Murkowski pushes back on Trump’s Greenland talk, aligns with Canada and Denmark

By THE ALASKA STORY

While in Denmark on Friday, Alaska’s US Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined Canadian and Danish leaders Friday in rejecting President Donald Trump’s renewed drive to acquire Greenland. She said Congress, not the White House alone, sets limits on US power and spending.

Murkowski spoke after a congressional delegation met with Danish and Greenlandic officials in Copenhagen. She said it was important for leaders in the Kingdom of Denmark to understand that the United States has three co-equal branches of government.

“In Congress, we have tools at our disposal under our constitutional authority that speaks specifically to the power of the purse through appropriations,” Murkowski said. She said that Greenland, a self-governing territory within Denmark, should be treated as an “ally,” not an “asset.”

Murkowski traveled with a delegation led by Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, as lawmakers sought to reassure Danish and Greenlandic officials amid rising diplomatic tensions sparked by Trump’s comments. The group said its goal was to “lower the temperature” and make clear there is bipartisan opposition in Congress to any forced or unilateral move involving Greenland.

Coons directly challenged the national security justification offered by Trump and his allies, who have argued Greenland is strategically vulnerable to Chinese or Russian influence.

“Are there real, pressing threats to the security of Greenland from China and Russia? No, not today,” Coons said.

That assessment was echoed on the ground by Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command. Maj. Gen. Soren Andersen said there are currently no Chinese or Russian naval vessels operating near Greenland.

The pushback is not limited to Capitol Hill. Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney has also rejected the idea of U.S. acquisition of Greenland, aligning Ottawa with Copenhagen and reinforcing a broader Arctic consensus among US allies.

In Washington, congressional pressure is building to ensure that no administration can take unilateral action on Greenland. Lawmakers from both parties have signaled that appropriations, oversight, and treaty powers would be used to block any attempt to bypass Congress.

For Alaska, Murkowski’s role highlights the state’s outsized influence in Arctic policy. As chair of key appropriations subcommittees and a longtime advocate for Arctic cooperation, Murkowski has argued that stability in the far north depends on alliances, not coercion or force.