Ohio congressman on Greenland

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA) - Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about Greenland.

According to Brennan, President Donald Trump has said he's putting tariffs on our closest European allies, like the U.K. France and Denmark, until they agree to hand over Greenland.

This prompted her to ask Rep. Turner, who is the head of the U.S. delegation to NATO's Parliamentary Assembly, if he has received calls over the tariffs, and what he's saying to them, to which the congressman said:

"The United States has had a discussion about Greenland all the way back to the 1800s, four times in the 1900s, and the president's raised it twice. We have a 1951 defense agreement with respect to a presence that we have a military presence there. The president's not wrong if there's a national security issue. With respect to Greenland...But there certainly is no authority that the president has to use military force to seize territory from a NATO country. And certainly this is problematic that the president has made this statement and has caused tension among the alliance, and there certainly is going to be continuation of a discussion among all of our allies as to what could this mean. And certainly people need to have some understanding of what are the basic principles. America still is for democracy. America still is for self determination of people for sovereignty of other nations. And, and that's certainly our basic principles and values. And certainly, I think this does put at risk, we're seeing from our allies, their response. They're very concerned about Trump's response, and this, it's putting at risk, I think, Trump's peace principles, with respect to Gaza, with respect to Ukraine and Russia, his leadership among our allies, because he needs our allies for being a base for his ability to rally. And certainly one of his principles of trade and his ability to help our economy, it's put at risk his EU negotiations."

Brennan followed up with a CBS News poll saying 70% of Americans disapprove of using funds to buy Greenland while 86% disapprove of President Trump using military force to take it, leading her to ask Turner how he justifies and explain his strategy when both our allies and Americans say no, and Turner said:

"I think people would prefer a focus on the economy instead of a focus on Greenland itself. I think certainly in Congress, you know, we're looking at trying to make certain we get the budget deal through, and we don't have a shutdown."

When asked if it was legal for the president to use tariffs in this way, the congressman said:

"Article One, Section Eight, does reserve to Congress international trade and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on a very limited basis, delegates to the president the ability to do some sanctions. And currently before the Supreme Court, there is this issue. It's whether or not he even has the authority to do tariffs at all. Now, depending upon how the Supreme Court rules, they may find he doesn't even have tariff authority, but even if he is found to have tariff authority, I don't believe he has the ability to impose tariffs for the purposes of compelling other nations to sell the United States land for the person, but for the purposes of us expanding."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Turner, click here.