Trump walks back Greenland threats, but Congress fears long-term NATO damage

President Trump on Wednesday de-escalated his threats to seize Greenland and hammer Europe with new tariffs, but some lawmakers in both parties fear the damage to NATO and the transatlantic alliance has already been done.

"It's hard to un-ring the bell," said Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. "He was willing to threaten and use coercive power to try to take the sovereignty of another nation — a NATO ally. It has damaged the relationship, and now our partners and allies think that they'd better have a back-up plan, because they can't depend upon us."