Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) slammed President Trump’s new 10 percent tariffs on Denmark and European allies on Saturday, saying the tariffs will hurt the U.S. and divide NATO if the president takes Greenland by military force.
“This response to our own allies for sending a small number of troops to Greenland for training is bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America’s allies,” Tillis wrote in a post on the social platform X. “It’s great for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, [Chinese President Xi Jinping] and other adversaries who want to see NATO divided.”
“The fact that a small handful of ‘advisors’ are actively pushing for coercive action to seize territory of an ally is beyond stupid,” Tillis continued. “It hurts the legacy of President Trump and undercuts all the work he has done to strengthen the NATO alliance over the years.”
Murkowski called the tariffs “unnecessary, punitive, and a profound mistake.”
“They will push our core European allies further away while doing nothing to advance U.S. national security,” she wrote on X. “We are already seeing the consequences of these measures in real time: our NATO allies are being forced to divert attention and resources to Greenland, a dynamic that plays directly into Putin’s hands by threatening the stability of the strongest coalition of democracies the world has ever seen.”
Murkowski called on Congress to use its authority over Trump’s tariffs so they are “not weaponized in ways that harm our alliances and undermine American leadership.”
Tillies and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), both co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, along with Murkowski, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), went to Copenhagen on Friday to meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
In a joint statement from Shaheen and Tillis, the senators said Denmark and Greenland’s “message was resoundingly clear” that they want to partner with the U.S. “and advance our shared security goals.”
“There is no need, or desire, for a costly acquisition or hostile military takeover of Greenland when our Danish and Greenlandic allies are eager to work with us on Arctic security, critical minerals and other priorities under the framework of long-standing treaties,” the senators said. “When we reconvene with our Senate colleagues, we will convey the perspectives shared by Danish and Greenlandic officials, as well as from the indigenous people who live the realities of Greenland every day.”
They added that going down “this path is bad for America, bad for American business and bad for America’s allies.” They reiterated Tillis’s X post in saying a formal relationship between the U.S. and Denmark will help “adversaries like Putin and Xi who want to see NATO divided.”
Trump announced Saturday that he will impose these tariffs on Denmark, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Germany, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands starting Feb. 1 amid escalating rhetoric over the U.S. acquiring Greenland. These tariffs will then increase to 25 percent June 1.
“We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Now, after Centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back — World Peace is at stake!”
Trump added that the tariffs “will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”
Trump repeated claims from his administration that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security reasons to thwart Russia and China in the Arctic, and suggested Greenland only has “two dogsleds as protection.”
Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a meeting with Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen at the White House this week about the island territory. Rasmussen said there was a “fundamental disagreement” between the U.S. and Denmark over Greenland’s future.
“We share, you know, the challenges linked to the situation in the Arctic,” Rasmussen told Fox News. “We didn’t agree that it can only be achieved if [the] U.S. conquer[s] Greenland.”
Denmark expanded its military presence in the region on Wednesday, with European countries like France and Sweden also sending troops to Greenland for joint exercises organized by Denmark.
Trump has not ruled out taking Greenland by military force. Polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose any military action to acquire Greenland. The president also received pushback from Republican lawmakers.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned that taking the island territory by force would “incinerate” U.S. ties with NATO and “be more disastrous for the President’s legacy than withdrawing from Afghanistan was for his predecessor.”