The Trump administration has threatened that if it can’t buy Greenland, it may take it by military force. Top aide Stephen Miller even proclaimed that “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.” But in the case of military attack, Danish troops are required to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Danish military units have a duty to defend Danish territory if it is subjected to an armed attack, including by taking immediate defensive action if required,” Tobias Roed Jensen, spokesperson for the Danish Defense Command, told The Intercept, referencing a 1952 royal decree that applies to the entire Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland.

Jensen said that the decree ensures that “Danish forces can act to defend the Danish Kingdom in situations where Danish territory or Danish military units are attacked, even if circumstances make it impossible to await further political or military instruction.”

The fact that Denmark’s small military says it is ready to defend Greenland hasn’t deterred U.S. imperial ambitions.

“One way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland,” President Donald Trump said on Sunday. On Monday, Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., introduced legislation authorizing Trump “to take whatever steps necessary to annex or acquire Greenland as a territory of the United States.”

That same day, a bipartisan House coalition, led by Reps. Bill Keating, D-Mass., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced the No Funds for NATO Invasion Act. The legislation would prohibit any federal funds from being made available for the invasion of any NATO member state or territory, and prohibit any officer or employee of the U.S. from taking action to execute an invasion of any NATO member state or territory.

Three sources on Capitol Hill told The Intercept that Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. — the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee — has resisted the addition of similar language to the pending defense appropriations bill, as to not derail negotiations with Republicans.

“Frankly, it’s a massive unforced error,” a congressional aide told The Intercept. “By refusing to dig in on the NATO language, Coons is giving the GOP exactly what they want without getting anything in return, and he’s doing it at the expense of our most critical alliances.”

Coons is also leading a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers on a trip to Copenhagen to meet with Danish and Greenlandic government officials this week. His office did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland will meet Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House on Wednesday, Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters.

The United States already has a military foothold in Greenland, the world’s largest island that is not a continent. The U.S. has a long-standing military garrison, Pituffik Space Base, which was formerly known as Thule Air Base. The War Department’s northernmost installation is key to U.S. missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance missions, including sophisticated radars and satellite command and control from Pituffik Tracking Station. Last week, defense contractor InDyne Inc. was awarded a little-noticed billion-dollar contract for missile warning, missile defense, and space domain awareness mission services at six sites, including Pituffik.

On Sunday, Trump

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