FILE – Houses are seen near the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
SAN DIEGO – Greenland has rejected an announcement by President Donald Trump this weekend indicating the San Diego-based Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy is being deployed to the Arctic island.
“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,” the president posted on Truth Social. “It’s on the way!!! President DJT.”
USNS
Mercy
The post was accompanied by an artist rendering of the Mercy, apparently indicating that it was the one being deployed of the two Navy hospital ships in the US fleet. The other one is the USNS Comfort, home-ported in Virginia.
Both ships are moored in Alabama for repairs, the Mercy since last summer and the Comfort since last month. It was unclear which ship the president was referring to, but response from Greenland was swift.
Greenland’s prime minister publicly rejected Trump’s offer to send the hospital ship to the Arctic territory.
‘No thank you’
“We say no thank you from here,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote in a Facebook post in response to Trump’s announcement. “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.”
The New York Times on Sunday quoted Denmark’s defense minister saying his country had not been made aware of Trump’s plan.
Greenland is an Arctic island and semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Denmark’s public broadcaster, DR, that there was “no need for special health care efforts” in Greenland, according to the Times.
Trump has been on record saying he wants to make Greenland a territory of the United States.
Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen wrote in an Instagram post Sunday, “I’m happy to live in a country where there is free and equal access to health care for everyone. The same approach exists in Greenland.”
Representatives of the US Navy in San Diego could not be reached for comment Sunday. (With CNS report)
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