Trying to grab Greenland won't reward the U.S.

President Donald Trump's recent torrent of demands to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to Denmark, has come to suggest more than a vain brandishing of U.S. clout in North America. In order to boost the issue, Trump is issuing threats — some direct, some veiled — of economic and military action if kept from buying this 836,000-square-mile expanse on behalf of the United States.

The president warned that U.S.-allied nations resistant to his Greenland ambitions would face increasing tariffs, beginning with 10% on Feb. 1 and escalating to 25% on June 1. These include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland. Trump defends tariff threats as a way to "negotiate" with other nations — although tariffs are in fact a tax paid to the federal government by U.S. entities that import these goods.

Now, some in the European Union speak of economic retaliation. One year into the administration, it's hard to discern what Trump political wins have resulted from tariffs.

To escalate pressure, Trump has declined to say when asked if he would use military force to get hold of the huge arctic island. On Monday, he told NBC News he had "no comment" on the question. By hinting at the possibility of an unprovoked invasion, he implied the threat of force — which logically prompts worries of a violent conflict. NATO countries have deployed military personnel to Greenland for joint exercises.

The 79-year-old president added an immature and peevish flavor by suggesting, in a letter to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that the Norwegian Nobel Committee's passing him up for last year's Nobel Peace Prize helped motivate him to push for Greenland. This is not a sign of serious leadership.

Given all that, Trump has effectively prompted some of Greenland's sparse and peaceful population of 56,000 to 57,000 to protest. At a rally in Copenhagen over the weekend demonstrators donned imitation MAGA hats that read, "Make America Go Away."

Resentment abroad is palpable. That's an especially bad thing because the United States has serious strategic considerations when it comes to this sprawling frozen land. The location is key to surveillance for missile threats and monitoring of Russian and Chinese military actions in the Arctic Circle. There’s Pituffik Space Base, our northernmost outpost. Greenland also has big deposits of rare earth elements key for defense infrastructure.

The White House is doing nothing constructive regarding NATO while undermining our allies. The risk of all this bluster is that Russia benefits.

Trump’s "gimme-it-or-else" bluster is counterproductive. Leaders in Congress who know that must say so — and push now for change, which means independently asserting their influence. He'd do well to drop the strongman act, at least on Wednesday when he's due to address the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The conference's theme is "A Spirit of Dialogue."