European defense commitments, particularly at a moment when European capitals are already recalibrating their defense strategies in response to evolving security challenges. The conversations in Washington and Copenhagen are being closely watched by allies who fear that a misstep could redefine the post–Cold War security order and push NATO into uncharted and potentially dangerous territory.
