Trump’s proposal to send a floating hospital to the Arctic is stoking tension and sparking more controversy regarding Greenland

Denmark and Greenland, its autonomous region, on Sunday rejected President Donald Trump’s proposal to send a floating hospital to the Arctic island, which the US president aspires to annex.

On Saturday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would send a floating hospital to Greenland to care for many patients who are not receiving care.

But Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Friedrich Nielsen responded on his Facebook page: “Our response will be no thanks”.

“We’ve taken note of President Trump’s idea of sending a floating hospital to Greenland,” he said, noting that there is a public health system in Greenland that provides free care to the population of the territory.

“This isn’t the case in the United States, where it’s expensive to go to a doctor,” he said.

From his part, Danish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish television: “The people of Greenland are receiving the health care they need… They get it either in Greenland and, if necessary, specialist treatment in Denmark… There is no justification for a private health initiative there”.

Trump’s proposal came after Danish forces moved a crew member of a US submarine off the coast of Greenland to the capital Nock after his health condition required urgent care.

The Polar Command announced in a Facebook post that the evacuation of one crew member to a hospital in Nuke was due to a health emergency.

As in Denmark, health care services are provided free of charge in Greenland, which runs its own health system, but relies heavily on Danish staff.

The vast Arctic island is home to five regional hospitals, and Nook Hospital receives patients from across the region.

Without explicitly referring to the US proposal, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed her happiness to live in a country that guarantees free and equal access to health care for all, where insurance companies or wealth don’t determine whether a person receives proper treatment.

“The same approach is being applied in Greenland,” it said in a Facebook post.

Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday that he would send a great hospital-ship to Greenland to care for many patients who are not receiving care there, adding that “it’s on its way!!”

The US president said the ship was being sent in coordination with Jeff Landry, who in December was appointed US special envoy to the Arctic Island.

In a Facebook post, Greenland’s representative in the Danish parliament, Aaja Chemnitz Driefer, said that while Greenland’s healthcare system is facing problems, cooperation with Denmark remains the best way to solve them.

She noted that Denmark is one of the richest and most educated countries, for example in the field of health care, referring to problems the United States faces at the level of the health care system.

In early February, Greenland’s local government signed an agreement with Copenhagen to improve the treatment of Greenlandic patients in Danish hospitals.

The Danish central bank warned in January that the Arctic island’s public finances were under pressure due to demographic trends, citing an aging population and shrinking workforce.

Trump has repeatedly touched on the need for the United States to control Greenland to ensure US national security, but threats, particularly those related to the use of force to achieve this if necessary, have diminished since he reached an understanding with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that would give the United States greater leverage.

“Trump is constantly tweeting about Greenland… Perhaps this reflects the new reality that has become the norm in international politics”.