U.S. should play bigger role in Greenland but shouldn’t invade, Pennsylvania Sens. Fetterman and McCormick say

Pennsylvania’s two sitting senators — Republican Dave McCormick and Democrat John Fetterman — told CBS News they do not support a U.S. military takeover of Greenland, but are open to more U.S. control over the Arctic island coveted by President Trump. 

Fetterman told “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil on Friday that “it’s not an absurd idea” for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, given its strategic importance. He argued the idea is “not a brand-new conversation,” pointing to a secret Cold War-era proposal by former President Harry Truman to purchase the territory for $100 million.

“But obviously we’re not showing up with the military [to] take over. It’s the size, in terms of the population, of Harrisburg. I mean, you’re not going to invade,” added Fetterman, who spoke to Dokoupil in a joint interview with McCormick at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works-Irvin Plant in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin.

McCormick told CBS News he believes there’s an “open door” for “diplomatic negotiations, for commercial negotiations” with Denmark on Greenland.

“I agree with the senator that … we shouldn’t use military force, but I think we need to have a strategic foothold, and I think there’s a path to it, and I think the Trump administration will get there,” McCormick said.

In the past, McCormick has floated both a “voluntary purchase” of Greenland and deeper U.S. ties to the island as potential options, while Fetterman has said: “Ideally, we purchase it.”

Mr. Trump has floated a U.S. takeover of Greenland for months, pointing to the territory’s strategically valuable location. His administration has not ruled out taking the island by military force, and on Friday, Mr. Trump threatened to hike tariffs on any countries that don’t “go along with” his push to annex Greenland.

The gambit has drawn strong pushback from officials in both Greenland and Denmark, which controls the island as a semi-autonomous territory. 

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said earlier this week that “we choose Denmark” over the U.S., and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said a U.S. takeover would effectively mean the end of NATO, given Denmark’s membership in the alliance.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen met with his Greenlandic counterpart and Trump administration officials at the White House on Wednesday, in what Rasmussen described as a bid to “take down the temperature.” After the meeting, Rasmussen said the U.S. and Denmark have “fundamental” differences on Greenland but agreed to keep talking.

Rasmussen said he’s “eager” to work on security improvements in Greenland — which currently hosts a U.S. military base — but an American takeover is “absolutely not necessary.”