NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, about bipartisan legislation that would block a U.S. takeover of Greenland.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now we turn to one of the top Democrats seeking to block the Trump administration’s efforts to control Greenland. Senator Jeanne Shaheen is from New Hampshire. She’s ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and she’s co-sponsoring legislation that would bar the administration from annexing or conducting military operations in that territory. And Senator Shaheen is with us now. Good morning. Thank you for joining us.
JEANNE SHAHEEN: Well, nice to be with you. And I would just point out that the legislation that I’m sponsoring with Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, who is a Republican – so it’s bipartisan.
MARTIN: OK. So the first question about this is, spell out what you see as the danger here.
SHAHEEN: Well, NATO has been the strongest, most effective security alliance probably in history. And as most of your listeners would know, the only violation of Article 5 was against the United States after 9/11, and all of our NATO partners went to war with us in Afghanistan, including Denmark. And for President Trump to undermine that national security compact by threatening Greenland makes no sense at all. And it makes no sense because Greenland and Denmark’s leaders have both said whatever the United States needs from Greenland, from Denmark, they’re willing to partner with us on. So if it’s critical minerals, if it’s more bases, if it’s working together to address a threat from Russia and China, they’re willing to work with us on that. Why are we considering a military option to do that?
MARTIN: So…
SHAHEEN: It makes no sense at all.
MARTIN: So let me jump in here. The president says that if the U.S. does not seize Greenland, Russia or China will. Your argument is, you know, to the contrary, taking Greenland would play directly into Russia and China’s hands. Can you say more about why?
SHAHEEN: Absolutely. One of the things that makes the United States so strong is not just our military might. It is our allies and partners. And it’s in America’s interest to maintain those strong relationships. And what Vladimir Putin and President Xi of China are looking at is that Donald Trump is undermining those relationships in ways that benefit Russia, that benefit China, that benefit Iran and North Korea. Again, it makes no sense that the president of the United States is undermining our own national security by his statements.
MARTIN: You mentioned at the top of our conversation that this – you co-sponsored this bill, along with Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. How much support do you see or does Senator Murkowski see from other Republicans?
SHAHEEN: We’ve had a number of Republicans who have spoken out against the president’s comments. We had a meeting with the ambassadors from Denmark and Greenland last week with Roger Wicker, who is the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He and I did a statement to reporters at the end of that meeting talking about the fact that we have a long-standing relationship with Greenland, with Denmark, that there is no need to have any kind of a negotiation, that they’re willing to partner with us on whatever our interests are.
MARTIN: So obviously, the president would need to sign this bill to make it law. That’s unlikely because this is contrary to his stated goal. Is the goal here to get Republicans on the record about whether they support aggression against a NATO ally?
SHAHEEN: The goal is to speak up about the president’s comments. And we know that the overwhelming majority of the American people oppose any effort to take Greenland by military force. We know they oppose the United States trying to buy Greenland at a time when we have so many domestic needs – the high cost of groceries and energy. When we’ve got millions of people who are losing their health insurance, why is he talking about spending $700 billion to acquire something that we don’t need because they’re willing to work with us on it?
MARTIN: So before we let you go, you are – I understand you’re traveling later this week to Copenhagen – Friday – with a bipartisan delegation…
SHAHEEN: Yes.
MARTIN: …Of lawmakers. What do you hope to achieve while you’re there?
SHAHEEN: Well, we want to hear from the leaders of both Denmark and Greenland about what their concerns are, about how we might work together to address some of the challenges that are facing Greenland and the alliance and how we can help to reassure people about United States and Congress support for Greenland, for Denmark, for the values that we all share and for the NATO alliance.
MARTIN: That is U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen. She’s a Democrat from New Hampshire. She’s ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Senator Shaheen, thanks for joining us once again.
SHAHEEN: Thank you.
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