President Donald Trump announced Saturday he would dispatch a U.S. Navy hospital ship to Greenland, a move swiftly rejected by both Greenlandic and Danish officials, even as Danish forces completed an urgent medical evacuation of a U.S. Navy sailor from a submarine in Greenlandic waters.
The offer, made via a post on Trump’s Truth Social account, proposed sending a “great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there,” according to reports. The announcement followed the Danish military’s evacuation of a crew member from a U.S. Submarine stationed near Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. The sailor required urgent medical attention, prompting the deployment of a Danish Defense Forces Seahawk helicopter for the transfer to a hospital in Nuuk, Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command confirmed.
Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, publicly dismissed the offer, stating on his Facebook page, “That will be ‘no thanks’ from us.” Nielsen elaborated that Greenland has a public healthcare system providing free care to its citizens, contrasting it with the U.S. System where medical treatment incurs costs. Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen echoed this sentiment, telling Danish broadcaster DR that the Greenlandic population already receives adequate healthcare, either within Greenland or through specialized treatment in Denmark, and therefore a special healthcare initiative was unnecessary.
Poulsen stated, “It’s not as if there’s a need for a special healthcare initiative in Greenland.”
The U.S. Navy operates two hospital ships, the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy. Trump’s proposal was made in conjunction with Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who has been appointed as a special envoy to Greenland following Trump’s repeated expressions of interest in acquiring the territory, which is currently under the control of NATO ally Denmark.
Trump’s overture to Denmark comes after a period of strained relations regarding his long-held ambition to acquire Greenland. Earlier this month, following the authorization of a raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump’s pursuit of Greenland reportedly caused concern among European allies. The medical incident impacting the U.S. Sailor did not feature in Trump’s initial announcement.
As of Sunday, February 22nd, the Danish government has not issued a formal response beyond the statements from Nielsen and Poulsen. The U.S. State Department has not commented on the rejection of the offer or clarified the intended scope of the hospital ship deployment.
