President Donald Trump’s announcement over the weekend that he would be sending a “great hospital boat” to Greenland to care for the Arctic island’s neglected sick is — like many of the president’s remarks around Greenland— causing befuddlement on both sides of the Atlantic.
Officials on the island, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, did not ask for such a ship, and Greenland’s prime minister said it will not be welcoming it, as its citizens are guaranteed free health care.
“It’s a no thank you from here,” Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a statement Sunday.
“President Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been noted. But we have a public healthcare system where treatment is free for citizens. That is a deliberate choice — and a fundamental part of our society. That is not how it works in the USA.”
“Please talk to us instead of just making more or less random statements on social media,” Nielsen said later in the statement. “Dialogue and cooperation require respect for the fact that decisions about our country are made here at home.”
Maritime tracking data further suggests there are no U.S. hospital ships currently positioned to sail to Greenland.
The president’s unexpected announcement, made Saturday on Truth Social, came as Denmark revealed there was a case of medical distress near the island needing emergency attention. But it was the U.S. that needed the help. Denmark’s Arctic Command reported early Saturday that it had evacuated a crew member of a U.S. submarine in need of doctors.
“The crew member required urgent medical treatment and has been transferred to the Greenlandic health authorities and the hospital in Nuuk,” the Arctic Command said a statement. “The evacuation took place within Greenlandic territorial waters, 7 nautical miles off Nuuk. It was carried out by the Danish Defence Seahawk helicopter. The helicopter was deployed from the inspection vessel Vædderen.”
That event was followed later in the day by Trump’s post, which featured what appears to be an AI-generated illustration of the USNS Mercy steaming toward the Arctic territory. Trump made no mention of the emergency evacuation of the U.S. sailor. But he declared that he was “going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there.”
“It’s on the way!!!” said the post, which also reported that Trump was executing the action together with his envoy to Greenland, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.
Denmark quickly dismissed Trump’s announcement, saying it was not aware of any medical emergency in Greenland.
“The Greenlandic population receives the health care it needs,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Denmark’s public broadcaster, DR. “Trump is constantly tweeting about Greenland. So this is undoubtedly an expression of the new normal that has taken hold in international politics.”
Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, also appeared to rebuff Trump’s plan, without mentioning him by name. She wrote Sunday on Instagram that she is happy to live in a country where health care is free to everyone and that Greenland enjoys the same system.
The U.S. Navy operates two hospital ships, the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy. Neither appears ready to deploy any time soon, and both were at a maintenance facility, Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, on Sunday, according to ship-tracking data.
The Navy and the White House did not immediately respond to questions.
In December, the Pentagon said it had signed a $16.7 million contract with the shipyard to place the Comfort in an extended period of maintenance beginning Jan. 15 with expected completion by April 26.
In June, the Pentagon signed a $18.7 million deal with the same shipyard to place the Mercy in extended maintenance. Navy officials later said the work would take about a year.
According to gCaptain, a website that monitors ship movements, the Mercy “was firmly in dry dock” as of late January.
Trump’s post follows months in which he unsettled European allies by threatening to take the Arctic territory from Denmark. The White House eventually backed down and said the U.S. will instead seek strategic agreements with Denmark. But the post signals Trump may remain focused on provoking Denmark.
The post Trump’s talk of sending a hospital ship to Greenland puzzles leaders appeared first on Washington Post.
