Donald Trump has prompted bafflement and derision with an offer to send a US hospital boat to Greenland to look after the “many people who are sick”.
The US President said on his social media platform Truth Social that he was working with this Greenland envoy, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, 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!!!”
Trump’s statement was accompanied by an illustration the USNS Mercy, one of two hospital ships operated by the US navy.
The statement comes weeks after Trump threatened to take military action to seize Greenland if Denmark did not hand it over to the US, prompting a crisis in the Nato alliance.
He posted the statement only hours after Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command said it had evacuated a crew member of a US submarine off the coast of Greenland after they needed medical treatment.
“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.
How Greenland and Denmark responded
The proposal was met with firm resistance by the Prime minister of the semi-autonomous Danish territory. Jens-Frederik Nielsen declared: “It’s a no thank you from here” and asked Trump to talk to him instead of making “random outbursts on social media”.
He and the Danish Prime Minister pointed out that Greenlanders enjoyed free healthcare, unlike Americans who often have to pay high insurance premiums for medical care.
Nielsen said: “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. It is a deliberate choice. It’s not like that in the United States, where it costs money to go to the doctor.”
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen takes part in a demonstration that gathered almost a third of the city population to protest against the US President’s plans to take Greenland, on 17 January 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland (Photo: Alessandro Rampazzo / AFP via Getty Images)Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, while not mentioning Trump specifically, said she was “happy to live in a country where there is free and equal access to health for all. Where it’s not insurance and wealth that determine whether you get proper treatment.”
Greenland, which has a population of around 60,000, has are six hospitals at present, and this month signed an agreement with Copenhagen to improve Greenlanders’ access to treatment in Danish hospitals.
The United States often ranks poorly on key health metrics compared with other developed coutnries.
Orla Joelsen, a prominent Greenlandic activist, said on X: “We in Greenland are healthy and doing well, sustained by our own traditional foods — including seal blubber, which is rich in vitamins and nutrients that have kept our population strong for generations.”
Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician in the Danish Parliament, said: “Donald Trump wants to send a poorly maintained hospital ship to Greenland. It seems rather desperate and does not contribute to the permanent and sustainable strengthening of the healthcare system that we need.
“Since the last election, where I campaigned for closer healthcare cooperation… we have succeeded in allocating DKK 35 million [£4.08m] annually, and this year an additional DKK 185 million [£137m], for treatment of Greenlanders in Denmark.”
While admitting there were challenges and the healthcare system needed some improvements, this was best solved with Denmark” as one of the richest and most highly educated countries”. Pointedly she added: “Not the United States, which has its own problems with healthcare.”
‘Creating a wedge’ between Greenland and the Danes
While the post has prompted derision, it will also have prompted concern in Nuuk and Copenhagen about the President’s intentions towards Greenland.
The President has repeatedly argued that the US must acquire Greenland, going so far as to threaten to seize it through a military operation. He also threatened a 25 per cent import tax on EU goods unless Denmark ceded Greenland.
Greenlandic and Danish officials have repeatedly said that the island is not for sale, and that it should remain a territory of Denmark.
Trump could now be trying to exploit existing resentment from citizens towards healthcare provisions on the island, Frands Pedersen, senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Westminster, said.
US President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on 21 January 2026 (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images)He told The i Paper: “His main objective is to sow discontent in Greenland and create a wedge between the Greenlanders and the Danes.”
Pedersen said that while people in Greenland did receive free healthcare if people had serious health issues, they had to travel to Denmark due to the lack of sufficient facilities in the territory.
He added that Trump could then use the rift he was hoping to create in order to exert more influence over Greenland and bring it into the US sphere of influence.
Trump’s desire for the territory remains ‘exactly the same’
Although Trump walked back from the threats he made against Greenland at the World Economic Forum last month, Denmark and other Nato allies have suggested that they by no means think the threat has gone away.
Frederiksen said Trump’s desire to own the territory was “exactly the same”.
Trump has cited his main motive for acquiring the territory as defence, due to its strategic position, which makes it well placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks. Greenland would be also a key part of his proposed Golden Dome defence system, which would be able to shoot down hypersonic, ballistic and advanced cruise missiles and drones.
Access to healthcare is a real struggle for the residents of Kapisillit, a Greenland colony only accessible after a two-hour boat trip or by helicopter (Photo: Florent VERGNES / AFP via Getty Images)He has also claimed that Greenland is under threat from the likes of Russia. In a Truth Social post in January, he wrote: “Nato has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that ‘you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland.’ Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done!!!”
The territory also has large amounts of natural resources, including critical minerals, which have been a focus for Trump elsewhere, such as in his Ukraine deal. He denies that they are behind his desire for Greenland.
Speaking to The i Paper at the Munich Security Conference this month, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, chair of the non-profit network Arctic Circle, said: “Nobody knows whether the American administration will come to the conclusion that it will be necessary for them to have complete sovereign control of Greenland.
“I am not quite sure whether Donald Trump has himself already made up his mind.”
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