How members of Congress in the Northwest feel about an American takeover of Greenland

WASHINGTON – After President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to take over Greenland, threatening to use military force against the autonomous Danish territory, Eastern Washington’s congressman said Wednesday he supports buying Greenland from Denmark but opposes a military takeover of land controlled by the U.S. ally.

“If we were able to purchase Greenland, I think that would be great,” Rep. Michael Baumgartner told The Spokesman-Review on Wednesday, adding that he would also support expanding the United States’ ability to use the territory for national security purposes without acquiring it.

After the U.S. military attacked Venezuela in the early hours of Jan. 3 and captured the country’s president, the wife of influential Trump aide Stephen Miller, podcaster Katie Miller, posted an image on X showing a map of Greenland covered in the American flag with the caption, “SOON.” That prompted Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, to post on Instagram, “Greenland is not for sale.”

Later on Monday, Stephen Miller told CNN anchor Jake Tapper, “Obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States,” while refusing to rule out the use of military force. In a statement on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “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.”

Trump has spoken openly about his desire to acquire Greenland since 2019, in his first term, and he doubled down on that position in an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday. Asked why it isn’t sufficient to use an existing treaty with Denmark to reopen long-closed U.S. military bases on the island, the president said owning the semi-autonomous territory is “what I feel is psychologically needed for success.”

Baumgartner, a Spokane Republican who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said “it would be in America’s national security interest to have Greenland,” but he noted that Denmark has long been an important U.S. ally and member of the NATO alliance.

“I think and I hope what the administration is doing is expanding its leverage regarding Denmark,” he said. “But no, I don’t want to see us attack Greenland, because it would have some real ramifications for our allies in Europe and elsewhere.”

After the Wall Street Journal first reported on Monday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Trump intended to buy Greenland, not invade it, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday that he thought Rubio was joking. Later that day, Rubio told reporters he wasn’t kidding, and Trump does aim to buy the territory.

Rep. Adam Smith of Bellevue, who attended the Monday briefing as the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview Wednesday that he isn’t reassured by Republicans in Congress who dismiss Trump’s threat of military action as a negotiating tactic.

“Trump says a lot of things, and he’s dropped bombs in a lot of places after he said he wouldn’t,” Smith said. “Various different presidents over the course of 160 years have wanted to buy Greenland. The notable thing is that this is the first time we’ve threatened to do it by force.”

Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican who represents Western Montana and served as interior secretary in Trump’s first term, said in an interview Wednesday that the president “doesn’t rule out anything” to keep his options open. While he’s open to the U.S. government negotiating with Denmark, Zinke said, he “would not support authorization of military force” to take control of Greenland.

Greenland is the world’s largest island, not including the continent of Australia. But it is sparsely populated, with about 56,000 inhabitants – less than one person for every 10 square miles. Most of the people are Inuit. Danish control of Greenland dates back to the early 1700s, when the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway were united, and Denmark took sole control of the territory in 1814, when it ceded control of Norway to Sweden but kept its overseas colonies.

The United States’ relationship with Greenland began during World War II, when Nazi Germany occupied Denmark and the Danish ambassador in Washington struck a deal with the U.S. government – before the United States had entered the war – to take control of the island in hopes of preventing German forces from using it as a stepping stone to invade North America.

After the war ended, U.S. forces stayed in Greenland under a 1951 defense pact with Denmark. Two years later, Greenland ceased to be a Danish colony and became part of the Kingdom of Denmark. The territory gained greater autonomy in 1979 and 2009, but Denmark is still responsible for its defense.

The United States and Denmark are both founding members of NATO, the alliance formed in 1949 with the goal of mutual defense and preventing another world war. Danish leaders have consistently refused to sell Greenland to the United States, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the Danish broadcaster DR on Monday that a U.S. attack on Denmark or Greenland would mean the end of NATO.

When asked by a New York Times reporter on Wednesday whether obtaining Greenland or preserving NATO is a bigger priority, Trump replied, “It may be a choice.”

Baumgartner noted that the United States has the right to expand its military presence in Greenland under the 1951 treaty and has historically been able to use the territory as it sees fit. The only current U.S. military base on the island is Pituffik Space Base, formerly called Thule Air Base.

“Russia and China are really challenging peace and security throughout the world – and America’s relative position in the world – and we have to be prepared to push back and defend against Russia and China,” Baumgartner said. “And Greenland is a very important part of that.”

Rep. Marilyn Strickland, a Tacoma Democrat who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview on Wednesday that she has visited Denmark with members of the panel and sees no need for the United States to acquire Greenland. She suggested that Trump’s focus on Greenland is a distraction from domestic issues like the cost of living, health care and the still-incomplete release of Justice Department files related to the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“There are U.S. military bases in Greenland, and anytime we want to expand that number, Denmark is completely fine with that,” Strickland said.

When asked why Trump should spend taxpayer dollars to acquire the territory when the U.S. military can already use it for defense purposes, Baumgartner invoked other major territorial expansions in the nation’s history.

“Well, why did we purchase Louisiana or why did we purchase Alaska?” he said. “Future Danish governments could change. It would be absolutely in America’s strategic interest to add Greenland. It’s an empty country with a lot of resources, and it’s pretty key real estate.”

In October, Baumgartner wrote in the National Review that the United States should celebrate the Mexican-American War of 1846-48 with a national memorial, like those commemorating the veterans of World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

“It’s bizarre to me that more people don’t talk about and celebrate the Mexican-American War, because it expanded U.S. territory by over a third and was hugely to the strategic benefit of the U.S. to add California,” he said in the interview. “I presume that many of the naysayers on Greenland, I guess, would think that we should give California back, but it’s in America’s national security interest to have a key piece of territory.”