US senators introduced a bipartisan bill on Tuesday aimed at preventing President Donald Trump from seizing NATO territory, including Greenland, a self-governing Danish island.

The NATO Unity Protection Act, sponsored by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Lisa Murkowski, would bar the Defence and State departments from using funds to “blockade, occupy, annex or otherwise assert control” over any NATO member territory.

The legislation comes amid repeated comments from Trump suggesting Greenland should be brought under US control, by force if necessary.

Shaheen said the bill would ensure US taxpayer dollars are not used to “fracture NATO and violate our own commitments.”

Murkowski called NATO the “strongest line of defence” and described the notion of using US resources against allies as “deeply troubling.”

Trump has argued that Greenland’s strategic location and mineral resources make US control crucial for national security, warning that China or Russia could take the territory if the US does not.

Danish and Greenlandic leaders have strongly rejected the idea. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said, “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

The US and Danish officials are set to hold high-level talks this week, and a bipartisan US congressional delegation will visit Denmark later this month.

Polls show Greenland’s residents overwhelmingly oppose US control, with 85 per cent against the idea.