1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to publicly oppose any attempt to acquire Greenland through force or coercion and to defend the NATO alliance that has secured peace and prosperity for 77 years. President Trump has escalated beyond his 2019 proposal to purchase Greenland, now stating he will take it by force if necessary, even though this would mean attacking Denmark, a NATO ally. He announced on Sunday that he will impose an additional 10% tariff on eight NATO member nations starting February 1, increasing to 25% on June 1, until Denmark agrees to sell Greenland. This is not hypothetical posturing. These are concrete actions with specific deadlines that threaten our most important security alliance. The justification for this aggression is incoherent. A 1951 U.S.-Danish pact already allows for 16 U.S. military installations in Greenland, including deep-water ports, radar stations, long runways, and a missile defense shield. Denmark has offered to reopen military bases the U.S. closed after the Cold War. When asked why unrestricted access was insufficient, Trump told The New York Times that acquiring Greenland was "psychologically necessary for success" for him personally. Nine out of ten Americans oppose taking Greenland by force, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll. Yet Trump has stated: "We are going to do something in Greenland, whether they like it or not. If we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way." As Rasmus Jarlov, a member of the Danish parliament, observed: "This is a big win for Putin. If he can split the Western alliance, if the Americans can insist on any part of our territory, and he can split, maybe even destroy NATO, then he is the big winner." The irony is devastating: claiming to defend against Russian activity in the Arctic while destroying the organization that guards against Russian expansion. I urge you to speak out immediately against these threats and reaffirm America's commitment to NATO before irreparable damage is done to the alliance that has prevented major power conflict since 1949.