WASHINGTON — President Trump said Saturday that he was dispatching a hospital boat to Greenland shortly after news broke that Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command evacuated a crew member from a US Navy submarine.
Danish defense minister Troels Lund Poulsen publicly claimed that his government had not been briefed on Trump’s plan and that there was “no need for special health care efforts” in Greenland.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen was more blunt: “It’s a no thank you from here.”
Trump wrote in a signed Truth Social post late Saturday: “Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are 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.”
Landry was appointed special envoy to Greenland after Trump repeatedly said he wanted to buy or otherwise take over the territory, which is controlled by NATO ally Denmark.
The US Navy has two big hospital ships in its fleet, the Comfort and the Mercy.
Trump’s post came just before he hosted GOP governors at the White House.
The medical incident impacted at least one crew member, who needed urgent treatment, while stationed on a US submarine in Greenlandic waters, Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command revealed Saturday.
That individual was then transferred via a Danish Defense Forces Seahawk helicopter to Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.
Trump’s overture to Denmark comes on the heels of a detente of sorts during his pressure campaign to acquire the icy island.
The 47th president has long sought to acquire Greenland. Early last month, after he authorized a raid to capture Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, his push for Greenland began to deeply unnerve European allies.
This was particularly true after the White House initially declined to rule out the use of military force to take over Greenland.
Denmark has repeatedly and forcefully refused to sell or transfer the Arctic island to the US.
Numerous European allies have stood by Denmark, backing up Copenhagen in its spat with the US.
Ultimately, the US, Greenland, and Denmark held negotiations to address the impasse. Late last month, Trump announced that they had come to a “framework of a future deal.”
Details of that deal are still murky, but it appeared to include provisions aimed at beefing up security in Greenland amid fears of a growing Russian and Chinese presence in the Arctic.
