Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, argued that President Donald Trump “absolutely” needs to tamp down talk of US military intervention in Greenland after a meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials.
“Why are we going to pay for something that we can get for free? We don’t need to spend $800 billion, $700 billion to buy Greenland because they want to partner with us on whatever our interests are. And Donald Trump, as a deal maker, should understand that,” she said.
Shaheen and other members of the committee met Thursday with the officials amid Trump’s talk of the US taking control of Greenland.
She described the meeting as “very good” and said there was “high level dialogue that we expect to continue to address the issues that have been raised by the administration.”
“They expressed their interest in working with the United States and in partnering on whatever we think needs to be done in the Arctic, and that they are working to address the concerns that have been expressed by President Trump,” she told reporters.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen asaid that Thursday’s meeting on Capitol Hill was “very, very constructive dialogue.”
“We are ready to do more in order to accommodate any reasonable American request,” he told reporters. “Because we share the view that we have to step up in the Arctic in order to deter and defend.”
The meeting also included Republican Chairman Jim Risch, GOP Sens. Steve Daines, Pete Ricketts, Democratic Sens. Chris Coons, Tammy Duckworth, Tim Kaine, Jeff Merkley, Chris Murphy, and Brian Schatz.
